Organizing Your Recipes...

The beginning of this summer I had decided it would be a fantastic idea to go through my entire room, dumping papers I never use or need, reorganizing my (200+) books, and getting rid of clothes/decoration/etc that I don't want anymore. But these past two weeks I entered the papers galore. And my papers I mean recipes, magazines, file folders, decoration ideas, parts of magazines, old history notes, favorite quote sticky notes, Bibles verse sticky notes, "no idea why I kept you" papers, and others. The greatest problem at hand has been my recipes...I don't know how to categorize them. I don't know due to the fact that I haven't cooked and baked long enough to know those certain secrets. Secrets that would be very helpful in the category and organization department.

So I took the liberty of helping you and myself by using trusty ol' Google! All "Wenya Notes" are my thoughts, some I'm doing currently and some I'm going to start to do. That is code for don't take my words as the Bible! So I shared "my ideas" (more like 'my finds') here for you:

• Home Storage Solutions 101 on Organizing Recipes.
• Step 1: Why are you Saving Recipes and Cook Books 
• Wenya Notes: Aspirational: Wanting to try new things, to improve or expand your cooking skills, find an even better recipe for something you already make, etc.
• Step 2: Decluttering 
• Wenya Notes: I have a lot of aspirational recipes and very little practical and sentimental due to the fact I haven't cooked and baked that long.
• Step 3: Create Storage and Organization for Untried 
• Wenya Notes: uses file folders for untried recipes, yes, real original.
• Step 4a: Create Storage and Organization for Tried and True 
• Wenya Notes: categories I'm using are Breakfast, Lunch, Beverages, Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Main dishes: Beef, Main dishes: Poultry, Main dishes: Pork, Side dishes: Vegetables, Side dishes: Other, Desserts: Cake/Cupcake, Desserts: Cookies, Desserts: Brownies, Desserts: Others, Canning / Freezing, Breads, Holidays, and Entertaining/Party.
• Step 4b: Digital or Not 
• Wenya Notes: I have everything digital for the ones I've tried, but also have prints of my favorites. For the recipes I find on pinterest and love, I print (depending on how much I love the recipe). So in short Wenya has a lot in digital and a lot in print.
• Mel's Kitchen Cafe on Favorite Cookbooks and Blogs.
• Step 1: Digital Storage
• Wenya Notes: Save recipes in 'Recipes to Try' (if you have too many to try you should have categories) and then the tried and true recipes go into categories folders like a cook book or however your little heart desires.
• Step 2: The Recipes in Unfriendly Digital Format
• Wenya Notes: PINTEREST! I, Wenya, have categories, and only put the recipes I haven't tried on pinterest because I have phobia of Pinterest deleting my pins...
• Step 3: Absolutely Love It Binder System (Print)
• Wenya Notes: Everything that all members of the family absolutely love gets printed and placed in paper system of recipes (same categories as above).  Have a binder system, recipe box system, or a file box system; which ever you prefer. And I, Wenya, don't know which I prefer...I just have prints...

Best Tips I found while using trusty ol' Google!

• Put dates on your clipped recipes (digital and paper) so that in x amount of years you can dump all the ones you never tried, we have the internet if we don't know something we find it. (Source: Home Storage Solutions 101) 
• Only keep cook books you use on a frequent basis in your kitchen because the kitchen isn't a good place for papers due to humidity. Keep over cook books in the dinner room or office or cleaning closet next to the kitchen? (Home Storage Solutions 101)
• It isn't bad to have the print version and the digital version because everyone has a different taste, and I like both versions. (Mel's Kitchen Cafe)
• Putting Tried and True recipes in paper protectors is a great clue to recipes being good, all others, not in page protectors are to try recipes (dun dun dunnnnnn). (Mels Kitchen Cafe)

Sometimes you don't have to go very far to find great blogs, only on the "G" of Google search. Win!

-Wenya-