Help me get FOOD organized

[jdp]

I've come to realize that my "food files" are literally all over the place. I have foodie/recipe blogs in my reader, I have sites I like in my fave folders, I have recipes saved to OneNote on my desktop and I have paper versions (handcopied, cut out, xeroxed, etc.) in a binder at home (expanded an old Betty Crocker divided binder with my own tabs and just started sticking papers in). At one point I tried to put my favorites, or as I used something and deemed it worthy enough, into an access database on my desktop.

What I want is something searchable/filterable by ingredients, equipment needed, time, recipe type, etc. There are a lot of online sites out there but how to get all my non-e stuff to it?

I thought before I give up/in and just try and scan all my paper stuff into a OneNote "food" binder I thought I would come here and ask "how do you organize all your FOOD stuff, recipes, shopping lists, menu faves, etc."?

ETA - prefer a non .com because the transient nature of some .com things I used in the past and availability.

[Will]

How about Google Notebook.

There are four features that might help:

• You can create "Notebooks" which are basically folders where you can input individual entries. So for example, you can have a notebook called "Appetizers" and create individual notes for appetizer recipes.

• You can also "label" each individual note and sort by label. So for example, you can label your note for "pigs in a blanket" with the label "pork." You can quickly find all your recipes with pork in it by clicking on the "pork" label.

• Google search. You can do a search of your notebooks using Google's awesome search technology.

• Google clips. If you see a recipe you like online, you can select it and then "copy" it to your Google Notebook. You can copy pictures as well as text (See Lifehacker for more info).

I don't know anything about cooking, but I hope this was useful.

[jdp]

Originally Posted by Will

How about Google Notebook.

There are four features that might help:

• You can create "Notebooks" which are basically folders where you can input individual entries. So for example, you can have a notebook called "Appetizers" and create individual notes for appetizer recipes.

• You can also "label" each individual note and sort by label. So for example, you can label your note for "pigs in a blanket" with the label "pork." You can quickly find all your recipes with pork in it by clicking on the "pork" label.

• Google search. You can do a search of your notebooks using Google's awesome search technology.

• Google clips. If you see a recipe you like online, you can select it and then "copy" it to your Google Notebook. You can copy pictures as well as text (See Lifehacker for more info).

I don't know anything about cooking, but I hope this was useful.

Oooo. And with google desktop you can search desktop and doesn't have to be online. Sounding good. Now what to do about all the paper ones I've got in the binder. Google docs? Hmmm.

[lucille]

Will's idea really does have possibilities. Right now I have binders with print outs. Binders for various types of food. Plus bookmarks and a few notepad files. I tried the access file and lost it in a crash.

[Milehimama]

For your hard copies, if you don't want to enter them in the database, here's what I do at home.
I have a binder with dividers for major categories (salads, beef, chicken, I even have a "leftover bird" category for turkey and chicken leftovers).

With my shopping things, I have cards labeled with the major categories, recipe names listed, with special ingredients noted next to it.

Example: Beef
Beef and Broccoli (broccoli, boneless steak, rice, soy sauce)
Stroganoff (boneless steak or ground beef, mushrooms, noodles, sour cream)

I did it this way so if I was at the store and found a great deal on round steak, I would know what to make with it and what else I should pick up. You could make a table of contents or index with the major categories, and just list the name of the recipe.
So your index for canned, diced tomatoes might look like:
Salsa
Spaghetti
Chicken parmesan/Eggplant parmesan
etc.

I also have a spiral notebook that I copy recipes I want to try into, then write on it what worked or didn't work. I'm always tweaking recipes and I wanted to have a diary of recipes I've tried in a year. Tried and True recipes go into my binder. I use page protectors for cards/magazine clippings, etc.

[purplefdu]

Google notebook sounds addicting...thanks for the idea Will. I have all my online recipes stored in one subsection on my bookmarks, and most of my recipes come from one site anyway so its pretty easy to navigate through. I like the idea of labeling shopping by main ingredient. That would be great for me.

[uuvbbz]

so nice.....

[amyschiff]

I use MacGourmet and love it. It lets you create/print shopping lists, organize recipes, equipment and tons more. It's mac-only though.

[happysmileylady]

I am slowly starting to accumulate my recipes as well. Since it's not a top priority for me, it's taking a while. But I figure that it's similar to budgeting and organizing finances...first you have to gather it all together into one place, decide on the best way to portion it out or organize it, then put your plan into place.

One suggestion I have is to search for your already in print recipes online somewhere. I have a LOT of recipes that I use from a old cooking magazine subscription. While I no longer get the magazine, I still use a lot of the recipes. And nearly all of those are online, the magazine has a searchable database. Currently I am gathering all mine in one online storage site, but rather than go through the trouble of typing them all out into the online format, I just copy from the magazine's website.

[jdp]

OMGoodness! Why didn't I think to search vs. type?! DOH!