Organizing Favorite Recipes

[LynnSC]

I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for organizing my favorite recipes for CL? I do order the cookbooks each year so that I don't have to sort through all the magazines and I do have Mastercook on my computer. Do any of you type in your favorites or keep an index handy with your favorites logged in with references of where to find them? I spend a lot of time sometimes trying to find recipes I have made in the past. Thanks for your help!
Lynn

[tammy/MN]

great question, i can't wait to see what everyone else has to say. i was recently going thru some of my programs that i had bought for my 1st 'puter & came across MASTERCOOK that has been mentioned here, but i haven't installed it into my new 'puter.

can't wait for suggestions.

[Mamasue]

LynnSC,

I do keep a little reference book for recipes that I have made and consider them part of my recipe collection. These recipes could come from my extensive cookbook collection, clipped from magazines, recipes in recipe box, etc. I have been doing this way before the computer was part of the household. My reference book is a small hard cover recipe book that has indexes tabs with the titles and then pages with lines. What I do is when I make a new recipe that is a must to make again I will write it in my reference book with the name of recipe and reference where it can be found and with page number (if applicable). Hope this helps!

[lindrusso]

I too have Mastercook. I have created a "Favorites" recipe book within Mastercook where I have typed in all my favorite recipes for easy reference. I also have another cookbook where I keep recipes I gather from the Internet that I want to try.

What I like about doing this is that you can then search your recipes for certain ingredients to see what pops up and you can scan your recipes by category.

You could accomplish the same thing by keeping a notebook with a list of recipes and where they are located.

I have been putting recipes on the computer with the ultimate goal of creating a cookbook that has all my favorites in one place - not just names, but the recipes themselves. I'm thinking of using a 3-ring binder of some sort so that I can continuously add recipes but also creating a bound version to give as gifts. Eventually I'd have something to pass on to my kids (a long time from now seeing as they are only 6 and 2!!!).

Good luck!

[Pat]

I am using the same system as lindrusso. I have a Favorites Cookbook in MasterCook and a Try Later Cookbook in MasterCook. I also have a three-ring binder for recipes I gather from the newspaper, magazines, friends, etc. When I try one of these and if it passes my husband's and my ratings test, I type it into my Favorites cookbook. I am currently trying to work on putting all my old standbys that I can make from memory into the cookbook so that my children can have a copy. They have MasterCook and can just load my cookbook into their MasterCook. I am also looking ahead to November when I will go to stay with a daughter who will be having her first child. I know I will want a recipe and won't have it so I am trying to finish by that time. I am going to take a copy on disk with me to her house so that I can use her MasterCook to look up any recipe that I might need while there. I am trying to decide whether to print my cookbook when I finish. What do you all think?

[Grace]

It seems like I am the only one who uses the Cooking Light Cookware software offered by Cookn.com. It's free when you buy your first Cookpac, and I've had it since 1996. It does all the things you have been asking about - I have no need for any paper system (i.e., notebooks) at all....

There is a "Favorites" category, and you can add any recipe at all to that category, and that's the entire recipe, not just the name of it. You can also type in your own recipes from other sources if you want. It has the capacity to do the searches by ingredient too, just like you want. It's really a terrific software, and it's FREE when you buy one cookpac! I love it. Have had no desire to buy Mastercook because the CL Cookware software fits the bill for me perfectly!

[Beth Y]

Well, despite my access to a computer, I do not have Mastercook and would likely be far too lazy to type everything in anyway. My process is this, since I simply don't have the space here to hang on to all the past issues. I keep the magazines around about three months till I have "thoroughly digested" their content. Then I go through with scissors and cut out any recipes I think I might want to make and put them in a redweld with several manila folders labeled "pasta" "breakfast" "salads" "main dish" etc. Then when I make a dish that hubby and I both vote is a keeper, I paste it into a blank book that is tabbed with the same labels. I do not have it crossed referenced like Mamasue...that is impressive, so when it gets long, I will likely have a hard time finding things. But, I know my favorites and my location in my "keeper" book pretty well and use it so often that I know where things are. Granted cutting things out means I may miss some things, but this BB usually post things I miss. I just print those out, as well as stuff from Epicurious, and follow the same process. I am hopeful that someday my daughter will want to have my "keeper" book as she will have fond recollections of these meals (Yeah, right!)

[ElinorC]

I've collected so many recipes over the years that it's been a challenge to organize them. I've finally got most of them favorites typed into MC Cooking Light(some were transferred from older cooking software) and now when I try new recipes, I add them to the program if I want to repeat it later. I also have loads of recipes, loosely collected into categories in file folders that I periodically wade through. I also have a cookbook in CL, called Trials, for recipes that I've gotten from online sources.I'm hoping to print them someday for my kids. It looks like a lot of us have roughly the same systems for our recipes.

[LynnSC]

WoW! Thanks for the wonderful help! I will be able to use your suggestions I am sure!
Lynn

[Carol]

My filing system has evolved into one similar to what's been posted. I also use MasterCook (although I'm a new user) and an expanding file for recipes I clip or acquire from friends, Web, newspapers etc. Here's what I've been doing for the past few months, and it seems to be working pretty good:

1) When I read rave reviews of CL recipes to try on this BB, II

[Shirley Panek]

I keep my CL issues in a binder (by year). Then I can put in the annual index and highlight the recipes I love. That way I can also look any up. (I download the annual index so I can search the file on the computer if anyone is looking for a particular recipe, and I don't happen to have it in MasterCook).

I also just got CL MasterCook and put new (and old) recipes in.

When I get recipes off the 'net, I open a Word file and paste it in. Then I import them into MasterCook to try later.

[alisome]

OK, you all have great ideas, but I am a truly visual person! I gotta have the pictures, sort of like paint by #'s for me. I unfortunately have a magazine addiction and not only have CL, but Southern Living, LHJ,McCall's and Womens Day-Whew! So what I did is went and bought a huge 3ring binder and the industrial size box of (500) clear plastic sleeves and have divided my binder into sections-main dish, drinks, apps, etc.and then cut out the recipe and just slip them into the sleeves,pictures and all! I love it and my husband likes that all the mags aren't just stacking up!

Beth Y- my mother had a cookbook just like your creating for your daughter and I wouldn't part with mine for anything. In fact, it has a recipe for Snow Ghost Pie from the 70's on the cover.

[Mamasue]

alisome,

I love pictures too. Tend to buy cookbooks that have lots of pictures. Here is what I do now that I have a scanner. The recipes that I want to keep from Cooking Light magazine(s) I type them and import into my Mastercook than I scan the picture of the recipe and insert it with the Mastercook recipe. Now I have a visual recipe just like in the magazine. I haven't bothered doing this same procedure with recipes from cookbooks yet because I have them referenced in my reference book.

[eppirn]

My "cookbook" is a 3-ring binder filled with white paper. That way, I can cut recipes out of my CL or print recipes off the internet and keep track easily. Have dividers in the binder, like a cookbook, and the recipes are taped onto the pieces of paper. Had a nice, traditional recipe box, but got tired of RE-writing all the recipes onto cards, if I'd gotten them from friends or the internet.

[shoyski]

I created a table on the computer and update with every new issue. The table is divided into the following sections: appetizer, main dish, side dish, soups and salads, breads and desserts.
The first column in the table is the magazine issue date, then the page number, the title of the dish, and then results. When I received a new issue, everything is typed in that looks interesting, minus results of course. As I try the new recipes, I hand write the results (or cross off recipes we didn't like) and type that info in when I'm typing in the recipes to be tried.
As you can tell, I mainly use CL for most of my cooking. However, I like the idea of making my own cookbook like an earlier post suggested since I've become addicted to trying out all of the recipes posted on this BB and the recipes from Epicurious.

[Liz K]

I have a system similar to the one posted above. I created a table in excel that has the recipe, page number, issue, and results. As I try the recipe I type in the results. Eventually, I'd like to type up the tried and true dishes, print them out and put them in a 3 ring binder (in a protective sleeve). I have already started the binder for recipes I've printed from the internet or torn from recipes.

Someday, I plan to type all my favorite recipes up and print them on decorative paper to make my own cookbook.