Ordering My World: Organizing My Cookbook

I am so pleased to be able to stop making excuses about my cookbook and announce that it’s finished! I’ve been griping about it for years and years. As I finally finish this ‘long-term project’, I have realized a few stumbling points for me in terms of recipe collection.

I have too many cookbooks

I love ‘em, you do too! I am always very hopeful as I purchase a new cookbook that it will solve all of my meal-preparation problems. Yet, as time goes on, I realize that I may use one or two recipes from those books, or worse yet, never even read them at all. I made the very hard decision to part with all but 3 newer cookbooks that I have. I looked at the recipes that I thought I was using, copied them and sent the rest to Goodwill. Difficult but freeing.

I collect too many recipes from magazines

Come on, admit it. You’re sitting in the doctor’s office, flipping through a magazine and you see the most luscious dessert recipe! You tear it out and cram it into your cookbook in hopes of trying it later. For me, that almost never happens.

I include more information than I need

You’ll notice in my recipe pages that under some of them, I wrote “You know how!”.

I don’t need to write “boil pasta” on a recipe I’m familiar with. This saves space in my book.

As I classified my recipes by category, I wrote down some recipe names just to remind

myself to make them. They are too simple to include instructions, but I need to be reminded to make them. Silly as it sounds, I just forget about them unless they’re written down.

Solutions:

My personal cookbook shall only include family favorites – These are tried and true recipes, not recipes I hope to try.

My personal cookbook has page covers or laminated pages so that I can wipe them clean.

I invested in a laminator this fall for school books, what a great investment! Borrow someone’s if you don’t have the cash for one right now.

My personal cookbook will have a blank pocket page for recipes I hope to try at some point.

Pitch everything else! Go for simplicity!

I think of it this way, just about every recipe in the world is on-line. Do I really need to possess them all? So if I throw something away that I meant to keep, just look it up again. Freedom!!

Do you all have anything to share about getting your cookbook organized? I’d love to hear it!

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Comments:

Amy @ Heritage Homamaker says:

November 12, 2011 at 3:41 pm

Love, love, LOVE this idea! Don’t know if you do this or not, but one thing I would include is the name and author of where the recipe came from. Just in case, once you have left this world, your children might want to get their hands on the cook book. I know how my siblings and I have been after our mother passed away in 1983 (I was only 17) and it has always been so important to us to know the history of things, where they originated, etc.

- kmorris says:
  
  November 15, 2011 at 12:19 pm
  
  Amy,
  
  Good idea, can’t say that I’ve paid that much attention to the author unless it was family. I agree with you, however, that the kids may want more from that particular cook.