We’re friends, right? So I feel I can tell you about my cookbook organization system or lack thereof. I have talked before about my cookbook addiction. The photo above is the top two shelves of my bookshelf, which is what I told myself I’d limit myself to. When I keep getting review copies, it’s not easy!
And then there’s a second bookshelf which has been taken over by magazines (I currently subscribe to Food & Wine, Cook’s Illustrated, and have in the past subscribed to Cooking Light, Eating Well, Clean Eating, etc. on and off again.
The large stack on top is cut off, but includes my most used cookbooks and those in various stages of being reviewed for the blog. Whenever the cookbooks in use overtake my counter I move the stack to this shelf. Of course, these don’t include those stashed in the bathroom or above the microwave or on my nightstand. Nor do they include those I’ve loaned out, left in the car, or in my work office drawer.
And so I was ecstatic to discover http://www.eatyourbooks.com/. (Not an affiliate link). You simply look up your cookbooks and you can search the indexes by key ingredient or title. I was skeptical at first, because my cookbooks aren’t the most popular – usually they focus on seasonal cooking. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover that out of the 32 books I’ve taken the time to look up and click on the box indicating that it’s on my shelf, 10 are already indexed. That might not sound like a lot, but that’s more than 4,000 recipes I can now access at the click of a button! The actual recipes aren’t listed, just the other ingredients, so you’ll have to locate where you stashed the cookbook in which the recipe is found, but it’s still much faster than looking through all of them by hand.
In my Martha Stewart-perfect world I would take the time to photocopy the indexes of all the cookbooks that aren’t indexed, as well as the indexes of my cooking magazines, and put them in a 3-ring binder.
Recipes not in cookbooks
What about misc. recipes that are on scraps of paper instead of a book or magazine? Those I type into Living Cookbook Recipe Management Software (yes, that one is an affiliate link). And, I’ve discovered that most of the recipes found in Cooking Light and Eating Well are easily searchable on their respective websites (the Cooking Light site also includes those from Southern Living, Sunset, Real Simple, and Health) . I pay for an online subscription to Cook’s Illustrated. I’m sure that other magazine websites have online databases as well, but those are the ones I use most often.
How about you? What methods do you use to keep your recipes from dying a long, slow, lonely and painful death?
This post shared with Kitchen Tip Tuesdays , Works for Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday
Oh boy did I need this. I am a cookbook addict too. All my books have little colored flags hanging out of them where I have went through and marked ones to try. I keep saying I need to purge the book shelf and send them on to someone else that could use them. Found your blog from the link at Tammys. BTW, the swiss mushroom burger looks delish!
I am a cookbookaholic too! What a wonderful addiction 🙂 except not…
I’m so glad to have found your post–I love that resource! I look forward to checking out your recipes. I blog here: http://adorkablerecipes.blogspot.com/
What a great resource – it will be perfect for those cookbooks that my son has torn out parts of the index!
I really needed this information! In addition to my own growing pile of cookbooks, I also get Cooking Light, the Martha Stewart magazine, and Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food…I usually rip recipes out of the magazines and sometimes they get put in my recipe box. If they don’t get put in the recipe box, they usually float around the house until my husband finally throws them away. He figures (correctly) that I won’t notice a few missing recipes!
I don’t have any brilliant input on how to save recipes, but I sure know how to make sure they die: Keep secrets. I hate secret recipes. Unless you’re Colonel Sanders you’re not going to build an empire on your secret ingredients.
Someone likes your brownies? Give them the recipe. Your Alfredo sauce is a hit? Tell ’em what’s in it. There can never be too many good recipes in the world.
I do the copy/3-ring binder system. I have to say I am quite jealous of your cookbook collection!
Oh how I love Cook’s Illustrated! I have a little problem with cookbooks, too, but I try to limit myself since we move every few years.
Severe self discipline. Limit self to one bookcase. Keep bookcase near kitchen, so you are inspired. Purge cookbooks periodically (to make room for new ones, of course!) by giving away or selling (yes, I know it’s hard!) cookbooks you haven’t used or have outgrown (from your vegetarian phase, your dairy-free phase, whatever). But first copy the few recipes in the book that look good or that you know are good. Blog or create a notebook of The Best Recipes that You and Your Family Like, that you’ll want to make again. That way they are not lost. I know this is all futile advice. You WILL keep that tattered copy of the original Vegetarian Epicure because it’s so COOL!! Lastly, admit that you love cookbooks, even if you don’t use them, and stop feeling guilty.
Great advice!