How do you store your recipes?

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Michelemarie

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I know we all have cookbooks to refer to - but how do you store recipes you find in magazines, online, obtain from friends?

I had alot of my recipes on line organized by category - appetizers, pasta, vegetables, etc. However, DH killed the hard drive last year and all of that was lost! Thank goodness I had a hard copy of most of them.

Right now I have a 3" binder with tabs in it organizing by category- but it is getting really full - I am starting to feel unorganized - a bad feeling for someone who likes complete organization!

Any suggestions? What works for you?
 
Mee too. The notebook is my cookbook. It contains the recipes I have used and will use again.

On my computer, I have the same folders with a 'cookbook' subfolder that has all the recipes in the cookbook. I also have a ton of recipes in those categories that I have yet to try.
 
I keep mine in a folder. I had another one that had about 10 years of recipes and evidently got thrown away by that boys!!:mad:
I have an empty recipe book, I just haven't written in it. I get cramps in my hand to much and I hate writing.
 
Same here.

I keep all my recipes on the HDD's of both my computers. Of course, the laptop's collection is the most up-to-date, with 3,135 files. Not all of those are recipes, so it should be around 3,125, give or take a few.

I keep them organized by type, dessert, entrees, etc., with sub-catagories in a few.

I used to print a hard copy, but when you've got 8 or 9 3" binders full of stuff, it's easier just to search the HDD.

I'm always worried about loosing my data (recipes and other things). The best thing I can suggest is to invest in a CD-RW drive. They're fairly cheap now. If you aren't comfortable installing an internal drive into your pc, go with an external USB drive.

Depending on how often you add to your files, back them up by burning onto a CD-RW disc every now and then, say, once a month or every few months. You can use the same disc over and over. This way you always have your recipes and other data stored off the HDD in case something fries. It's also easier to transfer data should you buy a new system.
 
I have a three ring binder for my recipes that I make a lot (I wish I could just memorize them), but I also have everything in a file on my computer with Word documents. I also have them all in my palm pilot. That is where I find them to be the most helpful. I have two categories. One is "Food" and the other is "Food to try". What i really like about having it in my palm pilot is that I have all my recipes on me when I am in the grocery store so if I see a good piece of produce or meat or something then I can look up and see what I can make with it and what other things I would need to buy for that dish.
 
well, I use those photo albums that are with the plastic sticky pages.. and cut out the recipe and put in there. Then when I use them to cook they always stay clean cause.. cause just wipe off the pastic page.
 
i am totally disorganized. i have cookbooks in both kitchens, stuffed with clippings and printouts of more recipes. some cookbooks are lost in piles of boxes the last time i moved.
i have a pile of recipes clipped from mags and newspapers on my coffee table in the basement where i read the paper with my birds at night. it's my only refuge, so a mess of papers is somewhat safe from dw's cleaning barrages.
 
I have cookbooks in the kitchen, the den, the tiki bar and the hobby room. In addition, I have a desk covered in clippings and old hand-written recipes that I have tried to database, but I get tired of just sitting and doing data entry. I have about 15 or so vintage recipe boxes, and about 4 of those have recipes in them. I also have a stack of recipes that sits next to the boxes.

On top of that I have a couple of drawers full of magazines that have varying numbers of recipes in them.
 
I have a HUGE cabinet filled with just cookbooks.Now don't laugh but, I have a notebook from when I was in Home Ec in Jr. High that I have stuffed with magazine recipes,loose leaf pages with things that I wrote down as I thought them up but, I know where everything is!!!
 
I have Three three ring binders, recipe cards and keep lots on the computer.

I'm very very unorganized about it though and can never find anything. I do have the binders in catagories but... I print so many recipes that they just get thrown in the front and not in the right place. Someday... I'm going to take a week and go through everything and toss some of them.
 
Recipe Storage

I also like to use my very well organized 3 ring binder. In there not only do I have main tabs like appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, etc., i also have sub tabs like meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables that way when I am looking for a recipe I can get really specific. Also in the binder I have several plastic pockets that I store my clipped recipes in that way I don't lose them and they stay clean. I still use recipe cards that I try to laminate so they can stay clean and intact and I store them in a tin recipe can that my grandma gave to me. But I also use the computer, but then you run the risk of something going wrong and your files getting deleted. So I also print out all that I have on the computer, just in case.
 
Instead of backing them up on CDs, try using a Seagate portable hard drive. More memory plus they use USB so you can attach it to any computer. You also don't have to worry about organizing multiple CDs.
 
good idea ic.

we use usb drives all the time at work for transferring files. i wear one on a lanyard around my neck everyday, with my i.d..
 
I have cookbooks in my kitchen, and a stack of loose papers from recipes I've collected on here and elsewhere. It doesnt sound very organized, but I can easily find a recipe :LOL: Maybe one day I'll get a binder.
 
buckytom said:
we use usb drives all the time at work for transferring files. i wear one on a lanyard around my neck everyday, with my i.d..

we call these nerd sticks.

The big boss just gave all of us our own personal NSs for doing such a good job, but I haven't used mine yet.

I have pretty much the same system as everyone else - actual cookbooks, pieces of paper/index cards/newspaper & mag clippings, DiscussCooking stuff on my computer, plus some of it printed out in a binder.
 
I have mine in a few different types of storage. The recipes from family and friends are stored in photo albums (the ones with the sticky pages and plastic overlay). The ones I print from this site and a few others, I put in ring binders - I have about 4 of them now broken down by type (appetizer, main dish, salad, etc). Some that I've gathered from all over are on recipe cards in a file box. Some are in boxes that I will never get to. I have some from my home ec days ( mid previous century) Why do I need all those cookbooks? I also have a family cookbook (for hand written recipes) that is still empty.
 
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