Mim’s Blog

As far as your Grandmother’s handwritten recipes are concerned – I think to preserve them you will need to stop using them directly as the paper/card will wear out eventually.

You could scan them and keep them online and use them that way forever.

I’ve been using MasterCook since like 1996. I have over 6,000 recipes in it now. It’s gotten a lot easier in the last few versions because there’s a drag and drop function that allows you to “copy” right from the internet. If you use Firefox, some guy has a free add-on that is also great to use in conjunction with MasterCook. Some people have used OCR to get their recipes into MaterCook, but I don’t know if it works with handwritten ones. FYI – there’s a new recipe search engine called food.com (still in beta) which allows you to maintain a “recipe box” on their site. It scrapes multiple online recipe databases, so it’s a big time saver.

I’d vote for scanning, too. With a high quality scan, you could preserve them (and organize them) in something like Flickr.

You could certainly copy them out into software, too, but there’s something really charming about old handwritten recipes.

I also vote for scanning them :-)
I set up a database ( Microsoft Access – but you could use any database program)
I then use hyperlinks to link form the database to the recipe – it may be a scanned jpg, a word doc or even a weblink to a website. I tagged the recipes with just about everything I thought I might want to search by. It works pretty well – sorry my geek is showing ;-)

I am totally sold on the Shop ‘n Cook program – I got it when I switched over to Mac, but there’s a pc version too. It has tons of features & is SO easy to use! It also allows you to add pictures to each recipe, so you could include a scan of your original recipe card right there with the tecchie version if you wanted – kind of the best of both worlds.

I stopped using my recipe cards in the box because I kept losing them. That’s when I started just entering them into a word processor (Wordstar 2000 back in the dark ages).

I set it up with both an index and a table of contents – I’d index ingredients so that if I wanted to see what recipes used “asparagus”, I could just look in the index.

Eventually I had to abandon the index because newer word processors got too difficult to use for indexing compared to the quick hotkey I used to use.

I have some cooking software, but I never wanted to take the time to convert all of my recipes into it, when my word processor stuff was working fine, so I don’t use it. I guess that’s OK – I never have to worry about software updates or operating system upgrades and having it not work at some point in time.

Personally, I like paper… but my recipes have a habit of not making it back into the file sometimes, too. There are only a few places where they’d likely collect, so it’s usually not very hard to locate them. Scanning your heirloom recipes is definitely something you should do, and one idea would be to have them printed in a photobook (Kodak, Snapfish, etc.) — they’re not all that expensive, you could include photos of the actual food or old family photos — shared meals and the like. (I think I may have just created a project for myself!)

Scan them on really high def, and save them to a disc, so you never lose them. Then, take the originals and have them–oh heck, what’s it called–coated with plastic– that is archival so the paper will not change. ????

I typed my grandmother’s recipes into a word processing file with the idea that I would use them in digital form. It doesn’t happen. I go get her cookbook because I just like the experience.

Have any of you looked at the recipe software by The Cookbook People? It’s really easy to use. You can find the website here: http://www.cookbookpeople.

It gives you 27 different creative, cultural and religious choices for how your book will look. You add on an address book, a birthday calendar and a biography section to make it a complete reference tool. It’s incredibly easy to learn (there are only three screens), because you want to be in the kitchen, not in front of a computer.

And if you are going to the work of making your own recipe book, why not print up some extra copies for family and friends?

Print the soft-copy recipes you want to use. Store them in your box along with your cherished recipes and use that. You seem to want to, anyway, eh? Keep the soft copies around just in case you want to send them, etc.

I keep a recipe folder with loose groupings — entrees, breads, preserves, that sort of thing. Makes it easy to file stuff in a sort-of-findable location but not too hard to keep up with it.

I cook a lot, from scratch. For one year, I made an effort to put all the recipes I use in a photo album. The plastic protects the pages, and I can still use the handwritten cards. This was intended as a graduation gift for my daughter, but I loved having all our favorites in one place. So I photocopied the pages and put them in plastic page protectors for me. I only regret that I didn’t do it sooner.

I used to use MasterCook to organize/save my recipes. But after having had to import huge files from old computers, I gave up on that. I started using Evernote (an online notetaker solution similar to Microsoft’s OneNote), because I can save clippings from the cooking blogs I read, or upload scanned images of recipe cards from my collection, and then access it whenever I need.

Have fun finding *your* solution. :)

All my attempts at software have failed. It takes so much time/data entry to get everything entered. I imagine that is would require an effort on the level of what it took to reconfigure your patterns. Even getting things scanned would be the kind of thing that I would MEAN to do, but would find a hard time getting around to completing. I have lots of recipes, so this has been incredibly daunting to me.

The thing that works for me is to have binders with pocket protectors. Then when I clip something, get a recipe from a friend or print an online recipe out, I can just shove it in a sleeve. I am up to two large binders now. I just shift the pages around when they need organizing and have them in basic sections (breads, soups, etc). I think the thing that helped me realized this was the best, is that I can’t cook with a computer! I always need a hard copy. The pocket protectors keep the recipe clean in case of spills. I also like to be able to turn pages instead of rummage through a box. It is not as beautiful an option as some, but the most practical simply because I actually use it and can make it work. It is what works best for me; the one method I have been able to really stick to and be disciplined about.

I have a friend that decoupaged her favorites on the wall as part of her wall paper look. Sounds nuts, but in her artistic way it looks great and is a lovely way to have the handwriting of loved ones all around her in the kitchen.

I’m getting ready to compile my recipes (currently on scraps of food-stained scratch paper and the backs of envelopes) into a notebook. I think it’s important to have hard copy of all this stuff because you still have to cook when software fails, the power goes out, or the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse gallop over the fence AGAIN. (I wish they’d quit landing in my collard greens! They do that every time!)

Keep the recipe cards. A recipe box doesn’t crash…
8)
Seriously, you could put the cards into a photo-album – the kind with transparent sleeves.
I use a recipe book where I’ve handwritten my favorite and/or family recipes. I expect my daughters to fight over it when I’m gone.

I want a record of my/our favourite recipes that if all else fails, can be used no matter what – black out/computer crash/platform changes etc.

And despite having a computer in the kitchen I don’t want to have to print off something just to make it.

I keep hand written cards in plastic sleeves in a three ring binder for most of these.

I also note with pencil in cookbooks, which recipes I’ve used and what modifications I made.

I keep a hand written notebook with menu plans, notes and recipe references for all special family events like birthdays, Christmas, etc.

Generally in the summer I tend to use more trendy, magazine sourced/online recipes and try them out. If they are used again the next summer then they get a card and into the three ring binder they go.

I feed our family 7 nights a week and provide 5 days of lunches for two students. I also host multiple family functions a year using this system and it is definitely the most efficient I’ve tried – on line/computer based programs just took too much time.

That’s my little system in a nutshell – good luck finding the right way for you and your lifestyle!

Switch everything over to the computer. I’m always misplacing my copied and handwritten recipes. But save your grandmother’s handwritten recipes, archive them with other important and cherished family papers. I love the idea of using one of those book printing services to make special recipe books, from the scans and with your own notes, maybe for you and your sisters. Those will probably end up cherished by future generations. You’re a bookbinder, I’m sure that you will find a wonderful and creative way to save these memories.

I love the paper/index card versions, too. You could try http://www.blurb.com to make your own book and preserve them for future generations, though; start a new blog for your eyes only and add a scan of the recipe along with your thoughts or memories of the food, cooking with your grandmother, etc.