Sorry double
post.

This post was edited by clairebuoyant on Tue, Jan 6, 15 at 10:21

I made my own recipe template in Word and just fill it in, then I save the recipe in a file in my documents. I had made a family favorites recipe book for several members of the family out of it. But it's too hard to explain how here. As for written recipes, I have a little index card box (started long ago) and lots of cookbooks, mostly inherited from MIL. I know what you mean about never referring to this stuff so why do we save them? Because some day either you or someone who outlives you might take interest in them if only to marvel at what we are eating these days. I say if it's not a problem keeping them do it, you never know when they will come in handy for some reason.

I know the feeling!! I have two large binders. One contains tried and successful recipes that I would make again. The other contains recipes to try. If I make something that isnt worth the effort, it gets thrownout. If I never print out another recipe from the web or tear out from a magazine, I won't run out of recipesto try!

I've been using Pepperplate.com to store my recipes, old favorites, new and un-tried ones, even shopping lists for online sources, Trader Joe's, etc. If I try a new recipe and do not plan to make it again, ever!, I can easily delete it. I can make one entry for "things to do with chicken thighs" or "vinaigrette dressings" and list more than one short recipe on one page. If I remember to list the web site, book, or person that was the original source of the recipe, then I will have a reference if I need more info or need to ask a question about the recipe.

When I feel over-dosed with cooking, recipes, TV cooking shows, etc. I go back to my basic, simple, go-to recipes for uncomplicated dishes, like this one:

Grand Strand Chicken Bog
from the Myrtle Beach SC library file

2 1/2 lb. chicken pieces
1 cup chopped onion
1 t poultry seasoning
1 TB dried parsley flakes
1 lb. smoked sausage
2 t salt
1 t black pepper
2 cup long grain rice
2 TB butter

1.Boil chicken,onion, and herbs in 4 c. water until tender; debone chicken.
2.Slice sausage in 1/2" pieces, add sausage, pepper and rice to chicken.
3.Simmer until all broth is absorbed and rice is cooked, 15-20 minutes.
4.Add butter; season with salt and pepper to taste.
5.Serves 8.

I'm with Claire. I can cook for the rest of my life and never repeat a recipe with what is in my "to try" files. I recently had to do a Windows re-install, and although I had all my files backed up I lost all my bookmarks! I didn't think about that. Will definitely have to figure out a way to store my bookmarks in the "cloud" from now on. I lost a ton of recipes from my "to try" folder that I had saved as bookmarks in my browser. Oh well, there's plenty more where they came from!

I type pretty fast, so just use Word. Over the years, I've typed up all my old family recipes, though I can't bear to part with the odd bits of scratch paper they're scribbled on, especially the ones in my mother's hand. I've also typed the ones from magazines, and I cut and paste the ones from online. If there's one in a book that I expect to use a lot, I'll type that up too, minus the chatty bits. It's been at least ten years since I started doing this, and it has saved my sanity.

In the kitchen, I have a cooking binder and a baking binder, with sections, and I keep the recipes I've printed out to use in page protectors in the sections. That way, when I'm thinking of making something from a recipe, I can just take it out and contemplate it, use it, wipe it off, and save it for next time. I also keep some duds with notes there, but will go through at some point and transfer the notes to the computer.

Similar to your company box, I keep Word documents with all that info. While I'm using them, I include the guests' phone numbers/e-mails, the table rental phone number, etc., as well as shopping lists. Then, I can just print out the shopping list on my way out the door. I've tried the apps, but I like a paper list better. If I'm doubling a recipe or something, I'll usually put the ingredient quantities for the recipe on the right, so I can compare the amount I'm buying. Then, I have it on the page for when I'm making the recipe.

This all works for me. I prefer not having a formatter. I just type. :)

As to recipes to try, I will bookmark online, but usually, I'm going to use a recipe right now, and save it properly as a document, or I'm contemplating it and have it, and rivals, open in tabs, until I'm sure, and then make a doc and print it.

If I'm trying a recipe from a book, usually I'll do it right from the book first. I have a lucite cookbook holder/shield, which can be useful, or if the book is awkward or hard to cook from, I'll type it up. If it becomes a keeper, I type it. :)

My "Recipes" computer folder has about fifty subfolders, plus some general cooking info I've saved. The key to keeping it all in the computer, is being able to find things easily! I try to keep the categories narrow: Preserves, Stews, "Goop", etc. If I had one big folder for "meat" or "baking" it would be near to useless for finding anything.

I was doing an editing project on a group of recipes for an organization a number of years ago. The earliest recipes didn't have any pictures, and needed some additional work, so I made them all and invited people over to eat the results for a number of weeks. That was fun! A lot of them were things I wouldn't have made otherwise. The only keeper for me was the sugar cookies (which I think was a version of a standard recipe, rather than the author's original), but the rest was okay and I learned things from making things I wouldn't choose, and got into the author's head from doing so many of hers in a row. I've been tempted to do that again, a kind of Julie and Julia thing, with a couple of cookbooks I have.

Sigh. I don't cook with recipes that much! Most days, I just cook.

Have you ever made a concerted effort to go through them and try them just for fun? Or do they sit and age, waiting for a someday that rarely comes?

My sister had a "new recipe day" habit. She had tons of clippings, so she went through and discarded the ones that would never do well at her house (icky ingredients, too expensive, etc.) , and tossed the main dishes in a large jar. Once a week, one of the kids would pull out a recipe and she would shop for the ingredients and make it and some side dishes later that week.

The rule was everyone had to try it, and they voted ... some recipes were burned (ceremoniously tossed in the fireplace with suitable comments), some were voted good enough to put on the regular dinner menu list, some were "meh" and tossed in the trash.

My mom did it too ... at least once every couple of weeks she would try something totally new just to see what it tasted like.

I could do that for the next 10 years just from my Pinterest pins :)

How many do I have? Several (like 10-15 notebooks worth)! So many, I dedicated myself to choosing one or two a week and trying them. That worked for a bit. And I noticed a trend. I tend to collect the same recipe over and over. I have a MILLION mac-n-cheese recipes. I give up. Nothing has ever given me what I am looking for. Or thousands of madeline recipes. So, instead, I decided to combine recipes. You know you've cooked a long time if you can look at a recipe and see how it tastes. Combining them gets rid of most, and it is closer to what I want. Except the mac-n-cheese. That one will elude me to my grave.

I read this in the book "The Joy of Simple Living" by Jeff Davidson (copyright 1999). It's sure to depress you.......

If you have just 8 cookbooks in your household, each offering 250-650 recipes, they can add up to as many as 5,200 recipes. If you tried ONE new recipe each week, it would take 100-years to prepare them all.

I used to have a file cabinet with recipes that I clipped from magazines. My folders had beef, chicken, pasta, vegetables etc. Now, you can research recipes online.
I threw all of those out, but still keep one file for recipes that I have ripped out from magazines. (old habits die hard!)

I have a recipe box with index cards for favorite recipes that have worked for my family and company.

I'm really not that interested in cooking, truth be told. I find it perfectly okay to repeat foods that I know for sure my friends will enjoy.

Rob333, have you ever tried the old Mueller macaroni and cheese from the back of the box recipe? I have adapted that to my liking. I use sharp cheddar and add a touch of seasoned salt, onion powder, and cayenne to the dry mix ingredients. I top it with buttered bread cubes before baking. It sure isn't fancy but it really is yummy. My DH is so picky about food and even he likes it.

Most recipes fall in general categories and if you don't love the ingredients/category you probably won't love the recipe.

I have found the"holy grail" recipe for quite a few categories (this is for my taste, btw) and so having those, I don't feel the need to try ten thousand more recipes in that category.

There are still many categories to explore, however! (as my waistline and pocketbook allow)

We packed up our kitchen last summer - actually the whole house because all floors were refinished & all walls painted - for a remodel. That forced me to assess what to keep among my stacks of cookbooks, binders, clippings, etc.

As AnnieD noted in the OP, it was like opening up time capsules as I went through cookbooks left to me from my Mom, those from early in my marriage (37 yrs) & more current ones. The ones I discarded were mostly from the '60's & '70's. They called for more processed ingredients and often listed "a package" of this or that, instead of a measurement. As has been discussed on this forum, package sizes and contents are not consistent, especially lately.

There are about 50 recipes that my kids have asked me to compile into a book form. They are the family's tried & true and the tweaks made over time aren't found in cookbooks. That's a goal of mine in 2015.

My tastes have changed over time. A cookbook from the early 90's that seemed so cutting edge at the time contains recipes for dishes that are everyday/common these days.

I simply cannot part with my Mom's cookbooks, even though I may never cook much from them. I just lost her last year. Seeing the notes written in her hand is such a treasure.

I have my grandmother and great grandmothers recipe books, in their handwriting, and I treasure them. I cant make some of the recipes because the measurements are so haphazard, shall we say. I also have an Encyclopedia of Cooking cookbook that I use religiously for so many dishes. It is over 30 years old now, and literally falling apart.

The recipes that are family favorites I have copied onto index cards and are in a box. I also put clippings from magazines that I would like to try in there.

I do go through my cookbooks on a regular basis to look for new things to try. I have some great old cookbooks, Women of Unifarm, local fundraiser cookbooks, that I love to try things from, because they are all tried and true prairie farm family favorites. I also have some that were gifts that I hate to part with because they were gifts. I also go through them on a regular basis, like once a month or so, looking to shake up things on our dinner table.

I have all my books stored in one cupboard, organized by those that I use the most on the bottom shelf, as well as my card box, and the rest on the second shelf. On the third shelf I have those books that I only use once a year, like all my canning books.

For Christmas one year, I made up two cookbooks of all the recipes my kids loved growing up, and those dishes they request I make when they come to visit. Probably one of the best gifts they have ever gotten and they use them on a regular basis.

Darlene

I'm quite ruthless wih recipe books that I don't use very often - out. Or some that have too many recipes that we just don't at any more because they're too unhealthy.
For quickly saving a recipe, I've got a good app for the tablet called CamScanner that works well. I can take a quick pic then send it to the right folder.

holly-kay, I have tried it. It's pretty good! Thank you for offering the thought to me.

Well I did it...hit the recipe box this a.m. and am trying something new....

I'm thinking that at first I need 2 boxes...one for sweets/baking and one for everything else. It would be a beginning....

I also have some notebooks I started building with recipes and never completed them, so in addition to boxes, I have notebooks so how in the heck am I ever gonna find a recipe....crazy!!

And in thinking about vintage, there were recipes Mom used to make all the time ... so we never wrote them down ... darned if I can remember them or know how to make them now. If you're going through the process, just remember that you won't always remember....

AnnieDeighnaugh,

I can think of a couple of ways to attack the issue.

1) Get some folder dot stickers (or other small stickers in different colors). Every time you make a recipe that's a keeper, put a green dot on it. Or make use of all the colors and put a green dot for a good cooking recipe and a blue dot for a good baking recipe. Move it to the front of the box, or add a Post-It flag to the notebook page. If it's an okay recipe but you think you need to change it a bit, put a yellow dot, and make some notes. If it's not great but you don't want to throw it away (it's interesting because it was Grandma's, etc.), put a red dot.

Remember, just because your forebears had these recipes doesn't mean they made them. They might just have collected them too! Look for wear and spots to know the Mom approved ones. :)

2) Similar to the above, but as you make the recipes, enter the keepers into whatever new system you want to use, be it an app or a new filing system, with your notes. Remember, if you're using an app or something virtual, back up and print out. You don't want to do all this work and have it disappear! (That's a good reason to keep the old boxes besides nostalgia.)

3) Make an index. If you don't want to alter in any way, but just want to be able to find everything, make a list, or even a spreadsheet, with the name of the recipe, yield, location (you'll have to name your boxes and notebooks, and put dividers in if necessary), main ingredient(s), and add notes as you make them.

Don't feel obligated to them, however!! Just because you're the custodian, doesn't mean you have to use the recipes. Or just pick out the grimiest cards (most used).

I just realized that when I first joined the CF, after remodelling my kitchen from hellish to heaven, I was saving forum recipes right and left. Unmade recipes were cluttering up my computer folders, and I had to make separate ones for the recipes I actually use. There's one recipe for mole that I will sometime get around to making, but I've realized now that I've settled back down into cooking that there are a lot of good sounding recipes in there that just aren't what I want to make. Just because it's a good recipe doesn't mean I have to make it. Or keep it.

I use binders with recipes in sleeve-protectors. I love cookbooks too.

I'm not at all organized on the computer. When I see a recipe I like I just drag the recipe and website to the desktop and then into a folder. I have since found that this doesn't work worth a darn. I tried to search for a recipe, and it doesn't pick out the recipe name/ingredient.

Does everyone copy the recipe to Word first, and then save it? I don't do that, and I guess that's the only way to save and be able to search properly.

I have a rule of not printing recipes unless I am prepared to make it that day so I can trash if it does not work. I generally do not save recipes off the internet computer because I know the likelihood of me going through them again is not high. I am moody about food so I tend to search for things based on what I have in the house and want to eat.

I still have magazine clippings in a file. Thankfully I rarely get magazines any more. Ever so often I go through the pile and throw out things that are no longer a fit for the way we eat or what we like. It is very rare that I regret the recipes I have purged because I generally can find a replacement online if needed. There has only been one recipe that came out of a Pillsbury cookbook that I cannot seem to find any more (brownies, with a layer of peanut butter and it had peanut butter chips, I can still picture the cookbook it came out of too).

Now, I still have a major stash of cooking magazines and I need to purge some but I still picture many that I intend to get back to. I also have a file of printings of recipes I tried and liked and I just need to actually get them into the binder. Someday.

Oh, yes. Both cookbooks and individual saved recipes. Way too many. Every once in a great while I try to sort them out. I don't try new recipes as often as I could, mostly because when I do cook, many times I'll just invent something new....but then I have to write down fast if we like it, because otherwise I'll forget!

It is easier for me to keep them on my computer. I use Word, although frankly a flat-file database using Excel as the front end would make for easier searching. Over the last few years I've been adjusting titles so that the main ingredient is listed first. I've found it makes it easier for me to find a recipe whether new or an old fav.

I do have two new folders: one for lactose-free, and one for sous-vide.

Tishtoshnm, Is this the pb brownie you were looking for?

I have years worth of recipes saved and categorized on MSWord. Most have been copied and pasted from the CF, Epicurious, Pinterest, and many other sources. Occasionally I will type a recipe from a magazine.

I uploaded the entire "Recipe" file to Drop Box (online cloud). This way I can access my recipes, well recipes I've grabbed from cooks like you from any computer.

I don't print them out often; I just access them on my desktop PC in the kitchen; I can see it from most areas of the kitchen.

I am concerned about the fate of my 600+ hard copy cookbooks books.

pllog, thank you but no. The recipe was from scratch, not a mix. It came out of the linked cookbook. That was a decent cookbook and probably the one I can credit me learning to cook from as it was my mom's and she hardly ever used it. Part of me is thinking of buying it for old time's sake but then I also have lots of cookbooks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pillsbury cookbook

Thank you all so much for the terrific suggestions. It helps so much to know that I'm not the only one struggling with this issue.

I started today with my red notebook which I hadn't looked at in years. I threw a bunch of stuff out, but I like how it's organized. However, what's in there are pages out of magazines from the 80s, like "the best chocolate recipes ever" or the "best whole grain breads ever"....you know where they have a few pages of pics up front and then the recipes buried and continued on multiple pages in the back, some of them back to back so you can't just rip them out. So I'm thinking it's worthwhile hanging on to some of those as is.

I'm also thinking a trip to staples is in order to get more plastic sheets and glue sticks to attach the small cut out recipes to paper, slip it in the envelop and then file under the right tab in the notebook.

But now I see I have a box full of "pamphlet" type recipe books, like the ones that came with the old GE mixer...and I see I have another box full of other recipes that are like full page size copies and such...I found a whole thing full of appetizers I didn't remember I had!

And I just found a bunch of recipes I'd forgotten I'd bookmarked on the Ipad instead of the mac book...definitely need a cloud solution here...

Sigh...

Google Docs is perfect. ....cut and paste from and source, easy to make files for each category, search is simple and it is accessible from anywhere.

I'm into simple these days....

Thanks chase...I've never played with google docs...looks very interesting. I too am into simple!

Hi - on a Mac here - not sure how Windows does this, but I can control-click (maybe R-click on Windows?)on a page or a printer-friendly page & select 'Print', then select 'save as .PDF', or 'open .PDF in preview' from the print dialog window that opens.

That way I can save a recipe w/o having to print it & the .PDF format works everywhere. I can also select & copy/paste in a text app. or simply choose a single page to print out as needed & avoid wasting printer ink.

I keep a recipes folder on my desktop, w/ subfolders for different categories like fruits, veggies, meats, cakes, breads, etc. - so easy & quick to simply drag the files to various folders to organise - & use the computer search tool (called spotlight here) to find something rather than having to scroll through forever.

Of course I collect vintage cookbooks & have a LOT + old pamphlets, but my main cookbook shelf is small & filled w/ stained old favorites like Joy of Cooking, Beard on Bread, Betty Crocker & a couple of binders overflowing w/ pieces of paper...

Yea, but I like to sit on the couch, thumbing through the notebooks, to see which ones are stained the most. It's usually an indication of a good recipe. Right? Can't do that with PDFs and electronic versions.

;)

I gotta start doing the "Google docs" thing. 2015 New Year's resolution? Otherwise, when I do actually get around to making a recipe, the notebook system works good for me for printed recipes, since I can scribble notes on the recipe pages and not feel bad. I have a set of index card plastic covers on order so that I can transfer my ancient index card box over to the folder system. I have outgrown the box! Plus, mine has a top that just sits on it, so it is always coming off and spilling the cards during my endless moving.

You have motivated me to go through the 2 3" binders of to-try recipes. The good news is that the Tried and True binder is the fullest of all three. That means I've tried a lot and kept the ones we like!!! I do keep some on the computer, but I do like thumbing through the recipes to get inspiration. Must be an age thing.

Well, I did hit Staples today and got a bunch of plastic sheet protectors and some glue sticks so I can start assembling new pages in the notebook. I've gone through one notebook already and thew a slew of stuff out. I've also trashed a bunch of old pamphlets. So I'm in process, but still not sure where it will end up. Time will tell...

Not quite, but 95% finished with my recipe project. I culled, sorted, cut, trimmed, pasted and plastic sleeved my loose recipes and put them in a binder by category, so now, at least, I have a hope of finding and fetching a recipe. I still have a few more things to go through and decide on, and I haven't yet attacked the on-line stuff, but feel good about the progress I have made...and the recycle bin is fuller because of it.

{{gwi:2133900}}

Congrats! That looks fab!

After reading all of the followups, I come to this conclusion. It wore me out thinking of all the work; made me feel guilty about all the time it would take and decided to reread the book "Eat to Live--not Live to Eat". I applaud you all, but as I read, I remember a remark that my SIL made "If it has more than four ingredients, I forget it. ". With age comes some apathy, I guess. Bless you all, though. You have lucky family members to spoil." Barb

Four ingredients? Four?????? I'm cutting back, but I think even toasted cheese sandwiches have more than 4 ingredients.

I think because I live in Fl and use fresh ingredients, that simple recipes work the best. Most of what I use right now doesn't include more than 10 ingredients, but it's appropriate for the spring veggies and fresh fruit that we are getting now.

Thanks, plllog!

barb, Heck, I have 9 ingredients just in my morning smoothie! But it's easy to prepare...everything goes in the blender and then whirr.

I never count the ingredients as that's not an issue for me...instead I look at how much effort is required to prepare it and what I consider the likely outcome for success. I prefer quick and easy, but that can come with any number of ingredients.

beachlily, I sure miss having access to fresh fruits and vegs now that we're in the dead of winter. I esp love to mix vegs as I think they taste even better that way.