How can I organize recipes from magazines?

We scan ours and have a digital album for “favorites” and one for “to try”.

We have a laptop in the kitchen and just call them up as we need too.

I have a binder. The sleeves in the binder are clear plastic. I also collect recipe clippings in all shapes and sizes. They easily slide into the sleeves. What’s great about this method is you don’t have to remove the clipping to see the recipe. It also protects the recipe from being damaged while you are using it in the kitchen. The binder stands up so that you can see it easily. If the clipping is rather small, you can scan it, enlarge it and print it so it is easier to see. This is really great for me. I am about to have to start another binder. I have a friend who scans all of her clippings and puts them into her laptop. Her laptop is always in the kitchen with the recipes at hand.

What I do is glue them onto 8 1/2×11 notebook paper, one recipe to a page. I divide them into categories: Soups, Appetizers, Entrees, Side Dishes, Desserts. I use a three-ring notebook with a set of dividers labelled as stated.

I also have binders for recipes on 8 by 11” paper. I put them in clear plastic sleeves. For irregular sized recipes – like those clipped from magazines, I use a photo album that has a sticky backgorund and clear plastic coveing. I can just put the recipe on the sticky background and cover it with the plastic. i also have some recipes in a metal notecard box. This is for recipes that I have written down from other people or places. This is alphabetized.

I cut them all out and tack them to the kitchen wall. When I run out of tacks…scotch tape. I organize them by order of discovery, and highlight special ingredients with a yellow Stabilo Boss (the king of high-lighters).

I also put them in one of the million plastic sleeves I have from scrapbooking then in a 3 rig binder . When I find I use one a lot I will type it into my Now You’re Cooking Program.

my favorites are typed up on regular paper, slipped into clear sheet holders and stored in a 3-ring binder. recipes from books or borrowed magazines get scanned into an appropriate folder. strange or random recipes (back of a receipt or napkin, ripped from a magazine) get filed by type in a large basket. not a perfect system, but i usually don’t have too many problems finding things…

Get a small index card box and label off sections A-Z then cut out recipes as small as possible and slide them into each section accordingly. If you want to go the fancy way they do sell small boxes with file slot labeled A-Z specifically for recipes.

I am looking to purchase cellophane or plastice sleeves that might come in sizes 3×5 or 4×6 or whatever is the closest, to which I can insert this size receipe that I have cutout of cooking magazines. They show many receipes that size to be cut out yet I have nothing to slide them into so they don’t soil.

@sparkie: should be able to get at office supply store. they’re designed to hold photos

You might consider using an online service, if you’re willing to do a bit of data entry. I’ve been facing the same issue with a stack of recipe cards, old magazines, and books. Even worse, when I need these, I don’t have them with me.

I recently started a new site to handle this problem: One tsp.. You can store recipes, even those from books and magazines, in your private account. And if you need to see one of your recipes while you’re at the grocery store, look it up on the mobile version.

I’d really love to see feedback if you give it a try!

I just do it the old fashioned way, and put them in a binder. I’m not smart enough to scan and file them on the computer..that sounds like something I should learn.

I retype the ones I want to keep and have files on my computer. The retyping is actually a good filtering mechanism, because rather than “this sounds good!’ clip clip, I also filter by “do I think I will make this enough to take the time to type out the recipe”, and that reduces the clutter.

When we moved my mother out of her apartment she had binders and boxes full of recipes that she never made. She always made the favorites. The recipe thing was some sort of weird hording. You can pretty much get any recipe on cooks.com

@mikebrittain, I looked at your website and it sounds like it has potential possibly! I am going to seriously consider trying it out at least for a short time. I have been wanting a software just for these purposes now for quite some time.

I have done the ‘notebook with plastic ‘sleeves’ and put all my cut-up recipes in that book, it still isn’t finished though. I also have several websites I use and find it difficult to remember ‘which one’ I got the recipe from at times. It would really be nice to have something ALL in ONE place to go too for recipes!