How Do You Organize All Your Recipes?

[SilverCeladon]

I'm not even a consultant yet but I am looking to sign after Christmas-I've already talked to my director and I'm getting tons of ideas for my future parties...


Anyways, there seems to be sooooo many recipes and how do yo organize them? Do you have them on your computer or do you have a binder that you keep them all in? I need some ideas so I can start cataloging (is that even a word? ) recipes.

 

[jenniferknapp]

All of the recipe books are amazing!! (and have pictures) and you can find an alphabetical "table of contents," mentioning which book it is from. There are also soo many on here that people have posted..and I have just started making a binder of "poultry, appetizers, desserts, beef, other meats, misc and side dishes" (you couldprobably do all of the meets as a "main dishes" ...I do have most of them on the computer, but i have a lot of loose paper ones as well!

 

[ChefAggi]

At my shows I like to give everyone a copy of what recipes I make. So I keep an electronic copy on my laptop and I also have a binder with insert folders/page protectors to keep all my photocopies of each recipe. That way I just need to take out the copy of the recipes I am making, make extra copies for my shows and put the master and any extra copies in a page protecter. Each page protector has its own individual recipe (due sometimes to extra copies behind the master). In the new year, I need to get a bigger binder and I want to break my recipes down into sections ie: beverages, desserts, main meals, appetizers, etc.

It is definetely an exciting time when you first join PC. I am almost a year as a consultant and I"m just as excited now as I was the day I opened my starter kit!!! I wish you great success in your new business venture!

Cheers!

 

[chefann]

Yes, "cataloging" is a word.

Unfortunately, it's not one that I apply regularly to my recipes. When I first started, I took all the recipes off the U&C cards and filed them in a 3x5 recipe box. But that got full and I got lazy. Now I've got a big stack of U&C cards that need filing.

Recipes from consultants that aren't specifically PC recipes tend to get saved on my computer. That's actually an easy way to do it, because you can create directories for different types of recipes (appetizers, desserts, etc.) to sort them. And if you use keywords within Word, you can search for specific things. Best of all, you can back the whole recipe directory up to a CD easily.

 

[jenniferknapp]

oh yeah I forgot about all of my u&c cards....I have some doubled up on a page and copied to put in the binder, but most are thrown into a "i will go through these someday stack!"

 

[ChefAggi]

oh yeah I forgot about all of my u&c cards....I have some doubled up on a page and copied to put in the binder, but most are thrown into a "i will go through these someday stack!"

Right I forgot about mine too!! For those I picked up one of those mini photo album books and I put each of those cards in it. I do find that is not working for me at the moment, since I never think to go to them. I think I will need to come up with a better solution for that one!

Cheers

 

[SilverCeladon]

What are u&c cards? Are those the recipe cards that come with each product?

 

[chefann]

For the U&C cards...A shoebox works well. Or the cardboard 4x6 file boxes from the office supply store. They are pretty deep (usually about 8 inches), so they hold many more than the little plastic file boxes do.

 

[jenniferknapp]

Yes, "Use and Care cards" ....and each one has a recipe, or sometimes 2 I think. Does anyone know if these are duplicate recipes of what are in the books??

 

[chefann]

I think they're mostly unique. If you do a recipe search on Consultant's Corner for the recipe name, it'll come up with multiples if it's repeated anywhere.

The Spanish recipes on the cards are sometimes different from the English, not just a translation.

On a side note, I liked the U&C cards from several years ago better than the current ones. They had more recipes on them (most now only have 1), and they were on thicker paper, so were more durable if a customer kept them.

 

[letscook04]

I have the recipe cards in the retired recipe binder and I have some recipes saved in word.

 

[erinyourpclady]

I do "cooking for dummy's" version of the recipes for myself on 4x6 cards. I learned early on to save each one instead of re-writing them for every show.
I prefer to use these cards at my shows over the cookbooks because with the cards I dummy it down so far that I never lose my place in the recipe. Does that make sense?
I store them in a 4x6 index card box alphabetically. It works for me but you just need to always find what works best for you!!

HTH~

 

[SilverCeladon]

Thanks ladies-that does help. I have a whole mess of u&c cards on my counter right now and I have to go to Staples so I'll get an index card box.

 

[DebbieSAChef]

ComputerThank the Lord for computers!! I hate clutter and I love PC spreadsheets. I also have plenty of word docutments that have my recipes for different PC tools, brunches, desserts, etc....
I also have SB's, and other cookbooks I get recipes from but as for Pc recipes they are mostly in my computer for easy lookup and printing. The recipe cards I have from PC are stored in a binder with pockets. I do however try to give them all away and try not to keep so many. Not all of them are appealing to me. And if it is really appealing I copy it into my Pc.

Debbie

 

[pamperedtiffani]

I second that! I deep my organized within folders on my computer - Appetizers, Desserts, Entrees, ect.
I also have a folder of product based recipes - for example the Quick stur pitcher has a lot of it's own recipe

Hope htis elps.
I did look for software to organize them - but I didn't find anything good that was free. Good luck on your new business!