I totally understand why your kitchen’s not organized. I’m supposedly an organizational maniac, yet I’m battling my kitchen daily. My spices are impeccably organized and my silverware drawer is awesome, but my utensils drawers are a disaster. The rest of the Hectic Family is partly to blame, but I know if I made the time it would be better. It boils down to how much I care.
I’ve made huge strides in one area that pays off handsomely: My recipes. These are entirely my domain. While I’m a digital guy at heart, I’ve got physical recipes galore. Some are handwritten heirlooms, others are cheap knockoffs. Having all these recipes is helpful, but poses organizational challenges.
Here’s my tip…organize your recipes and keep them organized.
For me, the problem is three-fold:
- Recipe Cards
- Printed Recipes
- Digital Recipes
Recipe Cards
For my recipe cards, I’ve got a recipe box. It’s nothing fancy, just a box for index cards. Mine happens to be from my Mom, so it has sentimental, as well as practical, value. I’ve installed taller cards that I use as category dividers. It doesn’t matter how you segment your recipes, just have some kind of organization. It makes searching for a particular recipe easier. Remember, you’re the one searching so use what works for you!
Start gathering your recipes. Pick a place to put them, ideally near the recipe box. Don’t sort them now, just collect them. Having all the recipes in one place will be an improvement! As you have time, put them into the proper categories. While you’re at it, create some taller, bright-colored placeholders. Mine are hot-pink. When you pull a recipe out of the box, put a placeholder where it was. Then when you’re done using the recipe put it back where the placeholder is. This way you’ll stay organized (which is probably the bigger challenge).
Printed Recipes
I’ve also got loads of printed recipes ranging from pages torn out of magazines to those I’ve printed. It’s not an exaggeration to say I have thousands of these!
Just like the recipe cards, start gathering and put them in one place. If they’re near the recipe cards that’s a plus. As time permits, organize them. I put mine in a 3-Ring binder filled with labeled category dividers. The recipes slip into sheet protectors. Not only are the recipes organized, but the plastic safeguards from damage when I’m actually using it.
Digital Recipes
My eventual goal is to go all-digital for my recipes. While I’ve made great strides, the number of recipes I’m collecting exceeds my ability to convert them into digital form. I’m making progress though. I’ve settled on Evernote to store my recipe collection. There are separate notebooks for each category (appetizers, main courses, sides, desserts, etc.) and tags to subdivide them (chicken, beef, pork, etc.). I’ve also got an inbox where I gather new recipes so there’s less friction to actually capturing a new one. I’m also improving at importing online recipes directly into this structure. Best of all, Evernote’s search capabilities are outstanding, so finding recipes is a snap!
Wrap Up
My recommendation is two-fold:
- Get your paper recipes in order
- Move to digital as soon as practical
It used to be you needed a scanner and high-powered computer to digitize, but your cell phone works great as a capture device. While I’m partial to Evernote, you can use any system that holds images. We share many of our family recipes via Google Drive…and it works well.
There you have it, a few tips on how to begin organizing your recipes. Rather than cards, papers, and digital recipes scattered all over the place you’ll have a practical, time-saving solution. While it takes some time to setup and maintain the organization, the long-term time savings are phenomenal.
What did I miss? Do you have any tips for recipe storage and retrieval? I’d love to hear from you in the comments…let’s start a conversation!
Most importantly, make it a great day in the kitchen!
Items I Use for Recipe Organization
