How to Organize Recipes

First things first, take care of the hand written recipes that you have that were handed down to you from family members. If your copy of grandma's famous cookie recipe is the same copy that she took the time to write out for you 15 years ago you will want to preserve that by using one of the two options. Get the card laminated, they way the ink won't ever be smudge because a bit of batter spills and you never have to worry about it getting wrinkled or ripped. You can also decide to copy the recipe and preserve grandma's copy by putting it into a photo album next to her picture.

Make sure that all of the none semimetal recipes that you have are all ledgeable, any that aren't copy onto a fresh recipe card. If you find recipes that you don't like and know that you will not make you can give them to someone who will or throw them out, just making more room for great recipes that you love. You can store your organized recipe cards in a recipe organizer like a recipe box or in a photo album, that you keep with your cook books. There is no right or wrong choice, it just depends what you think would work better for you.

Whether in a box or in a book, sort your recipes by types first, soups, cookies, breads, etc. Then with in those categories, sort the recipes in alphabetical order. This will allow you to quickly find a recipe by its name, as you'll know what category it will be in, and if you aren't sure what you want to make but know that you want to make something in a certain category rather than sorting through the entire alphabet you can just go straight to the soups (or which ever category you want) and see what is there. This way of organizing will save you time.