How To Organize Recipes To Calm Kitchen Chaos

Last Updated on August 15, 2020 by Ellen Christian

Do you know how to organize recipes? You’ve probably guessed by now that I love to cook.  I have shelves full of cookbooks and piles of recipe magazines.  I have loose recipes I’ve torn out of magazines and scribbled on scraps of paper. I have recipes I’ve printed out online that I want to try soon.  This is great, but it contributes to my clutter problem.  I can never find the recipe I remember tearing out or seeing in a magazine.  I know it’s around here somewhere. Maybe on my cookbook shelf? Maybe buried somewhere on the kitchen table?  Or maybe I used it as a bookmark in the book I’m reading, or the wind blew it off the table and behind my son’s backpack. I was provided a product for review, but the story is my own.

How To Organize Recipes

I have good intentions. I do. I get a recipe card in the mail or a magazine, and I want to try it. I put it where I’m sure I will see it, so I remember to buy the ingredients. Life happens and the recipe is out of site and out of mind. I never buy the ingredients, so I never try the recipe. I’ve tried putting them on the refrigerator or in a box. It never works because they get buried or piled on top of. I needed to figure out how to organize recipes so I would try them.

You all know that when I want to try a new system it needs to be easy. I have seen some pretty amazing scrapbooks filled with recipes on colored paper with cute embellishments and borders. Let’s face it, I am not going to do that. I don’t have time, and all that would accomplish is a pile of scrapbook materials sitting next to the pile of papers on my kitchen table. My goal is less paper and not more. When I learned about the NeatReceipts mobile scanner and digital filing system, I knew it had the potential to help me tackle my recipe clutter.  I’ve had a stack of cookbooks and cooking magazines on my table for days now intending to deal with them. Now is the time.

 

Using the NeatReceipts, you can scan a recipe to save a digital copy.  You can create different files for different recipe types like main dish recipes, desserts, canning, gluten free, etc.  But, this is where it gets pretty neat (get it?).  Once you have scanned the recipe, you can add the important information to different columns – like the ingredients or the type of recipe.  Then when you know you want to try that strawberry marmalade recipe, you search on strawberry marmalade, and there it is! You can print out the recipe if you want or save it as a PDF or JPG.

The NeatReceipts is very easy to use. It weighs less than a pound, and its slim size means it can easily sit just about anywhere on your desk.   You simply load the software from the CD and then connect NeatReceipts to your computer with the included USB cable. It does not need to be plugged in which is a huge plus for me. We never have enough outlets.   In today’s digital world, there’s more fun stuff.  NeatCloud will help you back up your files and access them anywhere you want.  NeatMobile turns your smartphone or tablet into a scanner and another way to access your files. You get a 30 day free trial to these services.

 

I am very glad I learned how to organize recipes with NeatReceipts.  When I get the magazine or cookbook, if there are only a few recipes I am interested in, I don’t need to hold onto the whole thing forever.I can scan what I want and then pass it on to someone else.  Using the NeatReceipts for menu planning is saving me tons of time. No more wondering what’s for dinner at 5 pm.

If you are working on decluttering and organizing your home, I highly recommend the e-course, Decluttering Made Easy.