Recipe Organization

I have a lot of cookbooks. A running joke at our house is that I could try three new recipes a day for the rest of my life and still not get through half the books. A quick check of the math proves that's probably true. And I keep getting more! Add to that a monthly stack of magazines like Gourmet, Southern Living, Cooking Light, Food and Wine, and Everyday Food (and that's the tip of the proverbial iceberg) and the recipes can get to be overwhelming. Over the years though, I've developed a pretty cool system for keeping track of them all. (Apparently very similar to the one Martha uses according to her Homekeeping Handbook.) Hopefully, you've found enough recipes you like on this blog and elsewhere that you need to put it to use. Here's how it goes.

As you find recipes you like in magazines, rip them out. No sense in keeping whole magazines stacked around. Set the recipes aside until you're ready to sort. If you find recipes on blogs or websites, print them out and put them in your "to file" stack also. Cookbooks get a little more complicated if you're like me and don't want to rip them apart. So, you can either make photocopies and put in to file stack. Or just mark recipes that look interesting with tiny post-it notes.

Every month or so, go through your "to file" stack and sort everything. You'll separate them into categories that make sense for you. For example, some of my categories include Appetizers, Chicken, Mexican, Soups, Vegetables, etc. You'll come up with your own. You can also set a few aside as "Try Now." (And even trash any that don't look as interesting any more.) Then put each stack in its own folder and file away. (I use a wooden file box on my cookbook shelves.)

Then, you can always go into a specific file for a certain recipe, but I periodically go through and create a "Soon" stack. Those things that sound good to try in next month or so. Then, I'll go through that stack and pick a couple every week to add to shopping list and try.

Notice the system at this point is just for recipes you want to attempt. Once you've made something for the first time, you have to decide if it's a keeper. If so, slip it into a sheet protector and put it into a binder which you've organized with dividers listing your categories. This becomes your Kitchen Bible. Believe me, you'll go back to it again and again. And will always know exactly where to find things.

If you don't like the recipe, chunk it. One less thing to worry about.

Try it and see if you like this system. If not, you can easily adapt to your style. Let me know your improvements by posting a comment.