How To Organize Your Recipes

One of the most common paper clutters in your household would probably be your recipes.  That is if you have not taken the time to do some organizing in that area.  What are the ways of organizing recipes?  Read on and you may just find something that works for your particular needs and style.

Preparation

The first step you must undertake before organizing your recipes is to eliminate unnecessary items first.  What recipes are not worth keeping?  Firstly, those recipes which demand too much time than you are able or willing to put in must be tossed away.  Secondly, those recipes which cost more to cook than to just eat out logically should just be eaten out.  Thirdly, recipes which are way too incompatible with your family’s palate should never be cooked again.

Sorting

After streamlining your recipe collection, decide how to sort them meaningfully.  Most families have about 15 to 20 favorite recipes which can simply be rotated.  These recipes can be sorted into some basic categories such as Breakfasts, Brunches, Dinners, Soups, Main Dishes and Desserts.  You can also categorize according to the ingredients such as Beef, Pork, Chicken, Egg, Fish and Vegetables.  Or you could sort them according to the cooking method used such as Slow Cooker, Casserole, Baked and Grilled.

Printing or Copying

Nowadays, there are recipe sites which have printable recipes which look fantastic.  Yet you can also do grandmother’s way and copy recipes on pretty recipe cards in your own handwriting.  Or you may choose to photocopy recipes from magazine and cookbooks and just mount them onto cardboards.  In any case, you want individual recipes to be made of at least cardboard stuff.  For then you can easily prop the card up on the kitchen counter for easy viewing when you cook.

Protection

Individual recipe cards should be inserted into plastic protector sheets to provide water-, dough- and splatter-proofing.  Fail to do this and your recipes may last for only a few cooking sessions.  Substitutes for plastic protector sheets include refill pages for display books and photo albums.  There are also protector sheets for 3-ring binders.

Organizing

Notebooks

Notebooks are cheap and keep recipes intact but are susceptible to wear and tear.  It is hard to keep opened up to the particular recipe you want to cook.

Recipe Box

A cardboard box covered in wrapping paper or pretty fabric looks awesome and holds cards which are easy to pick up and return.  However, cardboard boxes are not as durable as wooden ones.

Accordion File Organizers

Accordion file organizers make tabbing easy and makes taking out and returning recipes back easy, though not as easy as with a recipe box.  Recipe accordion files are now getting prettier and can double up as décor in your kitchen.

Photo Albums

Photo albums with sticky pages and plastic pockets can also be used as recipe organizers.  The downside is that they are bulky to use.  If you do choose to take the individual recipes out, you find it a hassle.

3-Ring Binder

The ease with which you can take out from and return back individual recipes from and to a 3-ring binder makes this type of recipe organizer a hit.   Just be sure to protect the pages with plastic protector sheets.