So – I know some of you are organizational gurus and I wanted to ask for some tips from you. I love an organized home and I actually love to organize. The problem is, I don’t have a ton of free time. I’m curious if any of you have any quick ideas for organizing recipes. My recipe box (pictured above) is 11 years old and jam packed full of 11 years’ worth of recipes on cute recipe cards, printed papers, magazine sheets, etc. They don’t fit into the box nicely and they are not organized by any order. It usually takes me a few minutes to scroll through all of them to find whatever recipe I’m looking for.
How do you all organize your recipes? Do you have any ideas for me? I’m fine with ditching the box.. Can you help? 🙂
**Note – I’m not interested in scanning the recipes onto my computer. I know there are websites that keep all of your recipes organized, but I’m a bit old fashioned and like to hold my recipes in my hand while I’m cooking.
Thanks in advance for your help. I know that I am not the only one struggling with unorganized recipes so your tips will help not just me but other readers!
Thanks for coming to Addicted to Saving! Here’s a little bit about me so you can know who’s behind all these posts!
My name is Liza and I began my money-saving journey in the Spring of 2009 as a way to stretch a limited household income. I had lost my job and my hubby was self-employed. I launched Addicted to Saving in November of 2009 and it has grown by leaps and bounds. Since then, my hubby and I have struggled with the ups and downs of two failed adoptions and are now LOVING being parents to our little man Asher who we brought home from Ethiopia in August of 2013. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to help you save money. My goal is that you will have FUN and become empowered to save more and more money each week..
I have little index card holder (its the size of an index card). My Mom, Aunts, Ect all wrote recipes I liked onto the cards, and I glued ones I found online or in magazines onto the index cards as well. Since the index cards have holes to hold them into the binder, I can take it out when I am using it. I can also easily flip through to see what would work well with my stockpile+that weeks Publix sales to make my dinner list for the week!
I can email you a picture if you’d like, but you could do the same with your “box”. Just glue the cut out ones into cards so that it is nice and neat. I organized mine by whose recipe it was.
I was getting overwhelmed as well with all of the recipes I had plus the recipes I cut out of magazines… Then I came up with idea of buying small picture albums from the Dollar Store and putting 1 or 2 recipes in each slot, depending on the size. This way they are covered, can’t get wet, etc. and it’s only $1 per album!!! I also use them to organize crafting ideas I cut out of magazines.
Since I have so many recipes I have decided to have 1 album for each category (pasta, sides, soups, etc.)… makes it much easier to stay organized! I hope this helps : )
I scan all my recipes and save them to a Rewriteable disk. This way I can add more recipes as I go and if anything ever happened to the paper copies I would still have them.
I then print them out and put them in a notebook by category. The reason I don’t retype all of them is because I cherish my mom and grandmas handwriting!!
I saw this on Pinterest: us…http://sarahpotterphotography.com/diy-menu-board. We’ve taken it a step further… I’m rewriting my favorite recipes onto new recipe cards… the 3×5 type that open like a greeting card. On the inside is the recipe. On the outside… one side has the meal in big letters (to be put up on the Pinterest board on the fridge shown on the above link), the other side has just the ingredients, so you can tell at a glance if you have what you need in the cupboard. They are color coded by main ingredient and some by cooking style:
Red: Meat Dishes
Green: Vegan
White: Crock Pot Meals
Yellow: Poultry
We have 8 different color codes… customize to your liking.
I’m adding about 5-7 recipes to the new system every week. Making the new cards is time consuming but you would be amazed at how much time is saved using the system and planning the menu for the week! I’m using it in concert with Addicted To Saving so I can choose the weekly meals based on what is on sale!
I tried to make it really easy for myself because I am always printing out new recipes or ripping them out of magazines so I needed an easy way to store them. I got a 1-1/2 inch binder (although I need a bigger one now) and put my recipes in sheet protectors and divided them with dividers (ex. soups & sandwiches, dinner, side dishes, desserts, etc.). This way any size paper would stay secured in my notebook. When I want to cook something I take the recipe out of the notebook but leave it in the sheet protector so it stays protected while I am cooking. Then when I am finished, I put it back in the notebook. I also keep empty sheet protectors in the front of the notebook so it is always easy to file them away. Hope this helps!
Since everything is already on index cards, buy a photo album that fits 4×6 pics. Use post it tabs to make your sections. Totally easy and ready to go.
I have a 3 ring binder with page protectors and dividers. Recipes are various sizes, as they are on cards and torn out of magazines and printed from the computer… This seemed to work for me. I’ve done this for several years.
I like seeing the pictures with them, as well.
I have a 3 ring binder system. As many of us do, we see a recipe in a magazine or online and we just can’t wait to try it. Well, when I get a new recipe I put it in the caterogy binder, ie main course, dessert..and then after trying the recipe out on my family, it goes it our family recipe binder. I have done this for many reasons, my recipes keep organized and when the day comes and my children learn how to cook, and they love something I cooked for them, they can straight to the family cookbook and there it is. Truthfully, we are on our second family cookbook binder, so we are always trying new things. Try it out. You can start out with binders at the dollar store. PS the ones in the family cookbook is put in protective sheets. Good luck!!!
Hole punch, 3 ring binder, dividers… boom done;)… anything else?
Liza, I’ve collected recipes since I was 13 (I’m 52 now – someone do the math). I’ve done catering and am really a foodie. I’ve collected recipes from newspapers, family, friends, etc. for so many years, and I just (reluctantly) got rid of approx 20 years’ worth of Bon Appetit mags. So I HAD to gather & organize what I really valued. You’re still young. Take heed of some valuable advice & do this now.
Hopefully your recipes are separated already by course ~ app, salad, dessert, side dish, meat, fish, chicken, etc. I laid out clippings & cards on my copier screen according to type. For example, I had many different pesto recipes, and bean & rice recipes from different ethnic cuisines. I took what I had that was similar & arranged them as best I could on the platen (copier glass) and copied. I copied onto the back of the page if I had enough of the same similar recipes. Basically, I just tried to condense what I’d accumulated onto 1, 2, or 3 pages, front & back. Then you can put them into a ring binder with page protectors if you like. I still have mine in an accordion-type folder, but that’s because I’ve tried to reduce my “clipping” at this point in my life. Almost any recipe is available on the Internet now.
My last piece of advice would be to ALWAYS keep the recipes in your mom or grandma’s writing, whether you copy it or not (and you probably should). Seeing the actual handwriting & any notes in the margins is priceless. <3