Organize all your recipes: 3 easy steps

How are your recipes organized?

On Pinterest boards?

In Google folders?

In a recipe box or binder?

Not at all? (It’s ok!)

When was the last time you actually sorted through those recipes, throwing out ones that you don’t use, and reminding yourself what you actually have?

Are your recipes organized in a way that you can actually use them? Your recipe stash shouldn’t overwhelm you. Instead, it should help and inspire you as you meal plan.

Here are 3 easy steps to get your recipes organized once and for all!

Step 1: Decide on a system to organize your recipes

Make a decision about how and where you want to store your recipes. Pinterest? Google files? A recipe box? A binder? Pick one method and stick with it.

I find that a large 3 ring binder works best for me. There are dividers for each of my categories (which are all dinner recipes, by the way. I keep recipes for things like desserts and appetizers in a completely different binder.)

Each recipe, whether printed from the Internet, ripped out of a magazine, or ripped out of a cookbook (yes, I do that!) gets placed in a sheet protector and put in the proper section. But only if we have already made the recipe and loved it.

(More on what I do with recipes we haven’t tried yet in Step 3.)

Step 2: Sort your recipes

Go through what you have.

Delete or throw away recipes that you didn’t like or won’t use. Sort what’s left into folders or sections by category.

If you’re using a binder, put recipes into sheet protectors and organize them by category.

Step 3: Make a plan for new recipes

Now it’s time to create a system for new recipes that you haven’t tried yet.

Here’s what I do: I have a folder where I will put every new recipe that I want to try. If I find a new recipe online, I print it out and put it in the folder.

When I’m meal planning each week, I pick a few new recipes from the folder- just to keep things interesting. I hang those on my fridge during the week.

Then, after I try the recipe, if I like it, I add it to my binder. If I wasn’t crazy about it, I throw it away.

Now it’s your turn to decide how you will save new recipe ideas, and work it into your system.

What my recipe binder looks like

Like I said, I use a recipe binder with category dividers and plastic sheet protectors. It works for me. Here’s a little peak into what my recipe binder looks like: