In the quest for organizing more in each of my rooms this year, I wanted to get my recipes under control. This is what they look like currently. I have a fabulous recipe binder that my dear friend Sara made for me for my wedding. It has all her favorite recipes and has been so helpful. I was just shoving more of my recipes in the back but it was getting really full. So then, the recipes just got thrown in a manila folder which had spaghetti sauce and cookie dough all over it. Finding recipes that I needed: impossible.
Enter: my mom. This is how she organizes all her recipes. I saw it last year and wanted it. So she was super kind and bought me everything I need. Tons of large index cards, 2 plastic tubs, and some labels.
My goal is to get every recipe onto one of these 4x6 cards. Either cut from a magazine, printed from the internet, or handwritten:
Then I just file them under their correct labels like appetizers, chicken, cookies, fish, etc. It makes the recipes very easy to find. And I can pull all the recipes I'm using that week for dinners and make my grocery list!
My mom has 2 or 3 of these tubs all done. She writes right on the card any changes she did and how they liked it, etc. Or just tosses the card if it gets a thumbs down. Someday, all my recipes will be easy to find. I’m trying to get a few done each week. Slow going, but I already love the new system. How do you organize all your yummy recipes?
**ETA – Used a acid-free glue stick to put my recipes onto the index cards. And Lindsey asked which categories I used so here’s my list. I started with all the “basics” and then added as I came to a recipe that I didn’t know how to file. So these may be different for you:
- appetizers
- beef
- bread
- breakfast
- cakes
- chicken
- cookies
- dessert
- dips
- fish
- jello/pudding
- Mexican
- pasta
- pork
- pies
- potatoes
- rice
- salad
- snacks
- soups
- veggies
Love this, Emily! I need to do this so badly. Maybe I can work on it yet this winter...
ReplyDeleteEmily, What are your tabs? (I need help getting more specific :) Also, I have a TON of Roberts grandma's recipe cards... would you recommend taping them to a 4x6 card? I don't want to re-write 200 cards of recipes I haven't ever tried... you know what I mean! :) and I think this is an AMAZING way to organize your new year! Im definitely doing this!
ReplyDeleteI went back and added all my tabs at the end of this post. Hope that's helpful. And yes, definitely could use tape. Or I just used a acid-free glue stick. Or actually, I have some smaller recipe cards that were already written and I just filed them as-is and didn't attach them to the larger card.
DeleteThank You! I am always proud of your organization! One day you'll visit my house and see how I strive to be more organized like you! :)
ReplyDelete