Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Solution to Too Many Cookbooks

        I've got way too many cookbooks on my shelves. But each one has got some recipe, on some page that's a family favorite or an old standby. A few years back I came upon a solution, but as you can see it hasn't really reduced my stash of cookbooks all that much.  It is so hard to part with these old friends of bygone days.

        After my kids would ask such questions as, "Mom, where's your recipe for corn muffins?" or "What recipe do you use for  macaroni and cheese?" I thought of a plan to eliminate or at least decimate my cluttered mish-mash of cookbooks. The plan would also put all our frequently used recipes into one easily accessible file.

         What I've done is put all our favorite recipes, new and old alike, into the computer via WORD, printed copies of each one, then placed them in vinyl sheet protectors and put them into an organized 3-ring binder. The name of the binder is "Anderson Family Cookbook: A Compilation of Most Often Used Family-favorite Recipes from a Variety of Sources." I always include the source of the recipe along with any special notes or variations.

           The benefits: 1. No more hunting for favorite recipes 2. All our most often used recipes are in one place 3. The favorite recipes are on my computer and easily shared with those who request them and can even be e-mailed  4. The kids and husband know where to find them and have quit asking me to find a recipe for them  5.I can get rid of cookbooks especially those of which I only use 1 or 2 recipes.

1 comment:

  1. Great idea...However, it's not my cookbooks that are messy, it's hubby's. :) Maybe he could pay a child to scan or copy the recipes into a binder.

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