Recipe Storage

[Anna N]

We have a thread going that asks: "Do you use recipes?" My questions veer off a bit and I thought a new thread advisable.

1. If you do you recipes, how do you store them? Do you keep them on index cards, in a binder, file folders, computer file, other?

2. How do you index them?

3. How do keep them clean if you are using them in the kitchen? What if they are in a book? Have you found a way to keep them from getting splattered?

4. How do you make sure to at least try them - or do you end up doing as I do and mostly just collect them - and hardly ever try them?

Recently I acquired some photo albums, from our recycle room that are "peel and paste" and loose-leaf. These seem to be perfect for recipes I print out or cut-out. The pages can be removed from the binder, they are wipeable and they can be rearranged as I choose.

But my cookbooks are showing the ravages of being used in the kitchen. I've tried the saran wrap idea, the cookbook stand with acrylic sheet, the ziplock bag but none seem to be ideal. Some are bound such that they simply won't stay open!

What solutions have you found?

Anna N

[Flossie]

Anna - a good thread. I have piles and piles of recipes that I have clipped out of magazines and newspapers or copied from library books or downloaded from the net or been given by friends. The last three year's worth are in a concertina file beside the toaster. The 7 year's before that are jammed into ring files in the larder. I've also got a box of index cards but I don't find that method very helpful.Sometimes if I see a recipe that I really like and know that I will try soon, I'll stick it into a related recipe book - for example, Simon's Chicken Tikka Masala recipe is filed at the back of my favourite Indian cookery book. And I know what you mean about the pages becoming a mess when cooking from a book. I'll often cook a meal using several recipes from that Indian book so it's a nuisance to cover a particular page when I'm turning back and forth in the book.

In other words, I have no real filing system and a lot of the recipes I keep are never tried out. However, I'm about to begin a year off work and I plan to try a lot of new recipes during that time. Maybe I'll even bring order to my chaotic non-filing system. And maybe I'll get the extra shelves I need to store all those books.

[britcook]

Keep clippings and loose stuff in those clear plastic sleeves that are punched so they fit in a ring binder. To cook from them just take it out of the ring binder and use the sleeve. Anything I want to keep longer term I scan it in and then use OCR to get it into a word document. Depending on how much you use it you can also put it in a plastic sleeve or just use it as it is and reprint it when the old one gets too messed up. Individual recipes are filed under their name in a separate "recipes" directory and you can do a search for key words. Some I have got filed in my own "cookbook" and I use the indexing in Word. You can also scan recipes in and just keep the image to print out when you want but these files (usually TIFF) make heavy demands on storage but useful if you've got colour illustrations.

[Huevos del Toro]

I keep mine in a few, very large, computer files. I add those that I either like the "looks" of or one's that I've successfully tried. They are all in big Word documents. I have both hyperlinked table of contents and indexes. When I do use a particular recipe I just print it out and toss the copy after the fact. I also (and this is VERY important to me) make notes, describing how I changed things and the outcome. Accurate records are the only way I've found to enhance my less than stellar memory. (Is there an old and feeble smilie?) I also make footnotes so I know where I found a particular recipe or technique.

[kpurvis]

Good timing, Anna. I just started a short leave of absence, working at home on a book project, and I figured I'd sneak in a few chores at the same time. (A girl can stay at the computer just so long!)

So one of my goals is getting the recipe collection under control. I've been trying a new system, a combination of the plastic pages Britcook uses and section dividers with pockets, all held in a very large three-ring binder.

I go through 7-8 food magazines a month, dogearring pages with recipes that catch my eye. When the mags overflow the straw basket by the table, I go through and tear out whole pages. I sort them into the basic categories. (Recipe categories -- there's a Freudian question. Mine include "family," "entertaining," and "potlucks" because I get asked to take food to so many events.)

Recipes waiting to be tried go into the pockets on the dividers. Recipes that get voted into the permanent collection get clipped and slid into the plastic pages. Using section dividers with pockets on both sides also lets me move around the candidates. At the beginning of summer, for instance, I can move all the grilling recipes into the front pocket and leave the rest of the "family" possibilities in the back pocket.

At least, that's the theory! We'll see how it works.

[nerissa]

I bought a beautiful scrapbook last December which has covers made from cork. My bf and I divided it up into sections similar to what you would see in a cookbook. I used to have a huge accordion file of clippings--they were glued into the book. I also went through a stack of Martha Stewart livings and other mags which I have been saving for that one recipe and glued them in. Now we are also writing down memorable bottles of wine, and what dinners we served on a particular night.

The book was worth every penny- so much easier to deal with.

As for keeping cookbooks clean, I don't know. I generally keep them on a stand on the hutch away from the work zone. When my bf was last in India, he bought a Koran stand; the shopkeeper was very confused as to why this Hindu really wanted a Koran stand. It makes a beautiful cookbook stand. But, I have my grandmother's 1st. ed. Julia Child's, and I really should buy a replacement--they are already falling apart.

[mamster]

I keep printed and copied recipes in a 3" looseleaf binder, which is almost full. It's divided into the following sections (Laurie came up with the scheme, which works very well):

Italian

Soups and Stews

Asian

Potatoes

Desserts and Baked Goods

Mexican

Meats

Miscellaneous

That says a lot about my priorities right there.

[Suzanne F]

Oh, time for the anal-retentive obsessive-compulsive to chime in.

An entire two-drawer legal-size filing cabinet holds the current collection; there are 4 magazine boxes waiting with clippings to file. In manila folders within hanging folders.

Top drawer: front half: by course. Mixed clippings (whole meals, holiday menus, by chef, etc.), then alpabetically: Appetizers, Baking, Beverages, Breads, Breakfast, Desserts, Entrées ... you get the idea.

Top drawer: rear half: by ethnicity/nationality. Mixed ("International"); Afghan, African (except North African); American, including African-American and specific regions; Armenian; Asian (except Chinese and Korean) ...

Bottom drawer: by primary or focus ingredient. Almonds, Anchovies ...

Needless to say, when looking for a recipe I think I may I have, I spend a lot of extra time searching all three areas.

If I'm actually using the recipe in the kitchen, it sits naked on the counter, off to the side a bit. Recipes from actual books, and those clippings with tiny type, are copied, enlarged, onto scrap paper. (Our office is in the apartment, so we have a copier right here.) Years ago I had one of those Plexiglas cookbook stands, but I made the mistake of trying to scrub the gunk off of it.

[maggiethecat]

I really like the idea of the plastic sleeve three-ring binder for clipped recipes that some of you mention. Thanks.

I will head out today to an office supply store and get it going. Plus, I love office supply stores!

I've given up, sadly, on keeping a beloved cookbook clean. Like Suzanne, I've tried everything, and nothing works. So I have decided that all those oil and batter smears are Badges of Honor on a cookbook page.

[Marlene]

I keep most of my very favourite recipes on my computer using the DVO cooking software. I have shelves of three ring binders with recipes in plastic sleeves. Each binder is dedicated to one area. I have one for appetizers, one for beef, one for pork, one for desserts. Are you getting the idea of how many recipes I have?! These binders are of course, in addition to my 5 shelves of cookbooks.

[snowangel]

So I have decided that all those oil and batter smears are Badges of Honor on a cookbook page.

And, they make it easy to find the recipe without looking it up in the table of contents!

I recently gave a friend her own copy of a cookbook that has been a favorite of mine, and she did ask me to mark it up and make notations.

[torakris]

Good timing, I was just finished up "organizing" my collection of recipes.

I have 5 shelves of cookbooks, 1 shelf of magazines that I don't want to rip up (Cook's Illustrated, Fine Cooking, Eating Well) and a pile of binders that is currently on top of the bookshelves because they don't fit anywhere else.

I used to input my recipes into my MasterCook software, but when I bought a new computer I couldn't get the info to download into it (I am sure you can tell by my vocabulary I know nothing about computers! ) so I printed them all out and they are in a binder.

Other binders include ecipes from cooking classes I have attended, recipes from cooking classes I have taught, recipes from English language magazines, recipes from Japanese language magazines, recipes from kyo no ryori (a Japanese publication that I am particularly fond of), recipes from the interenet, recipes that I have tried and liked (and/or need to be tweaked a bit) are in their own special file.

I occasionally go through pulling out recipes that I want to try in the next month and work my menus around them. Those that I liked get filed into the liked it file and those that weren't worth a second try get trashed.

I hope to one day file those from the liked it file onto the computer, but i need to get new software and learn to type with more than two fingers!

I tried at one point to file them according to type of dish/ethnicity but it didn't work because some pages had both a main dish and a dessert on the same page. Maybe when I get more time I will give it another shot.

Edit:

When I am using the recipe I using keep it magneted (?) to the fridge, books get propped on the counter by the sink (where they avoid most food splatters but ocassionally get wet), books that don't lay flat get photocopied (I have one of those printer/scanner/copy combos and before that I used to photocopy using my fax machine! )

Edited February 19, 2003 by torakris (log)

[maggiethecat]

Thanks to your inspirations, I actually did buy the plastic sleeves and a binder. Sorted though a two foot pile of newsprint (oldest:1999) and clipped and arranged.

Did some headscratching. "Why did we hang onto this?"

All nicely clipped and stored. An I am feeling particularly organized and virtuous.

[kpurvis]

All nicely clipped and stored. An I am feeling particularly organized and virtuous.

Strange, isn't it? I just finished doing the same thing yesterday afternoon and it was the oddest feeling. Like if I got on a scale, I would find myself 5 pounds lighter. That won't last though -- after looking through so many recipes, all I wanted to do was cook something!

[snowangel]

Recipes are on index cards. I have these index card thing "boxes" that hang under the counter, and the handle is constructed such that you can prop a card there, so it's visible, but you don't have to touch it and can't spill on it. I file them immediately, and if I try something I don't like, I pitch the card or make notes on possible improvements.

Recipes from the newspaper or magazines are pasted on a card.

These "boxes" came with indexes (standard stuff -- appetizers, bread, meat, etc.); I turned these over and wrote my own categories. I have three of these, and I think they are about 10" deep.

[Mottmott]

Mostly I use the computer. It's wonderful for making notes on changes and certainly saves my cookbooks. It also enables me to bring up all the recipes using the ingredients I want to use.

Some have been typed in, some downloaded from the net, others scanned in either from books or mags. The beauty of this is the quickfinder program brings up any recipe containing, say, brussel sprouts or even a particular spice or herb. I can either print it/them out or drag my laptop into the kitchen, parking it several feet from the action. (The exercise I get walking back and forth works off some calories in advance )

I don't use a recipe program, just file them as documents in WP or type format from the web.

[aliénor]

I keep most of my very favourite recipes on my computer using the DVO cooking software.

what is DVO cooking software?

[EdS]

I have been using a bookholder in the kitchen to hold cookbooks, magazine articles, and computer printouts to refer to as I am cooking. As I am advancing I am finding myself modifying recipes and creating my own to suit my tastes. I'm looking for a better system that will stand the test of time and am curious what everyone's doing. I'm wondering also how this is done in a restaurant kitchen.

Some ideas:

• Index cards - Copy recipes to index cards and keep them in a file on my countertop. Prop a card up on the counter or stick to a bulletin board.
  
• Computer, printing individual recipes - Store everything on the computer. Print recipes as I use them and take them to the kitchen.
  
• Computer in the kitchen - The idea of pecking at a keyboard with messy hands doesn't make much sense to me but perhaps with care this could work.
  
• Recipes copied to scratch paper - Jot down the important stuff to scratch paper. It goes to the circular file when done.
  

By the looks of a few cookbooks I've borrowed at the library, I'd say throwing one wide open and splashing it with ranch dressing is pretty popular but I'm sure you have better ideas.

[fresco]

Much of what I cook these days is from memory (which may be why things seldom come out the same way twice). But I do use a variation on the computer in the kitchen--printouts.

[melkor]

Laptop + wireless ethernet. Other than one of the speakers being full of flour it's worked well for me.

[Mottmott]

Computer Variations:

A wireless laptop makes it easy. If you're worried about getting flour in the keys, etc., cover the keyboard with Saran. (You can do use it with cookbooks, too, if you bring them in the kitchen)

I store most recipes on the computer whether they are my own, from friends, scanned from a book or magazine, or downloaded from websites. Most of the time I print them out to work from paper, which I prefer. With the computer, it's easy to note the changes and keep notes. You can use a scanner to get all your bits of paper onto the computer.

[EdS]

I think I'm going to give the wireless laptop method a shot. I've got a window sill that's high enough above my counter that the laptop shouldn't get splashed with anything. I just cleared some space so I'll see how this goes. Thanks for your advice.

[lorea]

Wireless + laptop for me, propped up on one of those book stands/lecterns. I've gotten flour in the keys before, but I just blow it out with compressed air. It's the easiest way for me to stay organized!

[project]

I use just one set of tools for essentially all information I

care about, and cooking and recipes get handled as a

relatively simple special case.

My tools are my computer and some software and practices.

Tool selection is important in cooking, woodworking,

gardening, auto maintenance, computing, etc. Mostly we settle

on a few relatively versatile tools. E.g., some cooks believe

that their chef's knife, cutting board, and hands are their

most important tools -- I do.

On my computer, my most important tools are a text editor and

the hierarchical file system for creating 'information

taxonomic hierarchies'. My most important practice is to use

simple flat ASCII files whenever possible, and it nearly

always is. So, there is one file 'format' which admits one

collection of tools for working with all the files. This

practice eases searching, printing, spell checking, and

editing the files.

For downloaded HTML, usually I use some software I wrote to

rip out the tags and leave just the simple text.

My editor is KEdit from Mansfield Software and is programmable

with an elegant language Rexx invented by Mike Cowlishaw of

IBM. I have about 130 little Rexx programs I use with KEdit

and write new ones quickly as needed. Sample uses include

ripping out HTML text, finding an e-mail message given an

e-mail date line, printing address labels, adding time and

date stamps, e.g.,

Modified at 04:17:59 on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003.

dialing phone numbers, etc.

So, for cooking, I have a directory with subdirectories for

eGullet, supplies, equipment, French, Chinese, Italian,

chicken, beef, etc. In the directory for Chinese cooking

there is a directory for dumplings. Altogether there are 73

subdirectories now.

Before cooking something still under development, I plan the

effort starting with the relevant files.

When I need some of this information in the kitchen, I usually

print it.

After the cooking effort, I add notes to the relevant files.

Wouldn't want to try to do such things with index cards.

[gperls]

I use Mastercook to store most of my recipies. Then I print out what I am cooking. I can add notes to it afterwards in Mastercook. It has the added advantage of helping me rapidly search for what I'm looking for. I have around 30,000 recipies in it now, too many for a paper-based system.