<p>I have friends who would make a healthy dinner and if their kids wanted something else, the kids would have to go into the kitchen and make themselves something else. I am too something or not enough something else to do this.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s easier with my son at college (and should get easier still when daughter leaves for college this fall), but I’m having a hard time “remembering” what son doesn’t like when he comes home for break, and remembering what foods to stock up on! I guess it must be the aging–harder to keep straight who likes what. And it gets so picky–daughter loves all pasta except spaghetti, husband only likes spaghetti. Geez, pasta is pasta, right? Why does the shape matter? One kid eats rice but not couscous, the other couscous but not rice. I’m guessing that once daughter leaves and I just cook what I want without worrying about who eats what, that will continue when they come home for breaks and they can take it or leave it.</p>
<p>I am so proud of myself–I just filed all my recipes in a very organized fashion, using the file folders and file box we used for my son’s college search. I also threw a bunch into the recycling bin. I still have to deal with the magazines, but I feel like I can actually find things now.</p>
<p>Congratulations! Bask in the feeling of a job well done. (So, what’s for dinner?)</p>
<p>Thanks, VeryHappy!</p>
<p>Probably leftovers.</p>
<p>Oh, Bethie, I am sooo impressed. </p>
<p>I too hoard recipes, cooking magazines (10 + years of vegetarian times), and cookbooks. I have tried many of the aforementioned ways of organizing and have failed miserably. I just started a new system that may fail - but hope springs eternal.</p>
<p>As I make a recipe, I am writing it on a 4 X 6 index card and laminating it. The plan is that I will have them handy for grocery shopping, cooking, etc. I have not even considered going through all my magazines, or notebooks, etc. as a big project, just one meal at a time (or maybe a couple when I am getting ready to go to the store).</p>
<p>I love to look through magazines and cookbooks. I know I won’t give them up. And, in fairness, I really do cook a lot of different meals. As my husband says, he never knows what he’ll find on the stove. One thing that makes it easier is that he is a vegetarian and really appreciates anything I make. Still doesn’t make my recipes any more organized.</p>
<p>I have a lot of magazines also, so I just organized them by season (I’m very optimistically moving into “Spring”, though it’s expected to be below zero tonight) and I’m going to try to focus on just those to come up with some new ideas.</p>
<p>Simple solution that works - get a plastic accordian file from Staples, label sections: e.g, apps, soups, chicken, Asian, holiday, etc. Throw recipes into appropriate section, whether they are magazines, print-outs, my mother’s salad dressing written on the back of an envelope (which I can’ t reproduce, and now, neither can she). Finally did this after many years and it reduces sorting thru piles to a manageable minimum.</p>
<p>Yeah, drb,</p>
<p>That’s what I’m trying to do–just be able to find things.</p>