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MaryMary
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| Posted: July 16 2006 at 9:48pm | IP Logged
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Does anyone have any ideas re: an efficient way to organize their recipes? This is one area of my home that is repeatedly out of order. I currently have recipes from various sources stuffed in a box near my rows of recipe books in the kitchen. Not elegant. Not simple!!!  Needless to say, trying to locate a recipe when I need it brings me to the brink of despair!!
I would love any feedback from all of you, but I would be especially interested in ideas for perhaps storing recipes according to Liturgical season. Does anyone do this? For example, last week I made Tiramisu, an Italian dessert whose name literally means "lift-me-up". The thought occurred to me that it would make a great dessert for the feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, or for the feast of the Assumption of Mary. But I probably will never think to make it for those feasts BECAUSE THE RECIPE IS BURIED ALIVE... and for me, out of sight is out of mind...know what I mean?
I would be so grateful to receive ANY advice on this topic... Where do you keep your recipes? How do you order them? What do you do with recipes you'd like to try, but haven't? Have you found an organizing system that works great for you? Do tell, I'm all ears!!!
Mary
Mom 2 3 
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ladybugs
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| Posted: July 16 2006 at 10:10pm | IP Logged
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Hi Mary,
Just a thought....
what about organizing by Saint and using a calendar to remember the Feast day?
You could create a file system by day - a binder with a piece of paper in clear file with a list of recipes for the corresponding feast????
Just an idea off the top of my head.
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Love and God Bless,
Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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teachingmom
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| Posted: July 17 2006 at 12:20am | IP Logged
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One of the most helpful things I've done in the past year or two is to put all new recipes on my computer. My computer is located in a nook right off my kitchen. I can find a recipe in a snap by looking under "main dishes" or "breakfast" and then follow the recipe right from the computer screen. No paper involved!
I still have a file box filled with my old collection. If I want something from there, I spend WAY too much time shuffling through the entire thing to find a particular recipe on a file card or on a page cut out of a magazine or newspaper.
My goal is to take all the recipes in that box and put them on the computer at some point. By the way, your question about what to do with liturgical year recipes is solved by the computer too. It would be a simple thing to save the recipe for soft pretzels under all three categories of "breads," "snacks," and "Lent."
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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stefoodie
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| Posted: July 17 2006 at 8:28am | IP Logged
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I've been organizing my recipes through blogging. It's great because I also have notes on what was a hit and what wasn't, of things I'd like to improve next time I make the dish, etc.
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stef
mom to five
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Dawn
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| Posted: July 17 2006 at 9:34am | IP Logged
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Mary, this is on my list of things to do as well. Right now I have giant tote bag stuffed with magazine pages and photocopies and a small envelope of recipe cards. I'm a paper person, so my ideal would be a large binder (perhaps covered in pretty fabric or scrapbooking paper) with dividers and sheet protectors inside. I'm not sure how I'd organize the recipes - I had been thinking by category but I like your idea of doing it by liturgical season. I have another binder divided bi-monthly where I store ideas for the seasons (liturgical and natural) and food ideas often end up in there too. When I use it, it helps me gear up for the next season.
Anyway, those are my few cents. Thanks for bringing this up! 
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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kristina
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| Posted: July 17 2006 at 2:12pm | IP Logged
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Mary,
I have a small recipe basket for tried and true recipes and family recipes. I also a have a bag (actually, a few bags ) of never tried recipes to sort through, but now that our eating habits have changed, I notice myself tossing most of them, when I have made time to go through them. ("bagging and stashing" my clutter is one of my very bad habits . it's not just recipes, it is every paper that I cannot find a home for immediately)
I have found many recipes from magazines also available online with a printer friendly version. Since we discovered foodtv, many of our recipes come from there. The visual of seeing the recipe prepared before I try it has been so helpful since cooking does not come naturally to me.
Recently, I made three binders for my printed and typed recipes. I just used clear view binders and cardstock. The binders are:
1= Appetizers, soups, salads, vegetables and side dishes
2= Main Dishes: pasta, Beef, Chicken, Fish, Sandwiches and Pizza
3= Breads, muffins, desserts, cakes, cookies and treats
I placed the recipes in clear plastic sleeves so I they are easy to clean. The recipes have been so easy to find since I have done this.
You could easily adapt binders for the liturgical year. You could even do a big green binder for ordinary time, a more slim lavender binder for lent, a dark purple binder for advent, etc.. If the binders are not available in colors, the clear view binders are readily available and a huge bargain at this time of year. Insert the card stock colors in the side, front and back. Decorate with beautiful stickers or images.
Blessings,
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kristina
yesterthoughts
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ShawnaB
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| Posted: July 17 2006 at 5:46pm | IP Logged
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I basically did the same as Kristina a couple of years ago. The binder system has worked really well. I use tabbed dividers to separate the categories, and new recipes I tuck into the pocket inside the cover until I'm ready to 3-hole punch and file them. I also bought some clear plastic photo sleeves in the 4x6 and 3x5 size to hold my recipe cards, and now they are in the binder also.
Its one organizing system that has actually lasted! Now, if I could just make the connection from the nice recipe binder to actually planning meals.... 
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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Wendi DeGrandpr
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| Posted: July 17 2006 at 9:37pm | IP Logged
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I just created a binder system as well. Pretty much the same as mentioned above. I am working hard to create a menu system for our home. In the beginning of the binder I made a list of our favorite meals. Then I have several copies of a calendar for meal planning. Each month I take the calendar, write in the dinners and post it on the fridge. I have a seperate list for breakfast and lunch as they are the same for each day every week - it's easy for the kids to know what to make. If the dinner requires a specific recipe I hi-lite it on the calendar and then if I have asked one of my older dd's to cook they know they can find the recipe in our new binder. I was motivated to do this when my daughter was diagnosed w/ diabetes - I have made sure many of the recipes have carb counts available and I am figuring carb counts out for our favorites so it is more convenient at meal time.
Since I began this we are eating healthier, we eat out less and I am using leftovers much more effectively (this means less science projects found after who knows how long!)  So far this has been good for us - now I just have to maintain our monthly dinner menu.
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God Bless,
Wendi
Mom to four blessings
"We can do no great things - only small things with great love." Blessed Mother Teresa
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MaryMary
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| Posted: July 18 2006 at 8:41am | IP Logged
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Awwwww, shucks, you guys are GREAT!
Wow! Now I have so much inspiration to get started. Maria, I never thought of cataloging the recipes - that might be a place to start. I think that one day I would like to have them all on the computer, but at this stage in my life, I fear the amount of time(and the typo's)that would be involved (I'm not the world's greatest typist!!)
Dawn, like you I think I prefer to have a hard copy in front of me for reference. I think I just may do the color coded binder thing (what an idea!)and get some photo album sheets to go inside. Many of my recipes are on 4x6 cardstock, and I was stumped as to how I could organize them in a binder with page protectors.
Thanks so much for all your help!!!
Mary
Mom 2 3
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Organizing Recipes
