? for all of you who file recipes electronically

[Sarah45]

I know that there are a lot of Mastercook users on here and I am sure that there are others that keep their recipes on the computer in some fashion. What I wonder is what do you actually use in the kitchen? Do you have a computer in the kitchen? I use PDA CookbookPlus and while it is handy for searching and filing stuff away, I am still printing out recipes and wasting paper. I am not interested in putting a computer in the kitchen (until I can afford a nice little laptop that stores away easily) and when I try to cook from my palm I invariably miss an ingrediant becasue the screen shuts off every so many minutes.

How do you solve this dilemma? Or, I guess, do you even find it to be a dilemma?

[homebod]

Actually all you need in the kitchen is a moniter if you want not to print. I print my recipes out and if it is something I will make again it goes into a notebook in a page protector. When I want to use it I hang it on a snap clothspin mounted inside the upper cupboard door at the end of my counter (so I don't bang my head!). It only took a couple eggs on the head to learn that real quick! LOL
The recipe is at eye level and above the work area so it doesn't get messy (usually) ;)

homebod

[blazedog]

I print out recipes as I can post on the refrigerator for ease of reference while cooking, get dirty with no fears, toss to avoid clutter and make notes to transfer to the digital file if need be.

In the scheme of things, it really is a small amount of paper used and the cheap paper I use for these types of printing jobs is made of recycled products. If even this amount of paper use is a problem for you, just use the copious amounts of scrap paper and print on the clean side of the page.

I can't imagine going back to cookbooks and clippings from magazines and newspapers -- the paper degrades over time

An incidental benefit is, as I've aged, I unfortunately have a more difficult time reading small print in some recipes especially when the print is on a strange colored background or the news print has yellowed horribly. With a print out, I can the text is very clear and I can always enlarge to a comfortable reading size at a good distance.

[pilgrim719]

I cook more out of my cookbooks than I do from recipes I have stored in MC. I have a laptop, though, so I either set that or the cookbook I'm using on the counter in the kitchen, and then use the island as my workstation so I don't get the laptop or cookbook dirty.

When I used to print recipes out, I used the back as scrap paper to make grocery lists and other things. It makes me feel less guilty about using so much paper. :)

Kari

[greysangel]

I do exactly what blazedog does...I love putting the recipe at eye level on the fridge...so easy!

[tigermorris]

I have most all of my recipes in Word sorted by categories. I print any recipes I plan to make during the week. I do use my cookbooks, even it is in a cookbook, but not also in my Word file,

I throw out the recipe after I have made the item. The paper is cheap and I want to avoid clutter and excess paper

[Sarah45]

Well, it's good to know that I haven't been missing out on some really cool way to deal with this issue. I ususally print out all of my recipes for the week double sided so I don't waste the paper. Ones that I use over and over again get transferred to index cards (printed out on the printer) and into my recipe box. I then have a category called "recipe card" so I know not to print that one out next time it comes up.

My dream is to have a flat screen or a laptop in the kitchen, mounted at eye-level, so it won't get dirty. That would be awesome.

[BethR]

I buy the CL Annual Cookbooks, so if a recipe is from one of the ones I have, I just get the year and name from MC and use the cookbook in the kitchen (I have a plastic thingy with marbles on each side that holds a cookbook open while protecting the pages from flying ingredients). For other recipes I print them out from MC. If a printed recipe ends up being one I'll make often, it goes into a page protector in my recipe notebook.

[funniegrrl]

I hate wasting paper, cheap or not. So, if I'm going to use a recipe I print it out, then I store the printout in my recipe folder so I can use it again.

[dlaboriel]

Originally posted by funniegrrl
I hate wasting paper, cheap or not. So, if I'm going to use a recipe I print it out, then I store the printout in my recipe folder so I can use it again.



Ditto, print and reuse.

[BeachBum]

Recipes that are so good they will be reapeated are printed and put in plastic sleeves and stored in a 3 ring binder. All "to try" recipes are in master cook as well as the "back up" of the repeater in the hard file.
I like MC for storing "to try" type things and for the search capabilities if I'm looking for something specific.

[Chocolate Rose]

I use MC for all my recipes. I move a copy of each recipe I try into a separate cookbook within MC that is specifically for recipes I've tried. If I'm getting a recipe out of a print cookbook, I input it into MC before trying the recipe. I then print out the recipe to cook from.

I eventually print out a master copy of the cookbook and take it to Office Depot to be bound (once I have enough recipes to make it worth it). I usually do this around Christmas time and make enough copies to give as gifts. That way I have a permanent print version of recipes I've actually tried.

[blazedog]

I don't really understand why people want hard copies of recipes that are on their computer neatly organized.

When I kept paper recipes, I was never able to easily locate stuff. It also required additional effort to keep organized.

At one time I used Mangia (an MC predeccessor) but now really just keep Word or text files of the recipes in folders broken into categories which fit the way I shop and cook. Some recipes can be multiple folders -- I also keep a duplicate or alias of all recipes I've tried. I can search for key words as well as words within the text if I really get desperate :)

I don't repeat recipes THAT often or with such frequency that printing out a copy causes an ecological dent -- I've got so much scrap paper that I can just print on the blank side.

Again, since all of you are on the BB and are presumably fairly computer literate, I am curious as to why you haven't evolved into a paperless kitchen.

[Chocolate Rose]

Originally posted by blazedog
Again, since all of you are on the BB and are presumably fairly computer literate, I am curious as to why you haven't evolved into a paperless kitchen.

Well, I can only speak for me.:D
I LOVE MC and use it to organize, search, save, store....etc...recipes. But I also love recipes in paper form so that I can browse anytime and anywhere. My computer is on a totally different floor of the house from my kitchen. I don't have a Palm or any other form of mini computer. I'm a very messy cook and so paper recipes are much better for me.
I love having a paper record of the recipes I've made and enjoyed. By the time my daughter is old enough to be on her own she will have several of our homemade cookbooks (3 so far and probably a 4th this Christmas) to begin her own household with. Yes, she can also have those on CD but it's just so much nicer sometimes to sit wherever you want with a nice cup of your favorite beverage and READ through the recipes. I just don't enjoy reading recipes on the computer as much as I do in paper form.
Oh, another benefit that I've found is that when cooking for guests and they want the recipe (happens just about everytime you have guest, right?) I just hand them my paper print-out that I used to cook from. I don't have the clutter, don't have to hand write it out or run downstairs and print it and they get the recipe immediately without anyone forgetting about it. :)

[sweetpea]

Well, I am a printing fool. I use MC to make note of all CL recipes i want to try--i don't type in the whole recipe, just the page number/ issue, etc. so i can find it easily in my CL magazine (or cookbook).
As far as non-CL recipes that i find here from my fellow BBers, i import those into Mastercook, then print it immediately if i plan to make it in the next week or so and put "printed" next to the title so i know it's already printed. If i don't print it and i come across it in MC later, then i know all i need to do is print it out and start cooking!
I put all recipes in a plastic cover and then i put them into binders. I have at least 10 binders in different categories. I do this mainly b/c as a personal chef i need these recipes to take with me to my clients homes, etc.

blazedog--Why am i not paperless? well..hmmm..that would require me to have enough extra money around to get a laptop. don't have that so it has nothing to do with how computer literate i am--just don't have disposable income at this time. Besides, i like my paper recipes in their neat little plastic covers :D

[imloulou]

Originally posted by pilgrim719

When I used to print recipes out, I used the back as scrap paper to make grocery lists and other things. It makes me feel less guilty about using so much paper. :)

Kari

Kari...this is exactly what I do to! I am working on getting a cookbook together that I can print and use in the kitchen(I use LivingCookbook2003) so I will not use so much paper. But in the meantime I fold the paper in half and use it for my grocery list.

[HealthyinMN]

I keep everything in mastercook now. I love that program! We have a computer set up in the kitchen - the case is inside of an empty cabinet and we have a flat panel sitting on the counter. We also use the computer montior as our TV in the kitchen so it works out pretty well!

[imloulou]

Originally posted by blazedog

Again, since all of you are on the BB and are presumably fairly computer literate, I am curious as to why you haven't evolved into a paperless kitchen.

That is my goal...

I LOVE my cookbooks...I enjoy sitting on my stool in my kitchen and looking through them for ideas. So these will stay no matter what.

I would LOVE to become paperless (except for my cookbooks) and scanning all torn out recipes and saving them in files to be used later. I have a laptop but my kitchen is the smallest thing you have ever seen...really;) I have no place to put it. When we knock out a wall and expand the kitchen (very soon) my laptop is going to have a happy place all it's own and I will be as paperless as possible.

[madpots]

I like to have my recipes at eyelevel, so I print out a copy and clip it to the refrigerator or cabinet near where I am working. My computer is in my office not the kitchen and hard copies are easier and I can make notations on it.

[blazedog]

I should clarify that I print out recipes paper to post on my refrigerator while actually cooking. I just don't save the copies as it would just require extra effort to organize when they are already organized on the computer.

I don't quite understand why two archives are necessary - one digital and one paper when the digital archive (at least for me) is infinitely easier to use and organize.

[imloulou]

Originally posted by blazedog
I should clarify that I print out recipes paper to post on my refrigerator while actually cooking. I just don't save the copies as it would just require extra effort to organize when they are already organized on the computer.

I don't quite understand why two archives are necessary - one digital and one paper when the digital archive (at least for me) is infinitely easier to use and organize.

I understood that...I re-read my post and what I meant I did like you was use the paper as my Grocery List. :) I also, print recipes and hang them on the fridge while cooking. Then I use them as my list then I toss them.

I want to make a cookbook that can be printed especially for my most used recipes...I print up so many recipes that it really would save paper to print them and keep them in a binder to re-use. Now, when I expand my kitchen and have room for my laptop to stay in the kitchen that is when everything will be and stay on the computer.

[Chocolate Rose]

Originally posted by blazedog
I don't quite understand why two archives are necessary - one digital and one paper when the digital archive (at least for me) is infinitely easier to use and organize.

OK, I think I misunderstood the gist of your question.:D

I totally agree that having the digital archive is much easier. I have thousands and thousands and thousands of recipes in MC. It is definitely my favorite way to store and retrieve recipes.

But, I do keep the paper copy of the recipe that I printed out to cook with until I compile my hard copy cookbook and get it bound. At that point, I toss my loose printout copies. I have bookshelves in my pantry where I keep most of my cookbooks and I just keep my printouts there. Sometimes it's easier for me to just quickly go through them for a recipe I want to repeat rather than go through the whole process of printing out the recipe again. It might be different if my computer were in my kitchen.

Once I have the recipes in a cookbook, it's easier for me to grab the cookbook than print out the recipes again to use.