Organizing :: Magazine Recipes

A few months back, I shared my addiction to food magazines here. I’ve not done the math on what this little indulgence costs, but hey, I’m subscribing, and not paying newsstand prices, so that’s good, right? More than once I’ve been asked how I organize the {seemingly} hundreds of recipes I tear out of them.

While not every area of my life has a process {for example, my sock drawer, the laundry room}, collecting and organizing recipes is one area that I have figured out how to organize…

Here’s my process… and I’d love to hear yours!

Step 1: Over coffee {am} or wine {pm}, browse through any new arrivals and dog-ear recipes of interest. If I’m feeling really efficient, I tear them out as I go.

Step 2: Organize recipes by category and put in corresponding folders.

Of course these folders have labels. I love labels – I printed these on round ones I bought at Paper Source.

Step 3: The folders are kept in my “To Try” bins, attached to the back of the pantry door. {I love my pantry…}

Let’s say I want to do something new with tofu tonight… Wait – that doesn’t happen… Ok, chicken! I pull out the “chicken” folder, and find a recipe that sounds good at the moment.

{On more than one occasion, this step has served to weed out those “What was I thinking, I’ll never make this!” recipes.}

Step 4: Once a recipe has been tried, it’s either rejected {determined by a score less than 5-out-of-5 from Husband} or it’s designated a “keeper.” Keepers are slid into protective pages in “The Big Book” {a 3-ring binder) which is organized by category.

The protective pages are great, because I tend to be a messy cook. I just wipe them off before I put them back.

As I tweak recipes over time, I make notes right on the page.

Step 5: Eventually, “tried and true” recipes make it into my recipe software {I’m currently using Cook’n for Mac} so I can access them from anywhere – and maybe even share them here on Raisin & Fig.

My goal is to try at least one new recipe per week. I don’t always hit that goal, but this little system makes it easier for me to try great new dishes.

Or maybe it just helps me justify my addiction to food magazines…