For cooking magazines, I cut out any recipe that looks yummy and store them in a magnetic page photo album. When I need one, I just take out that page and use it. The recipe is behind the sheet of plastic and it wipes clean. Page protectors are another good way to save recipes.

I have not figured out a way to keep track of the books though. There are just TOO many of them!! I inherited a bunch of my mom's books and when I added them to the ones I already have, it;s just too many. But I don't want to get rid of them. Good thing I have a big pantry to store them all in!

Library Thing!

I just catalogued all of my cookbooks using this beta site and it's great. I haven't spent a lot of time with the tagging system, but there is one. So, for instance, you could tag all the cookbooks that have a lasagna recipe you like. When you want to make lasagna at a later date you can run a search of your books and all that have lasagna tagged will pop up. You can add comments and notes to your library, see what other members have etc etc.

HTH,
Eliz

PS. And yes I still have *dozens* of cooking mags in the basement too....:-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Library Thing

I use the page protector approach - keep them in a three-ring binder. I love it because I can fit all sizes of paper neatly. We use the same approach for appliance warranties and takeout menues.

I have a huge stash of cooking magazines, cookbooks and recipe cards, too. And I can never remember where my favorites are!

In December, I tried something new. I bought a "recipe finder book" from Current Magazine. The description says, "This handy organizer lets you record recipe names by category, along with cookbooks where they appear, page numbers, and any notes you want to make about preparation."

Someday, I'd like to cut up the magazines and use the photo album approach. It sure would take up less space. In the meantime, the recipe finder book is working out well.

HTH!

Here is a link that might be useful: Recipe Finder Book

Here are my several approaches:
1. I subscribe to Bon Appetit, and about once a year I go through that and tear out pages of recipes that I might try someday. Those go into a manila folder along with recipes from other magazines, epicurious dot com, friends, etc.

2. I planned two shelves on my island to hold cookbooks (critical for me!!!). I have a third tiny shelf, which holds my recipe folder. This pic was taken shortly after I weeded out a bunch of cookbooks -- it's growing again.

3. If I try a recipe three times (I usually tinker with recipes quite a bit), only then do I write it down on an index card and scotch tape the pic, if there is one, on to the back of the index card. The index card system is low tech, but I spend too much time in front of a computer organizing work cr@p and don't want to spend leisure time on same.

Blue

I like the recipe finder book! Although I have my books on Library Thing, I also keep a very low tech notebook for when we entertain. I scribble down who came to dinner and what we served. I'll also note whether I'd do it again, what I changed (I tinker too, Blue!), what wine we served etc. It helps not to repeat the same thing for frequent guests :-)

Eliz

I love the recycled printer paper they give you for old cartridges.

So I type up the recipes I like into the computer with notes and variations. Then they're easy to find and I can print a fresh one any time I need it. I have a basket with popular ones which sits in the kitchen (i.e, reuse comes before recycle).

I find this is an especially good system, because I always change something around, and this way I capture what it is. And it's easy to share a recipe--I'll just grab the one I'm using off the counter and hand it to the friend and print a new one when I need it. And I can e-mail anything requested.

But in my house cookbooks are more for reading and thinking on than actually following, unless it's something I really don't know how to do yet.

I use the "page protector/binder with tabs" system too for magazine recipes, but rely on my rusty memory for cookbooks, althought I do write on the front page of the cookbook which recipes I use in that particular book and the page that it's on. So, most of my cookbooks have a list on the front page of what I use in there. Helps somewhat, but yes, someone could make a fortune making this easier!

I got rid of all of my cooking magazines when we moved. Most of the recipes are online.... there were a few that I cut out in case they disappear for some reason or weren't online to begin with.

I keep the rest on our living room bookshelf which is adjacent to our kitchen. If I have enough room after I load up our cabinets, I might keep a few over my oven.

My friend gives me a subscription to Everyday Food each year. I love those. I keep them in a little basket on a shelf next to my cookbooks (well, I used to). We'll see where they end up when my new kitchen is done.

The others that come out seasonally, like Potlucks & Picnics, etc. I keep in a plastic container that lays flat in a cupboard along with cake decorating tips, etc. that I use occasionally. Depending on what season, I rotate the little mags out and put them with my cookbooks.

I used to subscribe to Cooking Light, but now they publish a cookbook every year, so I just buy that. It's true so many things are online. I use Food Network a lot. If I print the recipe, I do have a notebook with tabs in my kitchen. I don't put anything in a page protector because I like to pull it out and make notes on it. If it's a piece of paper, I tack a magnet to it and have it handy.

I have some recipe files in my computer but it's hard to get them all in there. I set up files for things like chicken, fish, pasta, etc.

I like to keep seasonal mags, so I have those upright magazine storage containers in my home office for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's, etc. Then, I bring the whole collection out and browse over all the mags I have. (Yes I keep too much stuff). I just reread this and I sound like five different people. Guess I need to come up with a system!

I am addicted to cookbooks and recipes. Good thing there is no cook books addiction groups or DH would have me there is a heart beat. DH made me pare down my collection to just under 300 cook books. I even prefer reading murder mysterys that include recipes. Magazines are another part of my collection. What I do is a two step process. The first is I clip the recipes that I am interested in and tape them in my collection of spiral notebooks. When I try one and liked it, it then gets moved over to my good notebook along with the notes on my changes. Don't like it? I throw it away.

In my good notebook, I also keep a list of the dish name, cookbook and page number since I can't never remember which book I got something out of. I am sure that my system is an overkill for most, but maybe there is some element that will work for you.

I am trying to keep as many as possible of my newer recipes electronically. The Food Network's website has all sorts of great recipes. I have cut down my magazine subscriptions just to "Cooks Illustrated" and belong to their website. There is a Firefox add-on called Zotero which is just amazing for keeping track of anything on-line that you can get your hands on; it was developed for academic researchers and will let you set up, maintain and search several libraries which you get to create. Best of all it's free, easy to use and captures information lightning fast. OK, OK! sorry for gushing.

For my existing collection: When we were packing for our move, it almost broke my heart, but I managed to pare down to about 200 cookbooks which are kept in two bookcases arranged by subject. Librarians are the greatest; I highly recommend marrying one - I did! DW is the one who found the online tool that I use as part of her ongoing quest keep our home organized and free of clutter - especially all of those "millions of little pieces of paper" that I used to accumulate.