<p>Now that I’m ::ahem:: unemployed I have a few projects I want to tackle and one of them is to get all of my recipes organized. </p>
<p>Here’s the visual… I have probably two dozen recipe books, of which I use about a dozen of them from time to time. The rest of them, I might have one or two recipes from them that I’ve used over their lifetimes in my cabinet. Then there’s the falling-apart plastic recipe box with no lid that has quite a few handwritten recipes in it, some in better condition than others. Then there are the sheets and sheets of recipes I’ve printed off of the internet that are haphazardly thrown in the cabinet with no rhyme or reason. You get the picture.</p>
<p>Since H and I have changed our eating habits in the last year, I want to purge my cabinet of books and recipes that no longer fit our lifestyle. So I want to go through all the books and if there’s only one or two recipes from a book I might use, make a copy of them and get rid of the book. Once I have all the recipes I want to keep, I want to someone get them printed out on recipe cards (that are all the same size, as opposed to various sizes), and I might even laminate them (I have a laminator). </p>
<p>I know some people use a binder with sleeved-plastic pages with pockets that allow them to keep all their recipes in one book, but I’d rather have a recipe box with all my recipes in this box, categorized by food types.</p>
<p>This is just part of my project to sort of redesign our kitchen in order to facilitate healthier eating. If it’s more organized and efficient, I’ll be more likely to not slip into old habits.</p>
<p>I’d love to hear from anyone else who has undertaken such a project.</p>
<p>I played around with recipe apps when I got an iPad. You can download large collections for free. In general, my wife will get something off the internet when she needs a recipe. She can just get a text recipe or videos demonstrating the preparation.</p>
<p>BCEagle - I don’t need more recipes, just a system for organizing the ones I have. But your post reminded me that I should have added that I have a MacBook Pro, so if there are any programs where I can start inputting the recipes I have, and it has an option of printing them out on 4x6 cards, that would be great.</p>
<p>If I have a lot of text that I want to store, I’ll just toss it into a text file. If I want something from it, I’ll open it with xemacs (text editor) and just search for what I want. The nice thing about iPad recipes is that you can just keep the recipe open on a kitchen counter or table while you are working. It’s safer than working with a laptop where you can get liquids or powders into the keyboard areas.</p>
<p>I started a word table to which I hyperlinked some recipes as PDF files. Word lets you do a simple text search, and when I find what I need, I click on that hyperlink and follow the recipe on the screen.</p>
<p>If you want a short term fix to organize your printed-out or torn-from-the-newspaper recipes, I use a number of gallon size ziploc bags, on the front of which are labelled the category–for example, vegetables, one-dish meals, salad dressings, chicken–you get the idea. It does require you to go through the plastic bag looking for the recipe you want, but then you can put it on top but keep it in the bag while you’re using it. You can read the recipe and not risk spilling things on the paper.</p>
<p>I put the 4x6 recipe cards in in a cheap ($.99) little soft photo album. They are handy and protected from spills and splashes. The full size recipes that I print go into sleeves in a binder only when I’ve decided they are keepers. Until then they just go in a drawer. I did have grand plans to put all my favorites on my computer and then print them but it’s been a few years and haven’t done it yet although I purchased the program & the special cards for the printer.</p>
<p>You may want to save some of the sentimental favorite recipes for your kids, even if you are not going to be regularly making those foods anymore. My husband’s favorite childhood dish is a chicken, Valveeta and chips casserole that his mom made in the 70s…you could never find that exact recipe online again, and he still likes to eat it a few times a year. My childhood favorite was a certain molasses cookie that no other recipe is exactly like…I love being able to make that for my kids.</p>
<p>This isn’t very sophisticated, but I have each recipe as a Word document. I have virtual folders set up with names like you find in recipe books: breads & pies, side dishes, desserts, etc. If a particular folder gets too many recipe documents, I subdivide it. Like “breads and pies” could each become their own folder–“breads” and “pies”. So, it is pretty quick to find the recipe I want. I make notes about particular recipes, as I make them. And I keep a log of when I make new recipes, so I can remember what happened.</p>
<p>I am waiting to get my iPad, so someday I can do like BCEagle and just prop up my iPad on the counter somewhere to read the recipe. As it stands now, I have to walk over to my desk and look at the computer screen.</p>
<p>I have a lot of old cookbooks, too. And a lot of old scrawled recipes. I have the ones I use a lot converted. Slowly but surely I will get all of them transferred over.</p>
<p>Oh, boy . . . don’t get me started. I actually type all my favorite recipes into a computer, print them out (categorized, of course), and then take them to Kinko’s to be spiral bound with a clear cover. The binding only costs a few dollars, and I only print out a new version every year or two. Then I have a lovely hard copy to write on, and ultimately to recycle by passing it on to someone else when I get the new version.</p>
<p>I don’t know if Mastercook is still around, but that used to be a good program for printing out recipe cards. And - I just googled “print recipe cards” and got an online program where you can design and print them for free!</p>
<p>I use a shareware program called Accuchef. You can try it for 30 days before you purchase. I think the cost is around $20. It will print 4x6 card as well as full size sheets. I have used it for several years and really like it. I ended up doing the binder thing. Each of my kids has a binder as well as several of their friends who requested it. I update it every so often. With this program you can do multiple formats as needed. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it doesn’t email well. If I need to email a recipe I have taken to scanning it and sending it as a pdf., but that is really the only down side I have found.</p>
<p>Teri - I have tried multiple systems. I am a little ADD, so I have a tendency to start a system and then try another. </p>
<p>One system I do like is either writing or typing a recipe and putting it on a 4 x 6 card and laminating, then I just pull the whole card when I go grocery shopping. Actually, I use a ziplock bag and plop them into the bag. I don’t have all of my recipes on cards (I am laughing right now because that would be impossible), but I did take the time to put ones that I use regularly, especially soups.</p>
<p>I keep my favorite recipes on good old 3 x 5 index cards in a small card file. I have some that were given to me in the 70s. I happen to like cookbooks…I reread them like novels. If there is a recipe I need quickly, I do a google search.</p>
<p>To me, it’s important to have a system that is easy to maintain because I’m constantly adding new recipes to my collection.</p>
<p>I started using the ‘binder with the plastic sleeve’ system about a year ago and really love it. It’s by far the easiest system I have used. I print out or xerox the recipes onto an 8 1/2 x 11 paper and just put it in the sleeve. No need to re-write, re-type or glue paper to 4x6 cards and the plastic sleeves keep the recipes from getting yucky. I found that keeping it simple really worked for me.</p>
<p>I have two recipe boxes. One I have had since 1985 and it was recently revamped , recipes I would never use , thrown out and old favorites re-written on index cards. Mostly all I kept were baking related recipes . The other box I took from my grandmother’s when she passed away. I have never made a thing from it, mostly I have it for giggles , because she had recipes like " Gay Divorce Dip " and ingredients I have never heard of…processed stuff no longer made, I think</p>
<p>But my real favorites that I don’t have memorized are all saved in my recipe box on the food network website</p>
<p>I understand creating and saving recipes in programs on computers, but as my H would say, “You don’t keep your computer down in the kitchen”. Which is why I want them on recipe cards.</p>
<p>So, I created a 4" x 6" recipe template in Pages and have started to type in the ones on 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper. I guess I will just buy some blank recipe cards and print off all the recipes I manage to input into the computer. Have gotten a dozen or so done so far, but it was a learning curve, deciding what kind of format I wanted.</p>
<p>I have a set of binders with plastic sleeves for 3x5 cards. I use dividers in each binder to separate the pages by category (e.g., chicken, appetizers, pies-- although these categories wouldn’t be in the same binder). Many of these recipes I haven’t yet tried so, once I’ve made a dish, I will write comments about substitutions or about whether it’s a no-fail company dish, etc. If the dish was a dud, the recipe card gets tossed. If there’s no comment on the card, I haven’t yet made that dish. Yes, I’m type “A” but this method works for me.</p>
<p>Low tech here. I have a few ‘composition’ bound black notebooks. Sturdily covered, they stay open nicely on the counter. Anything tried and true gets taped in the main one, or glue sticked, or written in by hand. My Ds added illustrations when they were about 12, precious now. </p>
<p>One is the main book, one the auxiliary. One year I asked them to make me a new book, so they took my newspaper and magazine recipe cuttings, made a new book, some of which I haven’t yet tried. There’s enough random space in both books, that they aren’t yet filled.</p>
<p>Teriwtt- check out allrecipes.com website. Not too add recipes to your collection, but most likely you can find all your recipes there.
They have a wonderful print option, with photo, small, large font, and 4 x6 recipe card option. </p>
<p>I would try that, if you want to actually have them printed out for your kitchen. It’s quite time consuming typing out recipes.
Even if you find a similar one on AllRecipes.com you can easily modify it.</p>