Making a Cookbook

[runamyrun]

I love to try new recipes. I also collect a ton of recipes, some from the newspaper, some from online, some jotted on scratch paper, some on recipe cards, and some in the mail. I have a lot of cookbooks, a cupboard full of magazines, and a stack of papers with recipes on them. It frustrates me to see the mess. The recipes I use a lot I keep in specific cookbooks or a recipe box. The rest are shoved in the cupboard. I really would like to make myself a cookbook. Do any of you have experience with this? I am extremely frugal (I know many of you are too), so I would prefer an affordable way to do it. Does anyone have a software program they love? I have thought about two different ways to do it. One would be to just organize all the papers in categories and put them as is in a binder. The other way would be to type all of the recipes so it looks better and is more organized. Both ways are a lot of work, so I am kind of thinking that maybe I might need to wait until my kids aren't so little. Does anyone have any suggestions besides throwing everything away?!

[bookworm]

I have a binder stuffed full of recipes, which I've been thinking about reorganizing lately. I think I'll get a few different binders and organize them by categories- like main dishes, soups/salads, desserts/treats, side dishes, etc. I haven't really decided yet, but I'm going to get this stuff in order this Spring, as I can't find what I need half the time.

My recipes are mostly typed up or printed from the internet, and I slide them into sheet protectors. They aren't cheaply cheap, but not terribly expensive, either, and a lot of recipes can go two per side, so four per protector. It works for me!

[5ft Diva]

These are recipe-card programs from the web. I just found them in a magazine yesterday so I haven't had a chance to check them out. You could look into these and at least get some ideas if anything.

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[5ft Diva]

Also I found these:

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[Dia Minha]

My sister has a really cool, easy and inexpensive way of organizing her assorted recipes. She has a binder with seperators for the different kinds of recipes, desserts, main meals, salads, breads, etc. When she prints one of the internet she just slips it into a protector sheet and inserts it into the binder in the apropriate spot. If she cuts a recipe out of a magazine or has one that isn't a standard paper size, she simply pastes it onto a standard size paper, inserts it into a protector sheet and snaps it into the binder. It isn't especially pretty, but it is well organized, simple, takes very little time, and is very inexpensive. I keep meaning to start one for myself. Something like this might work for you Amy. This would clear up the clutter and you could always go back and retype and make it pretty later when your kids are older.

[Dia Minha]

I didn't realize that it sounds like I just repeated what Amy wrote in her original post. Sorry I wasn't to helpful. For some reason when I first read what you wrote it didn't sound anything like what my sister does. When I reread it just now it sounded the same. Still I think it would be a good place to start. Retyping would be a lot of work.

[Erudite]

Me too! I just do the sheet protector thing in binders. I have a desserts and special occasion food binder and an everything else binder. I'm at a good spot in my recipe life right now and not looking to add, so I don't know that I'll end up with more than that.

And I just barely did this last month btw. It's funny we're all so on the same page. I still have lots of cookbooks too, but all the loose recipes are now contained. woo hoo!

[runamyrun]

Good ideas. I think soon I will put my recipes in binders with sheet protectors and then if I choose to, later on put them in a real cookbook.