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The Recipe Collection

Last week we talked about your tried-and-tested recipes.  This week we’re going to talk about your recipe collection.  That is, all of the new recipes you’ve collected from various sources because you might want to try them and/or adapt them at some point.  I assume I’m not the only one who does that. 😉

Now, whereas a digital format doesn’t work well for me for daily use, it does work well for me for my recipe collection.  It’s occasionally a bit of a pain because I have to “import” recipes that I gather from magazines, etc.  But nowadays, the vast majority of the recipes I collect come from blogs, Pinterest, and other websites, so digital works well for me.  It makes them easy to copy-and-paste for storage, easy to search and sort, and easy to print when I want one in hard copy.

So, for me, it works well to have recipe software for collecting the recipes, and then print them out when I’m ready to try them.  If they pass the test, they can then go into the tried-and-true binder.  (I also have a section of my recipe software set aside for the ones that are tried-and-tested.)

STEP 1: Decide what works for you, and determine a method for storing your recipe collection.

This might be recipe software like it is for me.  Or it might be binders, file folders, traditional cards-in-boxes, or whatever you decide works.  If you save a lot of recipes from both print and digital sources, you might decide on a hybrid system.  (I recommend avoiding duplication, though, as much as is reasonably possible, so it’s not harder to keep up with.)  I do have one file folder for storing clipped-from-paper recipes until I get around to doing something else with them.  I’m toying with the idea of using voice-recognition software to read them into my computer.  That might save my fingers!

If you like recipe cards, but don’t like fiddling with boxes (or your kids keep spilling them), you can get photo sleeves for them and keep them in a binder.

STEP 2: If you need to purchase supplies for setting up your system, add them to your shopping list.

STEP 3: Once you have the supplies you need, put your recipes (last week’s and this week’s) into whatever systems you devised.

The System

Now you’ve determined where to store the recipes themselves, but you probably need a system for getting new recipes into the collection, and moving collected recipes into the tried-and-true space as appropriate.

For instance, I Pin recipes regularly on Pinterest.  But I don’t generally copy them to my software at the moment I Pin them.  That would take too long!  Instead, about once a month, as I’m preparing to deal with my menus, I go through the top sections of my recipe Pinterest boards, and copy everything over to my recipe software in one batch.  It’s just more efficient that way.

Moving things into tried-and-true is a little more straightforward.  If I’ve tried a recipe and we like it, I take the printout (which I already have, because I needed it to make the recipe in the first place) and stick it into the proper section of my binder.

STEP 4: Consider whether you need to add anything to your routines to accommodate moving recipes into and/or through your system.

Next week we’ll talk about menu planning.

If you’re just stumbling across this, please click here for the other posts in the series.

Updated Sep. 22, 2019. Originally published Feb. 5, 2013.