February 28, 2010

Recipe Organization






I love my Cath Kidston Recipe Organizer! Before I bought this binder, I tried the index card in the box thing, but that didn't work because I started printing out so many full-page recipes from the internet. Then I started sticking everything into a file folder & would have to rifle through it every time I needed a recipe, which was a nightmare. The 3-ring binder method really works for me. I need a way to keep full page recipes & a way to divide them by appetizer, main course, etc. You could just as easily (& cheaply) make your own binder, which some of you may have already done. I went ahead & bought this one because of all the info printed on the insides of the binder. I needed all of those conversions, etc. Also, for me, sometimes it's easier to just pay the extra money then to task myself with finding time to make my own.

For those of you interested in making your own binder, here are the tabs/dividers that are in mine:

Appetizers
Soups
Salads
Main Courses
Side Dishes
Desserts
Drinks
Miscellaneous

The tabs are pretty good. I don't have much behind the Salads & Drinks tabs, so I could probably do without those. I also wish it had a Breakfast tab. I've been sticking all of my breakfast recipes behind the Miscellaneous tab. Other than that, no complaints. Also worth noting, the actual dividers have pockets for recipes on index cards or scraps of paper. Very handy!

Like most of you, I accumulate a lot of recipes. I print out everything I come across online & stick it in my binder. If I haven't made it within 6 months to a year, I throw it out. I'm bad about printing out overly-ambitious recipes, so I do a lot of purging. I put new recipes in the front of the section so I see them every time I sit down to decide what to make for the week. If I find myself skipping past them week after week, I throw them out.

I bought this for $13 on Amazon, but they've apparently quit selling it. Davis Kidd used to have it in-store, so maybe check there. Always check the rings in the binder, I found that half of them are broken for whatever reason.

Again, I'd love to know how you guys organize your recipes, so please leave lots of comments!

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

I applaud your organization. I store my recipes in stacks! That way when I'm looking for a particular recipe, I can find appetizing recipes for a later meal.

abpaulson said...

ive switched completely to evernote.com. i love it because i can copy and paste right into it from my browser, add tags to search for, say, bananas when i have bananas i want to use up. i can access it from work or home, and there is a good desktop program you can use on your home computer. the best part is that my phone (and i would imagine most smart phones) have an app for it so i can access everything from the grocery store on my phone without lugging around a book or printing anything out. i also keep other kinds of notes in it too, but its really perfect for recipes. oh and its FREE!

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