A couple weeks ago, a friend reached out to ask if I had any tricks for organizing my recipes. Like her, I have some in a recipe box, a few in cookbooks, a bunch printed out from the computer, and some saved on my phone.
Of course, I had no suggestions outside of my own manageable chaos, so I reached out to my friend and organizing superstar, Stephanie Klein, and asked her what ideas she might have.
Stephanie owns a business called Happinest Organizing, where she helps people reduce the clutter in their personal spaces to create a sense of calm. What I love most about Stephanie is that she really does have a solution for anything that needs organizing and they are almost always super-easy to execute and maintain.
Stephanie has two paths someone can take to get their arms around their recipes–a paper one and a digital one. Like me, Stephanie still tends to prefer paper solutions. She has streamlined her recipe situation by creating binders with her favorites. Pinterest ideas, recipe cards, and pages from her favorite cookbooks are neatly tucked into page protectors and tucked into a binder.
“I cook out of necessity,” says Stephanie with a laugh. “My husband cooks because he loves it. There were times when he made something delicious and I would ask him if he saved it and he hadn’t. My binder system has helped with this.”
For those who prefer to save recipes on their iPad or phone, Stephanie suggests three apps that can help you get organized. Most of these are free to use, although upgrades are available for a fee.
- Paprika is an app that helps you organize your recipes, make meal plans, and create grocery lists. Using Paprika’s built-in browser, you can save recipes from anywhere on the internet. With their sync service, you can save your data across all of your devices.
- OrganizEat is another app that actually allows you to take pictures of your favorite recipes (a recipe card, page from a cookbook, a sticky note) and tag it in such a way that you can find it easily the next time you need it.
- Cook’n is an interactive app that lets you search the internet for recipes. You can also enter your own recipes from multiple sources with ease and attach your own food photos.
I hope this helps you get your kitchen a little more organized if that’s something you’re looking to do. And of course, Stephanie, is always available to consult with you if you’d like to bring in an expert.
xo,
