Organizing Your Recipes

Organizing recipes is something that I have found to be extremely helpful.  Many people use a recipe box or other form of index-card filing system.  I have chosen to work with a 3-ring binder that holds "half sheets" -- 5½"W x 8½"H -- which I print two-to-a-page (landscape mode) on regular-sized paper and then cut in half.  I have found that most recipes fit nicely on a page of this size ... and I don't have to keep rewriting things on index cards.

When I share recipes with you on this blog, I will attempt to also include a PDF file with the recipe ready to print in that format.  You can print one recipe, then flip and reverse the page to print another recipe on the other half of the page.

Let me tell you why I find this helpful -- there are three key reasons.  First of all, there are a large number of sources for recipes ... including cookbooks, web pages, cooking apps on your mobile device, and index cards that you find in your mom's kitchen.  It makes sense to get all of these assembled together into a usable collection.

Second, keeping my recipes in this format saves a lot of time -- because I don't have to remember on which page in which cookbook a particular recipe was found.  Many of the recipes in a cookbook are things that I'll never attempt, and to keep flipping past those every time I want to get to the recipe I want to prepare is wasted time and energy.  Yes, I have cookbooks ... yes, I often try new things.  But once I have tried something and discovered that it is a "keeper," it is transferred into my notebook.

Third, and most important of all, this allows me to make adjustments.  Early in my cooking career, I would toss recipes that I was not going to repeat.  I have since learned that some can be salvaged, with a bit of adjustment.  If the printed recipe has a little too much onion, make a note on your copy of the recipe to not use quite as much.  If you decide to add an ingredient not in the original, make a note.  If the recipe calls for an ingredient that is difficult to find (or expensive), make a note about the substitutes that can be used instead.  The notebook -- or index card -- allows you to customize a recipe to your tastes.  This helps you make your recipes your own.

For me, index cards are a little too compact -- and it requires a lot of writing (and re-writing).  I like the half-sheets because they give me enough room to make notes (and keep the print large enough to read when I'm glancing at the page mid-preparation).  I also save the recipes on my computer -- formatted for half-sheets -- so that I can print new copies whenever I need them.  I can print a new copy after modifications have been made and the recipe is "perfected" ... or when I spill something on the page and just need a fresh copy.

Regardless of the format you choose, get your recipes organized.  Even if you only have five recipes you are comfortable with at the moment, get a system started.  It will reap huge dividends in the long run ... and the sooner you start, the easier it will be.