Where do you store recipes?

[firion]

I know that there were similar threads, but I'm mostly interested in what kind of software or apps do you use for storing different kinds of recipes.

 

For example,

for most text and image based recipes I (like most people here) use Evernote. The notebooks-style organization works well, especially once you start using the Evernote Web Clipper.

 

 

My browser (Citrio) can download videos, so video recipes are downloaded directly to the OneDrive folder on my PC and synced with the cloud. Very convenient, actually.

 

 

At last, I'm currently testing the Asparagus android app. I might eventually move from Evernote to this one as it's more convenient for the quick references (though has no web clipper).

 

 

What do you use for text, images and video recipes?

[ELFRE@CH]

Hi  Firion,

 

Evernote seems to be great. Personally, i use excel folders. They don't look great but for a  professional use, those are very convenient  and datas are easy to export to other  catering softwares .

 

For the storage itself , i just use dropbox.

[Lisa Shock]

I have a newer version of MasterCook that has a web clipping feature for recipes. (no video) Honestly, I still just make a WordPerfect document and save it in a couple of places. I have two categories: recipes to try (which I am not all that invested emotionally in), and things that work.

[Porthos]

Microsoft® Word Documents. I don't care to have pictures.  I have a specific format I like recipes in so I transcribe them into a Word document Typically, because I'm arrogant, I edit the instructions because I find many recipes have at best marginal wording for what the author is trying to communicate. I prefer to have figured them out and express them in my preferred style.

 

I don't own anything like an iPad and would never try to read a recipe off of my smart phone screen. I print a recipe when I am ready to use it, and after I'm done it goes into the recycle bin.

 

So that's my storage system: Word documents on a hard drive.

 

The rare exception is a recipe that I regularly scale. Then I start with a Word document and then recreate it in an Excel spreadsheet that allows me to put in the desired quantity and give me the new proportions. A simple example would be Alton Brown's Baked Brown Rice. I simple weight the amount of rice I want to make, plug in the weight, and I'm good to go.

 

edited to fix punctuation.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Porthos (log)

[rustwood]

I have been using Paprika (http://paprikaapp.com) on Android for about 18 months now and I like it.  IOS and Android versions are currently on sale for  $2.99, Windows and Mac version are $9.99.  

 

It has a spot for one photo and a web link, but no movies or additional photos as far as I know.  It automatically imports recipes from many sites and it has a good tool for manually importing when necessary.  I've even figured out how to save recipes from my kindle books (although they need to be manually reformatted).  The cloud sync feature keeps my devices in sync and allows me to look at recipes and my shopping list when I am at the grocery store. 

 

I've been using the Android version on my phone and tablet and it works great on both of them.  There is a bookmarklet which you can use in any browser to automatically import recipes from supported sites, but you need one of the apps to manually copy or edit a recipe.  Most of the time I am using my notebook when I happen across a recipe so I bought the Windows version.  I also think it is easier to do the manual recipe entries on my notebook.  With that said, I believe the Windows version has only been out for about a year and it shows.  It is slow to start and a little clunky in general.  That could be related to the fact that it mimics the same UI as the Android version and thus it probably isn't a native Windows application from the ground up.  My notebook is very fast but I still have to wait a good long time after I click the icon for the application to start up.  Usually I remember that after I have clicked it 2 or 3 more times with no apparent result.

[gulfporter]

I am lax about backing up my hard drive data, as are most people.  Hence, over the years I have lost a lot of documents as hard drives crashed on various devices.

 

About 8 years ago, I realized that I can save Yahoo emails forever.  So, I write up a recipe and then email it to myself.  I save the email in my Yahoo mail where I've dedicated a folder for recipes. 

[AlaMoi]

my preference is to keep them in plain old .txt files - it avoids the "OMG my recipe software isn't upgrading to Windows 635.2"

 

.txt existed pre-MicroSoft, pre-DOS, and will likely remain easily readable / editable across thousands of platforms in the future.

[rustwood]

my preference is to keep them in plain old .txt files - it avoids the "OMG my recipe software isn't upgrading to Windows 635.2"

 

That is a good point; however, nearly all of these programs will export to a variety of useful formats.  Of course you do need to remember to export it once in a while.  The html output from Paprika is pretty good and it includes the same hrecipe metadata found within the pages of recipe sites (the metadata that is used by programs to "automatically" import recipes).

[TdeV]

Evernote, for me. Actually, it was to document my recipes (before moving thousands of miles) that I got Evernote in the first place. And a sheet fed scanner.

[lindag]

I have been using Living Cookbook for years!  I love it and have literally thousands of recipes. 

clickety

[Bernoulli]

On 12/1/2015 at 2:20 PM, Porthos said:

Microsoft® Word Documents. I don't care to have pictures.  I have a specific format I like recipes in so I transcribe them into a Word document Typically, because I'm arrogant, I edit the instructions because I find many recipes have at best marginal wording for what the author is trying to communicate. I prefer to have figured them out and express them in my preferred style.

 

I do more or less the same.  I have an app that gets rid of most of the superfluous stuff - sorry I can't figure out the name of the app.  I then put the edited recipe in Dropbox so I have it both on my hard drive and in the cloud.  I made a file hierarchy that works for me.

[StephanieGodfrey]

i even dont have a smartphone, just write down to my notebook

[gfweb]

Notebook and folded-up in the front of How to Cook Everything.

 

I almost never look in HTCE for Bittman recipes...just for t he ones that I stuffed inside it.

 

[ChocoMom]

Well, there is something perfectly genius about emailing them to oneself.    I had everything written down in notebooks all over the workshop, kitchen, bedroom, and dining room. When the house burned down, all the recipes went with it.  So....I am trying - in my head- to recreate the caramel recipes that had so many customers mesmerized.  Once I get that bad boy down again....on to yahoo mail it shall go. I will send it to my hubby as well. Once he has it, it will stored on his server at work, and his genius IT guy can retrieve it if I should ever lose it again. 

[gfweb]

I'll take cell phone photos of recipes and email them to my kids, thus storing them on three servers and Carbonite.

[ChocoMom]

8 hours ago, gfweb said:

I'll take cell phone photos of recipes and email them to my kids, thus storing them on three servers and Carbonite.

 

That is a fantastic idea!!!!  I am still learning how to work the Iphone, and have not mastered that process yet.   Plus, I have no recipes to photographs yet....BUT when I do...I am certain my 10 year old will teach me how to do that.   (Getting schooled by a 10 year old is so humbling!) 

[lnr2001]

OneNote is the absolute best solution for collaborative recipes for operating restaurants.  You can take screen shots, shave over a network in real time and never need to save any thing as it auto saves.  It also has the time saving ability to auto table by pressing the tab button.  Super handy and same basic format as the evernote and can be synced with evernote if needed.

[Deryn]

I usually store recipes where I found them in the first place. Most are in cookbooks, which I currently keep between the banisters on the stairs to the 2nd storey (an idea I saw somewhere else on the net - and very useful since all my bookcases are still in NC). Others are simply bookmarked online. Some are just in my head.

[DianaB]

This is a really interesting topic, I had no idea there were apps for stocking your own recipes. Personally, while I use my iPhone to take a huge amount of photos as I cook, recipes, whether my own or from other sources, are handwritten with a pencil into an exercise book!  I put dates to my recipes so that I can easily find any relevant photos on the iPhone. 

 

Not very sophisticated but I like to do this as it allows me to note things in my own words, also to change or annotate as time passes if I find a better way to do something.  I do annotate cookery books if they have recipes I often use and I haven't made any significant changes. 

 

In the past I have 'bookmarked' numerous on-line recipes, or printed them out. Neither option works for me, I rarely think to look through my bookmarks and am not organised enough to keep papers in an orderly way. Perhaps I will now look at some of the apps mentioned earlier to see if one might be good as a means of storing all the 'one day' recipes I come across. For some reason I find it much more difficult to follow a recipe on screen rather than on paper which is perhaps why I haven't looked for apps before.

 

I do keep cocktail recipes on my phone, just using the Notes app that comes pre-installed. I do this so that I can make cocktails when away from home. 

 

 

[AAQuesada]

Google Drive

 

 

 

[Anna N]

One Note. 

[lindag]

I use both Living Cookbook and now Paprika because it works on my iPad and Windows tablet.

 

 

[tikidoc]

Paprika here too. And books on kindle.