Recipe organization?

[Dillbert]

I have many file card boxes from my great-grandmothers thru "my generation" - it's really is a kick to wander through them.

but I do keep my stuff in text files - in a directory with sub-directories - and I simply print out a copy when I need it to take into the kitchen. many of the old favorites I've copied into 'electronic'

I have a special folder "Pending" - I copy stuff off the cooking sites that I want to try into that location and if it pans out I'll keep it and move it to my Beef, Chicken, Breads, <whatever> folder.

I especially like the approach because I can make & keep notes for scaling up/down, 'modifications/changes' that worked, didn't work, a wine that worked especially well with the dish, etc. 3x5 cards are,,,, well,,,, small.

 

[Andy M.]

One serious problem I have.

All the recipes I have copied from the internet that I liked and intended to make one day outnumber the recipes I have made and are in my cookbook by about 100 to 1!

I need to start a process like the movie and make a new recipe every day to get through them all in my lifetime.

Then there are all the recipes I have clipped from magazines and other sources...

 

[Max Sutton]

Recipe box

I'm old fashioned. I keep all my recipes on recipe cards in a recipe box arranged in different categories.

I use an empty desk calendar plastic easel to hold the recipe card while preparing food items to cook or bake.

 

[Joeboy]

hmm, how do you guys use the recipes while you cook? Do you have a computer near the kitchen? I am a fairly low level cook, so i often find myself walking back and forth from the kitchen and the computer as i often forget the steps or the less obvious ingredients.

Thats the advantage of having a laptop with wireless, you can site the laptop in ur kitchen.

Why dont you print recipes out when you like them?

 

[thymeless]

PDAs, smart phones, text messages are all easy ways to get recipes into a device you can easily keep in the kitchen in your pocket and glance at as needed.

 

[jennifer75]

I just now received in the mail my first recipe book. Amish Cooking. Simple recipes. Simple ingredients.

Can't wait. I smell a collection forming.

 

[grnidkjun]

Talk about timely on finding this post.
I had picked up the software "Cook'n" but read the return policy afterward that if I open the software it is non-returnable. Makes sense.

Considering it was over $60, I wanted to try it.
I found on cnet.com where I could download a 30 day trial.
So, I downloaded trials on both Cook'n and Living Cookbook.

I've decided I really like Living Cookbook and am going to order it and return Cook'n.

Living Cookbook is half the price, it allows you to manage kitchen inventory and like someone said, include your own photos.
You can also publish your own cookbook out to Word, and when you input ingredients and the servings, it calculates the nutrition value for you too.

I'm really pleased with the trial of this one so far. I currently have all my recipes in a hodge podge of TXT and Word files on my pc, along with various cookbooks.
I'm going to start converting my favorites into my own cookbook.
The ones I've downloaded from various sites but not tried, I'm going to create a separate cookbook for them, and if they are good, then will move them to my own for repeating.

 

[JamesS]

I've been wanting to computerize my recipes since the eighties, and just never wanted to sit down and do it. I'd rather cook than type. With the inexpensive little netbooks out there, it's getting to be a better and better idea though. Maybe one day soon.

Right now, my recipes are written on any number of things with the stacks of recipes tossed into ziplock bags in categories. It's not pretty...but it works. These bags have handwritten recipes from various family members, recipes clipped off of ingredient bags and boxes, scribbled on napkins...you name it.

I also have around three hundred cookbooks with post-it notes marking recipes I really liked and a recipe card file full of recipes that my mother got every month (like the book of the month club with recipe cards) for a long while in the seventies.

 

[getoutamykitchen]

I use macgourmet and I love it. I do bring my laptop into the kitchen (or rather on a surface between my kitchen and dining room) when I cook. It's amazingly awesome.

I use MacGourmet also. I don't have a laptop, but I do alot of my menu and shopping plans at the computer and print out the meals I plan on making if it isn't already in my binder. Laptop is my next investment.

 

[babetoo]

Totally unorganized pile in a kitchen drawer. Small notes, large print outs, magazines, all of'em. UN-OR-GAN-IZED. But I know what's in there, somewhere.

you and i are buds, jennifer. i did go through them a while ago and got rid of the ones i will never make. i keep current ones in basket in kitchen. and the rest in a hat box. we are organized, we just do it differently. lol

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Totally unorganized pile in a kitchen drawer. Small notes, large print outs, magazines, all of'em. UN-OR-GAN-IZED. But I know what's in there, somewhere.

you and i are buds, jennifer. i did go through them a while ago and got rid of the ones i will never make. i keep current ones in basket in kitchen. and the rest in a hat box. we are organized, we just do it differently. lol

Can I join your party? I have folders, an expandable file, and recipe boxes out the wazoo! I was just going through the stack of recipes I've clipped out of magazines over the years earlier today. If I won't die before I get my life organized I've got many MANY years ahead of me. If not, my kids can do it! After all, bunches and bunches of these recipes were...my Mom's!

 

[Sandyj]

I've decided I really like Living Cookbook and am going to order it and return Cook'n.

Living Cookbook is half the price, it allows you to manage kitchen inventory and like someone said, include your own photos.
You can also publish your own cookbook out to Word, and when you input ingredients and the servings, it calculates the nutrition value for you too.

Hi, are you still liking the Living Cookbook software? I am interested in purchasing (or just downloading) recipe software - I read your opinion with interest. How is it at printing out the recipes? Can you print out a "cook book"?
Regards,
Sandyj

 

[JamesS]

This topic got me going again and I went to download.com and pulled down trials of a dozen different recipe cataloging programs ranging from free to eighty dollars. I've only played with a couple of them so far, but I'm really liking MasterCook 9. Entering recipes is really easy, and looking them up isn't bad either. The printing is kind of fancy, laid out like a magazine article.

 

[Silversage]

Hi, are you still liking the Living Cookbook software? I am interested in purchasing (or just downloading) recipe software - I read your opinion with interest. How is it at printing out the recipes? Can you print out a "cook book"?
Regards,
Sandyj

I'm still loving mine! Printing a recipe is easy - just a click. You set your own preferences. You can print just the recipe or include the extras like photos, nutrition, cost, etc.

As far as printing a cookbook, LC interfaces with MS Word. (Probably with Sun's Open Office if you don't have Word). Again, you can set your own format and choose the size. You can do a fold-over booklet or full 8 1/2 x 11 pages.

They have a pretty good tutorial on their website, and I think you can download it for 30 days for free.

(No, I'm not connected with them in any way; I just like their product).

 

[grnidkjun]

Hi, are you still liking the Living Cookbook software? I am interested in purchasing (or just downloading) recipe software - I read your opinion with interest. How is it at printing out the recipes? Can you print out a "cook book"?
Regards,
Sandyj

Yes, I am still liking it. I downloaded the free trial from cnet.com
You can print a cookbook and you can make multiple cookbooks and it comes with plenty of pre loaded as well.

I've just ordered the full blown software and should then be able to import files as well.
*you can't import while using the trial version.

the other poster is correct you can publish out to a Word document and update.

I suggest downloading the trial version, then you can either purchase a license or order the software from amazon.com

You might find this site helpful too:
Cookbook & Recipe Software Review 2010 - TopTenREVIEWS

 

[Sandyj]

Thanks for your replies! I never thought of downloading a trial version - sounds like a perfect try.

I'm making a cookbook "by hand" for my eldest daughter, and I find it takes me forever to get the recipe just right - I throw in memories and stories about the recipe, so it takes a long time to write out by hand. I was torn between doing it on the PC or writing it by hand - I thought (sort of self-centered of me!) that she might like to have something in my handwriting one day....I have things written in my grandmother's hand, and some of my aunts, and it feels so personal still.

Having said all that, I realize that I don't often cook from recipes. Maybe I should. I made a marsala chicken last night, and my marsala sauce didn't come out right at all - too much wine, alcohol not cooked off enough....all because I'm too lazy to compute the measurements from a 4 person recipe to however much ingredient I have - in this case chicken. I had 8 or 9 breasts, was cooking for 6. Usually things come out okay, but occasionally - much doctoring rquired - how do you write that out? I also will use up things in my pantry which means changing things around. I like the Julia Child cook books because, instead of recipes, she teaches concepts.

 

[recipedirect]

That is the reason I started my website, to organize my family recipes. I keep the originals in a binder with plastic covers. The living cookbook mentioned above looks pretty cool.

 

[qmax]

My wife has her's in an index card box.

I don't repeat dishes enough (at least in the same way) to save recipes. For me, they are mostly sources of ideas anyway. The internet, with the millions of recipes on it, is my recipe box, of sorts.

 

[theages]

I also keep mine on the computer. I still have old ones in binders, books, recipe cards, etc, but I am slowly adding all of them to my computer file. I have major categories, (Apps, Entrées, Soups, Salads, Sauces, etc.) Then, under each I may have sub-categories (under sauces I have "Hot" and "Cold", under "Hot" I have "Demi Sauces", "Hollandaise Sauces", "Chutneys", etc). And then, if like a particular Entrée with a unique sauce I'll save the sauce both under the specific entrée and also under the appropriate sauce. This makes it easier to find an idea based upon either the type of entrée or the type of sauce. And then repeat the process for other categories.

In the kitchen, I'll simply print the recipe and bring it to the kitchen with me.

 

[vagriller]

I have some many cookbooks, and yet I always go to allrecipes.com when I need a new recipe. Mainly because of the reviews. It's nice to see the additional tips and comments, substitutions, etc. And you can upload your own there too, so it would seem to be a nice way to keep track of all your recipes. I've yet to post any of mine there though.