I have all recipes I use (or think I want to use) on my Mac.... backed-up on an external storage device.

AND, I have printed out in LARGE type all favorite, frequently used recipes, placed in protective plastic sleeves, in a 3-ring binder for use in the kitchen.

I still have the old, wooden library box I used pre-Mac with all the old, original recipes that will probably be fought over at my funeral. Occasionally someone will call and ask if I PLEASE have an old recipe they've lost... chances are, if I was ever given it, I still have it..... in that old box. But, nothing new goes in there. [ Maybe they'll fight over the "external device" too. ;-) ]

I also have the oak card file....and a word file in my documents...sort of arranged. I like to title a recipe "soup, chicken rice aunt Harriet"
And then sometimes I will double file..."Chicken soup, Aunt Harriet"...And let the computer do my sorting.
Works for me!
Linda C

I have a MSWord file with the usual categories--(Appetizers, Bread, Breakfast, Beef, Beverages, etc). My laptop is in the kitchen so I can select a recipe, enlarge the screen, and see it from the stove and prep counter as I make the recipe.

I also have a MS Word file with some of those categories. When I get about 1,000 recipes, I burn them to a disc and start over.

Of course, I also have way too many cookbooks, that card file that I've had for 40+ years and because I'm afraid I'll lose something again (I had a computer crash, it sucked), I printed all the recipes on my first recipe disk to paper and put them in 3 ring binders.

Annie

Thanks everyone - I'll guess I'll start entering them on the computer and print the ones I use most and put in a binder. Thanks again!

I still have the old oak file box (but big, 5 x 8 cards) and folded magazine and newspaper clippings and 3 x 5 cards from Aunt Doris and Shirley in California and Uncle Wendell in New Mexico and on and on and on....

I carried the whole wad of them in my carry-on when we moved back to the States from the Netherlands. My husband was cross-eyed with his frustration with that baggage.

So maybe Santa will bring me a scanner for Christmas LOL!

seagrass

I have several oak boxes some small some big. I save some on the computer but print any that I think I might use and they are in a file. I have cookbooks from all the grand and great grandmothers, recipe cards from my mother although my dad wonÂt let me take her oak boxes. He still uses them and I am sure that my sister and I will have to flip a coin to see who gets them. But usually if I need a recipe I come here and find what I am looking for with a search.

I used to think I was a good cook then I found the cooking forum and found out I could be a much better cook. Again thank you to everyone here. I have learned so much and really enjoy coming here every day to see what everyone is cooking.

Claudia

I have those I remember, those I don't, and those I just made up.

: )
lyra

I have been scanning the indexes of my cookbooks into Access, in order to be able to find recipes in a hurry, but it's a gargantuan task. Indexing all the recipes stored on my computer will be even more work.

Until then I rely on memory, the handful of cookbooks I use the most, and a couple of notebooks where I write down recipes I have tested and want to use again.

Oh goodness! Perhaps the question "how do you organize your recipes?" should be, "do you organize your recipes?"

It would be so nice to share with you my method of organization...if I had one. I've only just started making an effort to write my recipes down! I do have a folder on my computer where I save interesting recipes (many gleaned from this forum) that I want to try, and another wherein I save those of my own that I've gotten 'round to writing up.

I've found myself thinking lately, that there must be software out there which would make it easier for one to make their own "cookbook", so to speak. Some system that one could use to easily save particular recipes to a category, and automatically have them listed in an index of sorts. If such a thing does not exist, some enterprising fellow (or gal) could make a mint off designing it.

Mine are organized exactly like Mustangs.

Is this a trick question?

I'm a little obsessive, but I have them printed in 3-ring binders and saved electronically in several locations.

I'm more tactile, so I like to flip through the binders, look at the recipes, and then the notes I've written about how it turned out underneath each recipe. After a while, I cull out the recipes that got "bad reviews". This helps my husband too, because sometimes I just hand him a binder and say, "Here YOU pick out what sounds good and we'll cook it."

My electronic files are a mess...over 400 recipes and I don't have them categorized, so I usually just scan through them (while I'm at work sometimes) and either search for something specific, or whatever sounds good at the time.

I've always said if the house caught fire, those binders would be one of the first things I'd grab! Even though I have my recipes saved electronically, there's about 25% of them I only have in print.

I am gradually getting all of my recipes online using YummySoup! (Mac software). Organized by categories (as well as one alphabetical list) in a database, it's a great program that makes it easy to find recipes. I keep my recipes on a laptop in my kitchen. Recipes can be displayed full screen - so I use it regularly.

Bonnie

This is a good question. I'm interested in the answers. When I started as a homemaker, I had a small cooking pamphlet cookbook and a binder with sections and pockets in them. I typed any new recipes on pages for the binder. Now I have a million cookbooks, 4or 5 large binders and a pile of unfiled recipes from this forum and internet searches which I intend to scan or at least sort into categories. I have a scanner which I got for free when I bought my printer but haven't taken the time to hook it up, not a lot of room left on my desk. I have a temp file on top of the microwave of recipes I intend to try and this gets cycled into the notebooks. But I am really a mess. I use the old recipe binders a lot but it's the newer collections which I'm attached to for an unknown reason. I need a fireproof system and a lot of help.

Bonnie - I use Yummy SOup as well. It really is a great program. I find it so easy to drag recipes in and even copy the recipes from sites like this.

Its only for Mac users - but there must be something like it for the PC. I either bring my laptop into the kitchen or I bring it up on the computer in the LR and just go in and read or ask my DH to read it for me.

Its great!! I would recommend a program like this for anyone who has a ton of recipes and can't keep them organized, and for only $20 you can't go wrong.

Ruth

Here is a link that might be useful: YummySoup software