How Do You Store/Save Your Recipes?

[GB]

I use macgourmet and I LOVE it! I have a safe place in my kitchen for my laptop, so no worries there. It's searchable, categorizable, does nutritional analysis, and synchs with my iPhone so I have my recipes on hand wherever I am.

I took a look at this program and instantly fell in love with it. This is exactly what I have been looking for forever. Thanks apple*tart.

 

[apple*tart]

Oh good! You're very welcome! Your new best friend is about to become shift + apple + r. That's how you automatically import online recipes to your recipe box! It even grabs the photo for you, if there is one. If it's a non-supported website for direct importing, you can still do text clipping, which only takes a few more clicks.
I had a blast setting up the categories I wanted. In addition to the regular categories you'd see in a cookbook or a blog (Beef, Poultry, Vegetables, Desserts, etc) I have categories for original recipes, for each season, for basic techniques (blanching peaches, sectioning an orange, softening butter, etc), for recipes we've rated 5 stars, recipes I haven't made yet, recipes I want to try soon, and recipes I'll be making during the current week. It's super easy to include recipes in multiple categories/folders. I also make extensive use of the notes function to keep any reminders or to keep track of my efforts as I'm developing or modifying a recipe.
I also LOVE the optional nutritional analysis plug-in. It was worth every penny.
It was kind of intimidating at first to have this huge stack of recipes and cookbooks that needed to be entered into the software. The solution I landed on was that each time I make a new recipe, I enter it into the software. If I'm meal-planning for the week and have a recipe or two from a cookbook I'm going to try, I might enter in those recipes then.
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or problems, I'd be happy to help!

 

[GB]

I don't think the direct importing will work for me because I use Firefox and that is not a supported browser, but the text clipping works so well that it is OK that direct is not an option right now.

I love how it is set up like iTunes and you can do smart folders (like smart playlists in iTunes). I have a smart folder for recipes that I have not made yet and it updates automatically so any time I enter a recipe I have not made I will indicate that and it will automatically end up in that list. Then when I am looking to make something new i just have to look in that one folder.

I have a lot to learn about it. There seems to be a ton you can do and I have just scratched the surface. I do have the additional nutritional plug in, but have not used it yet. I will have to look at that next.

I love that it hooks up to my iPhone. I just hope they get that app working better, because right now it works sometimes and not other times.

 

[apple*tart]

Oh yes, I forgot! That was what prompted me to make the switch to Safari. You're right, though, clipping is pretty easy on its own!
I also love the iPhone synching. It's so useful to grocery shop with all of your recipes at your fingertips! You see X is on sale and want to make Y, but can't remember everything else you need for the recipe. Open up the app, and voilà!

 

[GB]

Ya know I didn't even think that when I want to put a recipe I can just open Safari and do it then go back to FF. Now it will be even easier

 

[apple*tart]

Totally! That's what I did at first, but I eventually made the switch. I download a lot of recipes, though - 2/3 or so of the recipes in my database are ones I haven't made yet.

 

[Thaicooking]

I usually print out recipes, and store then in folder. It's more easy when I want to find recipes, just open the folder.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Apart from my ever-burdgeoning library of cookbooks (geez - could be up to 1,000 by now) & my collection of food magazines (Saveur, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Eating Well, etc., etc.), I save online recipes into my "Food" document file, which is segregated, micro-segregated, & copied according to food type, ethnic type, etc., etc.

As I get around to making the online ones, obviously anything that doesn't come up to snuff, is just "eh", or that I don't think I can improve on, simply gets deleted.

 

[Elf]

Has anyone used Big Oven web site or their software? Saw an article in the paper today about it, looked at their site, not certain that I want to purchase their software without some first hand information.

 

[pennsy]

Has anyone used Big Oven web site or their software? Saw an article in the paper today about it, looked at their site, not certain that I want to purchase their software without some first hand information.

Elf:

I own a software package specifically for recipes called AccuChef. I love it, to put it mildly. Although I am a Mac person, I have this software which I use on a small laptop made by Toshiba. I cannot even imagine how many recipes I have in it, and I'm only now thinking, that I'm a recipe "collector" and I have to stop adding so many new recipes to it. You can copy from most websites and you'll have to learn some easy codes to transfer your chosen recipe to the database. It is ultimately flexible but unfortunately Mac has nothing to compare with it. I've looked into it believe me. I did look at the Big Oven site and think AccuChef surpasses it.

You can subscribe for a trial membership, then purchase it later, which is what I did. Since I'm still not allowed to enter URL's here, I'd suggest you just google AccuChef. Ggive it a whirl, then please let me know how you like it; whenever. It even has a spell checker to double check things you add in manually. Adding manually is no problem, I have some family recipes that I've entered because I couldn't sustain some of the hand written recipes I've had for years.

Good luck, CHEERS!
Pennsy! I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

 

[pennsy]

P.S. for Elf:

I have had this database forever. I also believe I looked at the MacGourmet someone else was talking about. Unfortunately, transfer from the PC to another MAC laptop, (which I've desired for some time) is not a sure thing. Imagine hand inserting (minus the codes) about two thousand plus recipes argh. All options regarding this issue have been looked at by me and DH who is a computer geek. Therefore, I've stayed with AccuChef. If the Toshiba tanks, HEAVEN forbid, I'm in deep yogurt. How are things in the Annapolis area, we lived in Rockville, MD area many years.

Cheers pennsy!

 

[chefkathleen]

I have an old fashioned recipe box that has the normal categories in it that I got in the late 70's. I love the hand written part of it. I can see how my culinary knowledge has changed over the years from a canned soup and crackers person to a real chef. The lingo and the ways I measure have changed. I lost my moms recipe box when she died and still kick myself over that as it had hand written stuff from her and my grandmother, that I had never met, as well has my aunt that I had never met.
Of course I have recipes saved in my computer and in notebooks all over the house but, the ones that mean the most are handwritten. I find in old books or other odd places recipes that mom had jotted down every now and then and it's like a treasure.

 

[Selkie]

Maybe because I'm older and I've been a computer person for more than 30 years, but I'm convinced that simplicity is best for me. I've seen FAR too many electronic disasters when it comes to keeping data safe! (Fire, Lightning, data corruption, poor magnetic media manufacturing, Drive hardware failure, accidental data erasure, internet interruptions of service, businesses that fold overnight with no warning or ability to retrieve data without a court order.) This was all very upsetting to a trucking company that relied on invoice and insurance claim data to stay in business. In the end, we simply backed up onto removable media and stored it in a vault.

For me, I copy the recipe into MS Wordpad and then save it into a recipes folder (with appropriate subfolders.) My recipes folder, along with other weekly accrued data, is automatically mirrored onto an external backup drive.

I will also print out the recipe and insert it into a protective sleeve and then a notebook binder I keep with my other cookbooks. More often than not, I work from the printed recipe and sometimes add handwritten notes.

Trusting ANY data to an online service is tenuous at best.

 

[BreezyCooking]

I agree with Selkie, & I still don't understand the necessity of specialty "recipe software".

I've got everything in highly segregated "Word" documents, & I LOVE it. All I have to do is type in a search for a specific ingredient - "arugula" for example - & within a minute every single recipe I've saved that has it shows up. It's fabulous, easy, & best of all - FREE!!

And - as Selkie does - I print out recipes as I use them, & those that "make the grade" get plastic-sleeved into a ring-binder to keep in the kitchen.

 

[Selkie]

I still don't understand the necessity of specialty "recipe software".

I've got everything in highly segregated "Word" documents, & I LOVE it. All I have to do is type in a search for a specific ingredient - "arugula" for example - & within a minute every single recipe I've saved that has it shows up. It's fabulous, easy, & best of all - FREE!!

Here, Here!!!

 

[Andy M.]

I still don't understand the necessity of specialty "recipe software".

I've got everything in highly segregated "Word" documents, & I LOVE it. All I have to do is type in a search for a specific ingredient - "arugula" for example - & within a minute every single recipe I've saved that has it shows up. It's fabulous, easy, & best of all - FREE!!

I do this as well.

The recipe software gives you some formatting options, nutritional information, etc.

I have had Master Cook for years and only use it to calculate nutritional information such as calories and carbs.

 

[chefkathleen]

I like a USB or flash/thumb drive to back up data so that it doesn't get lost. Seems better than just leaving it to the fates on the computer.

 

[BreezyCooking]

I do this as well.

The recipe software gives you some formatting options, nutritional information, etc.

I have had Master Cook for years and only use it to calculate nutritional information such as calories and carbs.

But you know what? If I come across a recipe here on DC or online or in the newspaper that looks inviting & that I want to try, I don't give a rat's patootie about the "nutritional content/carbs/etc.". I mean, really. I'm gonna try it, & if I like it, I'm gonna save it & make it again, regardless of the "nutritional content/carbs/etc.".

 

[apple*tart]

I still don't understand the necessity of specialty "recipe software".

It's not a necessity, strictly speaking - I think I *might* be able to live without it. Maybe. But I do think it has its advantages. Namely:
1) Automatic nutritional calculations
2) Synchs with my iPhone so I have all of my recipes with me at all times
3) Direct import of recipes from many of the common recipes sites - I hit two keys on my keyboard and *poof*, the recipe in its entirety, including its photo, is in my software
4) Instant, automatic ingredient scaling (no typos!)

There are others, but these pack a lot of punch for me. Everybody has their preferences.

 

[GB]

Breezy, I used to do it your way too and I have no issue with it at all. It is a very efficient method and works very well. The MacGourmet program that apple tart turned me onto is fantastic though. You can organize your recipes in ways you have never thought of. Want to quickly see all recipes that have chicken, rice, and chipotles? Simple, just set up the software to show that. no searching needed. No looking through thousands of recipes reading ingredient lists. Not only that, but you can save the search so as you add new recipes that fit that criteria they automatically are shown in that search without you having to do anything. That is just one of thousands (literally endless) types of ways you can sort and organize the info.

Another cool feature is that you can set it up for laptop mode (I forget the actual term they use) which lets you pull up the recipe on the laptop and put the laptop in reading distance, but far enough away from where you are cooking so there is no chance of food spilling or splattering on your computer. The font size is turned very large and only the info you need for cooking is shown (no nutritional info or suggestions of other dishes to go along with the dish or other things like that). It is a really smart feature.

Nothing wrong with using Word, but some of the programs do have very useful features that you simply can not get with Word.