• About
  • Contact
    • Media Inquiries
  • Privacy Policy & Disclosures
  • Shop
  • Our Lake House

The No Pressure Life | Crafts | Decor | Organization

Practical home ideas for busy moms.

  • Decorate
    • Decorating Tips and Tricks
    • Room Makeovers
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Shopping Resources
    • Our Garrison Colonial Makeover
    • Our First Home {City Townhouse}
  • Craft
  • DIY
  • Organize
  • Declutter
  • Free Decluttering Planner

How to Organize Loose Recipes with 5 Simple But Brilliant Ideas

January 2, 2019 by Laura Kiernan 1 Comment

Learn how to organize loose recipes from your favorite magazines with these simple but smart recipe storage ideas.

organized recipes and text overlay: Learn How to Organize Your Recipes: 5 easy ways to try!

There’s a stack of magazines (ok, three stacks if I’m being honest) in our family room, and each one includes at least two recipes I’d like to try at some point. Or, share with my husband since he does most of the cooking around here.

But it’s pretty difficult to find the right recipe in one magazine, let alone stacks of them, and over the years I’ve accumulated quite a few loose recipes. To keep them organized, I use a few different methods, including a digital cookbook.

If you’re ready to declutter your recipe collection and organize them in a way that makes sense to you, here are five smart options to try.

How to Organize Loose Recipes: Where to Begin

Before you choose a recipe storage idea to organize all your loose recipes, you need to do these steps first:

  1. Declutter your recipe collection by recycling magazine pages or recipe cards that you will never try, or tried and didn’t like.
  2. Spend 20 minutes skimming your magazine collection (set a timer!) and pull out recipes you like or want to try. Then, recycle the magazines.
  3. Decide which recipe categories make sense to you (I’ll share suggestions in a minute) and write each one on a sticky note.
  4. Place your sticky notes on the kitchen table or counter, and sort your stack of loose recipes into each category.

Recipe categories you can use include:

  • Meats
  • Poultry
  • Fish
  • Eggs & Cheese
  • Appetizers
  • Desserts
  • Slowcooker/Instant Pot
  • Drinks
  • Vegetarian
  • Side Dishes

Now that you’ve decluttered and categorized your recipes, it’s time to choose the best recipe storage system for your needs.

Hungry? Make it easy to find your favorite recipe with these brilliant tips! Click to Tweet

5 Simple and Smart Ways to Organize Loose Recipes from Magazines and More

This post contains affiliate links that connect you to relevant products. If you click and make a purchase, I may make a small commission. But don’t worry! This is at absolutely no extra cost to you. Check out my disclosures for more information.

1. Set Up an Accordion File System

If you want to organize loose recipes fast, then you can’t beat an accordion file folder. I set up this system a few years ago and it works wonderfully because when I find a recipe in a magazine I just pop it in the folder.

How to Organize Loose Recipes in an accordion file folder

You’ll need:

  • Accordion file folder for 8.5″x11″ paper (use a sturdy one made from plastic)
  • Label maker or tape and a Sharpie permanent marker

Use your label maker (or a piece of tape and a Sharpie) to make a label for each section of the folder based on the categories you chose earlier. Then, simply place each category stack in the corresponding section of the folder.

Our recipe folder lives on our kitchen bookshelf with our organized cookbooks.

2. Create a Recipe Binder

The drawback to the accordion file system is that if you have lots of recipes in one category, it’s not always easy to find the one you’re looking for. To organize recipes in a binder you’ll need:

  • 3-ring binder (Choose a binder size based on the number of recipes you need to organize. I recommend at least a 2-inch binder if you plan to use plastic page protectors.)
  • Plastic page protectors
  • Sticky tab dividers (these tab dividers are repositionable and writable)
  • Printable recipe binder pages (available in my shop)

Plastic page protectors are a bit bulky, but keep wet or sticky ingredients from ruining your paper recipes. I think we all have that favorite magazine recipe that’s covered in olive oil!

How to organize loose recipes in a binder

Use the category pages from your recipe binder printable pack to divide your new DIY cookbook by slipping the pages in a plastic protector. Then, stick on a tab divider and write in the category names (or use your label maker) to make each section even easier to find.

As you add your loose recipes, be sure to put two back-to-back in each page protector to maximize space.

12-Page Simple Recipe Binder (Printable)

3. Make a Recipe Scrapbook

If you love making scrapbooks, this is a great DIY cookbook option for you!

When we were a bit younger and all getting married, my childhood friends started a tradition of making a cookbook for every bride. We gathered up photos from decades of friendship with the bride and our favorite recipes, then had a “cookbook party” to make the scrapbook together.

Each page of the recipe scrapbook represents a different friend and holds amazing memories as well as a delicious recipe.

How to organize loose recipes with a DIY Recipe Scrapbook
That’s me and my hubby way back in the day! 😉

While a DIY cookbook is a fantastic bridal shower gift, you can also make one with recipes and photos to represent your family’s favorites. Gather up photos of your grandma and her hand-written recipe cards to make a special recipe scrapbook that represents your relationship (and her delicious chocolate chip cookies).

4. Create a Digital Cookbook with Evernote

Evernote is a fantastic desktop and mobile app for organizing your whole life! A well-respected colleague recommended it to me years ago, and I use it daily for many things, including organizing recipes in a digital cookbook.

How to Annotate an Image in Evernote | The No Pressure Life

Two of my favorite Evernote features are:

  1. The ability to access your online notebooks from multiple devices whether of note you’re connected to the internet.
  2. You can clip online recipes you find on Pinterest AND scan and organize loose recipes from magazines.

I won’t get into the details here since I have a whole tutorial on using Evernote to organize recipes on the computer, so I encourage you to check out that article for the full how-to.

5. Use a Recipe Cards With a Twist

Whenever I think of recipe boxes, I think of my grandmothers with their perfectly handwritten recipe cards. My handwriting is terrible thanks to years of typing, and my fingers cramp up at the mere thought of transferring magazine recipes to index cards by hand.

Luckily, nowadays you can buy editable recipe cards. Just purchase the digital file, edit it with Adobe Reader (a free program), and print out a nice and neat recipe card.

Organizing loose recipes on cards in a recipe box definitely takes longer than the other ideas shared here. But, if you prefer paper to digital recipes, a card box takes up very little counter space.

Get Your Printable Recipe Binder Pages!

Love the idea of organizing paper recipes in an easy-to-use binder? My 12-page printable recipe binder pack will help you get started.

12-Page Simple Recipe Binder (Printable)

Check out these other ideas!

  • How to Create a Digital Cookbook with Evernote
  • 9 Clever Cookbook Storage Ideas to Try In Your Kitchen
  • 5 Smart Ways to Organize Cleaning Supplies Under the Kitchen Sink
  • 5 Broom Closet Organization Ideas to Simplify Your Cleaning Routine

Save This to Pinterest for Later

Organized recipes on kitchen counter with text overlay: 5 Brilliant Ways to Organize Recipes Easily

Filed Under: Organize Tagged With: kitchen organization, recipe organization

About Laura Kiernan

I'm Laura, a mom of two little humans and one furry rescue pup. As a full-time working mom, I understand how tough it is to keep your home looking nice and functioning well while juggling everything life throws at you. Check out my organization tips, decor ideas, and quick crafts that will help even the busiest mom feel more in control of her home.

« 10 Easy DIY Christmas Gifts You Can Make Tonight
Free Printable Year at a Glance Calendar {2019 + Undated} »

Comments

  1. Penny Fields says

    April 22, 2021 at 4:24 PM

    So impressed with your tutorial “How to Organize Recipes Electronically with a Digital Cookbook ”
    .
    Have you updated this tutorial ?

    Reply

I'd love to hear from you! Please keep comments respectful. Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hey there!

I'm a working mom of two who loves making something from nothing, rearranging furniture, and finding a place for everything. Come learn more about me and my journey to a less-stress life!

Get Organized!

How to organize LEGOs - easy ways to organize LEGOs

More Organizing Ideas

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

I’m a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you whatsoever.

Copyright

All text and images on this site are the property of The No Pressure Life unless otherwise credited. Use of photos or text on this site is prohibited unless I provide express written permission.  Questions? Drop me a line.

Privacy Policy

No spam here! See my full privacy policy here to understand how The No Pressure Life collects and uses data.

© 2023 The No Pressure Life Sprinkle Theme by Restored 316
968 shares