A reader asks, "Curious if you have found any good solutions to tackling the pile of recipe cards, clippings and index cards that everyone used to use. I have several family and old recipes that I want to save but I haven’t found the time to sort through them and type them into the computer."
That’s the difficulty of recipes. You find them in magazines, on the internet, handed down on index cards, hastily written down on paper from a friend at a potluck. They are all different sizes so how do you store them?
1) Digital
There are quite a few recipe apps that people use. If you are willing to type everything in, these are considered the best options:
Basil App is for the iPad
2. Paper
Most people don’t want to type everything up though. If you want to stay with paper, using a binder can keep the the recipes organized. There are plastic inserts that you can store cards.
Plastic sleeves can hold magazine clippings and printed digital recipes.
3. Evernote
The main problem with the binder system is finding a recipe. You can only organize in one way.
I like using Evernote. It’s a digital notebook that allows you to take things from the web, emails, and photos. It allows you to integrate all your different methods of gathering recipes.
So if you don’t want to type your recipe cards in, you can take a picture of the recipe card. As a bonus, you get to have the special handwriting of whomever gave you the card. You can also scan the cards if you prefer.
Then you can tag your note. The best part is you can add more than one tag. Some possible tags: beverages, sweet, vegetable, potluck, fast, and winter. When we look for recipes it’s not always by meat, side, and salad.
You can also add to your note with the photo recipe card. "use just under 2 cups flour" Or, "daughter likes, husband doesn’t."
Clipping recipes from the internet is simple if you use Evernote’s Web Clipper. It’s a browser plugin that lets you grab parts of a webpage and put it directly into Evernote.
Evernote also has a food app, that I haven’t used. Evernote Food
I second using Evernote for recipes! Just as you describe – I clip recipes from the internet, scan or take photos of recipe cards or magazine clippings..
I love the ability to tag things and add notes however I would like. It’s been the perfect solution for me.
I also use the free service, “Say MMM” that integrates with Evernote to create grocery lists from recipes within Evernote. It can be a little glitchy, but Say MMM has been a worthwhile addition for me.
Thanks for the tip, Laura
I love the Paprika app!! It is easy to use and I can create meal plans/menus and shopping lists easily.
Need to have my recipes take up less space!!