How do you catalog your recipes?

[LemonPie]

I keep mine on alphabetized 3x5 cards in a plastic box. Today I dumped it by accident and as a result, had to go through and organize it for the first time in years. I discovered a whole bunch of recipes that I love and have forgotten about :

I need a better cataloging system. How do you keep track of yours? And is it working? I really need to clean some of mine up. Some are just a list of ingredients and I have the rest of the recipe in my head. But I'm gradually letting my kids cook more and more and I know I should write things out so they can use my recipe cards down the road.

[Tilia]

Hmm, I use a binder because I print a lot of recipes off the internet. I use these categories:

breakfast
appetizers/party food
soup
desserts
side dishes
vegan/veggie dishes
supper dishes

[cristeen]

I use the computer. Right now I'm using MacGourmet, although when I was running a PC, I liked Accuchef. It keeps them all in one place, I don't have to try to read my own writing and if someone wants a copy, I just hit print.

[HappiLeigh]

I subscribe to a bunch of cooking magazines and get a lot of recipes from online, so I use a binder system. Recipes I want to try I have in a plastic pouch organized by category. Once I've tried a recipe and decide to keep it, I tuck it into a plastic 3-ring binder sleeve and put it in the appropriate binder. My binders are a) dinner b) breakfasts and breads and c) desserts. Within the dinner binder I have a section for each type main course (meaning chicken, beans, etc) and then a section for each vegetable group (greens, potatoes, etc.) I have to go through one a year or so and purge, though, because otherwise both my "want to try" pouch and my binders would be too big!

[greeny]

I also use a binder. I put the recipes in plastic sleeves in the binder (because I spill a lot when I'm cooking!).

[ekortering]

I use a photo album that I bought at the thrift store for 50 cents. =) Actually, I bought 2 photo albums - one for the binder and the other one for the picture inserts. I put stick on tabs for beef, chicken, baking, sides, etc. I've been using it for over a year and it works really well for me. I've found regular binders are a bit tall for the particular place I keep my cookbooks. The photo album is shorter but still has plastic pages to keep my recipe cards clean.

[LemonPie]

Originally Posted by HappiLeigh

I subscribe to a bunch of cooking magazines and get a lot of recipes from online, so I use a binder system. Recipes I want to try I have in a plastic pouch organized by category. Once I've tried a recipe and decide to keep it, I tuck it into a plastic 3-ring binder sleeve and put it in the appropriate binder. My binders are a) dinner b) breakfasts and breads and c) desserts. Within the dinner binder I have a section for each type main course (meaning chicken, beans, etc) and then a section for each vegetable group (greens, potatoes, etc.) I have to go through one a year or so and purge, though, because otherwise both my "want to try" pouch and my binders would be too big!

Ooh, I may do this. I subscribe to no fewer than 3 cooking magazines at the moment.

[amma_mama]

I guess you don't want to hear about my post-it notes on the fridge :

:

Man, I've got to get organized...

[mamadelbosque]

I have a little binder that has recipes I've printed out from online. I break it up into main catagories:

Red Meat
Chicken/Poultry
Seafood
Vegetarian
Pork

Then I have all the random other catagories:

Breakfast
Desert
Appetizers/Salad Dressings
Drinks


I think theres more I'm forgetting, but those are the big ones!!

[kjbrown92]

I have most of mine on recipe cards in a recipe basket (allergy-friendly ones in front, by category; regular ones in back, also by category). I also have them online on my blog though, and more often than not, I just look it up there. All my work-in-progress ones are in the basket though, and anything I cut out of a magazine and want to try gets in the basket too.

[JenniferLovie]

My mom typed all of our family recipes when I was in college and those are all in a binder. I'm currently reformatting them and adding the recipes I use frequently to the mix. Two years ago my SIL put together a cookbook of my husband's family's recipes so now we have 2 books that represent our family's most common recipes.