You could buy one of these multi megabyte memory "sticks", plug it into the proper orifice on your computer, drag the recipes to the stick's icon -- OR -- drag and drop your whole recipe file onto the icon, which will put the whole works at the ready when you need it and you won't even need to go online to use it. I use to use floppies, but these sticks of memory are super easy to use and you don't need any special equipment to use one. And, they are available everywhere, I've even seen them at Target and Walgreens.

I store recipes on the computer and flash drives also.

However, I also maintain a recipe book (3 ring binder) that contains my favorite recipes.

I keep my recipes in a word file in My Documents. I try to use the alphabetical sort feature....so I name each file by the categoryw here I want it. For instance "Cookies, walnut maple" or "Soup red pepper, Chase".
It means a bit of searching....but it's easy!!...And I burn a disc every few months and date the disc, then toss of give away the old one abd repeat as I have added or deleted recipes.
Linda C

I use the Home Cook'n program and like it very much.

Michelle

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Cook'n

I started using Recipe Circus a few years ago, it might be the type of site you are looking for. I like having recipes stored online, easy to share and I can look something up from any computer.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Recipe Circus

Thank you ALL!! I haven't used a memory stick before but that sounds like a good idea anyway, & the recipe circus and home cookin are looking promising too. I have some 3 ring binders from years ago when Current (the card people) were letting you buy this kit where they would personalize your name and you'd slip 3 printed by them covers into the front/back of a 3 ring binder and on the inside they had dividers and pockets etc. Too bad they don't make them anymore.

I get tired of wanting to make this or that recipe and having to remember what book it's in or where I last put it. I don't have the brain power when I'm in a hurry to scurry around checking all of my cookbooks. I have way too many cookbooks as it is and I just don't have the room anymore even when I see a great one. All of your suggestions will greatly help me cull the good ones into something workable and be a place to "dump" good sounding recipes until I can try them out. Thank you for your time and input. It is appreciated. Nicole

The recipes that are favorites I print out in BIG print and put in a 3-ring binder too.

I like simple, free and private... I have XP Pro and just Copy & Paste to Notepad... ( I have a Shortcut on my Task Bar for it )... I Save the recipes ( and the pics too ) to a Folder called Recipes...

If I want to find something I Right Click on the Folder and go up to Search, Right Click on that then type a word into the box that says Containing text:...

It can be anything thing you're looking for: beef, pork, cream cheese, AnnT; anything that's in your recipes... Once you hit Enter a list of everything with that word in it pops up...

If you happen to remember the full recipe name, as it was typed, ( such as Cream Cheese Danish Coffee Cake ) type in the whole thing and just that recipe will come up... ( I haven't found a way to type in two words that aren't together like AnnT and Rolls or ground beef + tomatoes... Not yet anyway... lol )

I use Notepad out of habit... On my first computer I didn't have a lot of memory and I was on dial-up so if I used a bigger program, while I was online, the computer would get really slow or lock up... Besides that the Notepad files are a lot smaller than any other word processor files... My 250 recipes and pics only come to 3.5 megs and more than 1/2 of that is for the pics... I also make a back up of them every few months... Although, that Recipe Circus does sound like a good way to keep a back up... But then I'd have to edit out a lot of stuff first, like the replies and links to the other CF Members....

Another reason I like Notepad is that it's really simple to make the font larger before I Print them out... Just like Westelle.... LOL

Rita

I too use a flash drive and my own computer...Word..for a basic folder. In that folder, I name the recipe as the poster did but in front of that name, I have my own categories..Bread, Entree, Dessert, etc. Not too many and the ones I think I might use soon also go into binders. I have 5 and the one that is entree, has tabs of beef, pork, fish etc. I also have a chicken binder of its own.

I have also added the pictures that people have posted of the dish (which is easy to do in just dragging on my Mac). It makes for fun reading and a good visual recipe.

I will say, I do some editing to make sure most every recipe fits on one page...even if I have to go to an 8 font. I know I can always up the font for another printing if I need to.

Right now, my GW recipes are my main cookbook so it's well worth the time. (I have LOTS of cookbooks but recipes from this site are what I have come to trust.) Maureen

westelle and bob in pc....I have a Sony camera with a Memory Stick Pro Duo that I store .jpg files on. Can I store text files on that??? Or do I need something different? If I can use that, can you tell me how? I like the idea of having a stick for just recipes...a tiny little recipe book. And can I edit recipes after they're stored on the stick? Thanks so much!
Pam

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think you can use a camera memory card to store text files... I can't copy anything to my Kodak memory card but then I never installed the software that came with the camera...

A flash / thumb drive is very simple to use, you just drag and drop, that is if you have XP or higher or a MAC... With Windows 98 you have to install a driver... I picked up a 2 gig flash drive for $5. the day after Thanksgiving...

Rita
P. S. Yes you can edit your files on a flash drive, it's just like a hard drive, only smaller and no moving parts...

Maybe I'm paranoid, but so many websites disappear overnight that I wouldn't want to store anything on them.

I keep Word open in the background when I'm reading here and cut/paste. Then as I save a recipe, MS Word defaults to the first line of the document for the name (so I make sure that is the recipe name when I cut/paste.) On my hard drive I have a folder with subfolders for Appetizer, Sides, Entres, etc. It's not as complicated as it sounds. About once a month, I back that file up on a memory stick...just in case since I once lost over 300 recipes when my computer died!

Here is a list of some online storage sites mentioned in Cnet Download Dispatch of November 30th.
I haven't checked out any of them but you may want to have a look:

*************************
Online storage:
Behold, the most popular online storage tools for the week ending November 30.

ADrive beta

GMail Drive 1.0.12 beta

Gspace 0.5.92

Yahoo Briefcase

************************

SharonCb

Here is a link that might be useful: Download Dispatch (Dec. 4)

1. Go to Documents, and click on New........and then create a Folder
2. Then name the folder: Cakes, Cookies, Meats, Pasta, a catagory type of recipe.
3. When you come across a recipe that you wish to save, put it into that particular designated folder. In some cases you can "copy and paste", or type onto WordPad. Then "save as" and put it into the proper folder (in documents).

When a folder accumulates what might be a lot of recipes, I transfer to a CD-R disk in my drive E (or whatever the CD drive is on your PC). I don't use "make compatible" until the disk is completely full, because I find that making the disk compatible prevents me from adding or making changes to a recipe (makes the disk write-protected). Then you can go back to Documents and send those recipes to Recycle Bin.

In that way you can free up the memory space in your PC, so you don't get that little window alert "low on memory".
Since your recipes are safely saved on a CD, you can then "empty your recycle bin", or hold on to something...just in case. I also name each CD disk with the catagories, as I did the folders. I have one CD disk for cakes, another for meats, another for cookies,....and so on.

I like this method better than any other program......I have two software programs on my PC, but use them only occasionally. When I want a recipe I find it on the CD, print it off, and file it in a kitchen drawer in the event that I want to use it again.