You could say I have a problem.
All right, let’s just call it a passion. A passionate hobby. One I apparently can’t stop despite having THOUSANDS of recipes in my current arsenal which should do me for at least another 10 years.
It all started when I was a wee veggie and I’d dutifully hand-write recipes I wanted to try into a little exercise book. I’d seen my ma do it, and I thought it was such a cool thing to do. I copied out so many recipes of all the exotic things I wanted to try when I was older, and some of the things I actually made (chocolate self-saucing pudding, FTW!).
When I first got a computer, I spent a fair bit of time typing them out into word documents, which I still have. In fact, once I found the internet, I was forever copying and pasting recipes. I would also borrow cookbooks from the library and type their recipes, and later on I’d take photos of recipes when I was at other people’s houses, and type them into word documents too (Nowadays I just forward them to Evernote).
Sometimes I would even print them out, especially if I was going to be using them in the kitchen, far away from the computer (remember those prehistoric days?) and I carefully hole-punched them and kept them neatly in a folder. Which I decorated with images of my childhood favourite toys, because once I realised there were sites on the internet devoted to these sorts of things all those years ago, I went a little nuts looking at them all. Nothing like nostalgia, huh?! I literally hadn’t seen some of these things since I was small, and it was cool to be reminded.
I also printed recipes out at work (sorry about that!) so I could add them to my folder when I got home. I don’t think I thought to email them to myself back then, although it’s something I did almost every day until very recently. Now I either email them to Evernote, like I said before, or pin them to Pinterest, which I tend to do a lot more.
See this here? The very first recipe I found on the internet and printed out. 2002 represent!
Then I went nuts saving them in word docs and had a field day when it came time to neatly sort them into folders: appetisers, mains, desserts, etc. I love looking through them for inspiration and it’d be a sad day indeed if I ever lost them! That reminds me, I should back them up somewhere…
Anyway, I realised after a while I needed a whole folder just for mains, and that the other sorts of things printed out or saved from somewhere needed their own space to exist.
I keep printouts at the front, and magazine clippings at the back in plastic folders. Once, I owned almost every Super Food Ideas right up until the month I turned vegetarian and they weren’t very useful to me any more. Over the course of a week a few years later, I cut out all the vegetarian recipes I wanted to keep and gave the rest of the magazines to my sister (I also had four years’ worth of Healthy Food Guide magazines, which I sold on eBay last year. They were heavy to send. Do not do that!). They are all neatly stacked at the back of both folders, along with other bits and pieces I’ve collected.
The best part about all this is that I actually cook the recipes – I’ve never been one who puts it aside for “one day”, and then never does anything with it. That’s half the reason I started this blog, I was forever trying something new and therefore had a lot to say on the matter! I rarely cook anything twice unless we really like it, I’m too busy testing other recipes. Sometimes I just look through and find a interesting recipe here and a different cooking method there and come up with something completely different to try. Other times I see elements of a dish (say, pumpkin and asparagus) and use those to create a whole new idea. And sometimes I just cook like the recipe tells me to.
I also have a bunch of recipes I’ve saved into cookbooks at my profile on food.com… one of the best places for recipes that actually work. The site is a goldmine! Sometimes I’ll just pick a searchword like “vanilla”, and then save all the interesting looking recipes that come up. And TastyKitchen! I love that place.
Oh… and all the apps I have on my phone with favourites favourited, and the groaning shelves of cookbooks here in my kitchen. A story for another day!
Do you hoard recipes too? Do you try them?
MotherDownUnder says
June 12, 2013 at 6:53 amYup…my folder looks much the same.
Even with having my laptop in the kitchen and Pinterest, I still like ripping recipes out of magazines and printing them out and adding them to my binder.
So old school.
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:07 pmUm… would you think I was weird if I told you I used to print out things like Ruby Tuesday online menus and (oh my god) school lunch calendars? SHUT UP!
HMC says
June 12, 2013 at 7:42 amWe, as a family, inspired by you, have decided to take part in Meatless Monday. Yes, this carnivore is starting somewhere.
PS I still bake your old school choc chip cookie recipe some Sundays.
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:06 pmhell if this carnivore can turn veg, anyone can have a meatless dinner once a week! I love you desperately and I miss those cookies x
Teresa says
June 12, 2013 at 7:57 amThese days I find I mostly pin recipes to Pinterest and copy some to Evernote, which I will then use to reference on my phone when I’m making something. This does however mean my phone can get a little dirty… I wonder if they make aprons for iPhones? 😉
Love your Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bear folder decorations. 😀
Natalie@foodforlittlesouls says
June 12, 2013 at 9:10 amI sure do hoard recipes. I have two rather large bulging folders like yourself. I also until recently had a gazillion food magazine which were in need of some serious culling – the bookshelf was bending. So I enlisted the help of my wonderful husband and each night we went through 5 magazines together and cut out anything we wanted to keep. So now I have a gazillion clip outs awaiting transfer to a folder …. I will get to that one day!
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:05 pmhaha boy do I know that feeling! even though I got rid of hundreds of magazines, I’m beginning to see that familiar bend…
Peta says
June 12, 2013 at 9:12 ami don’t hoard recipes but LOVE cookbooks. I plan to cook at least one thing a week out of the cookbooks I have while I’m at home with the baby – and TRY to resist buying any more cookbooks.
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:05 pmthere’s so much on the internet that i’ve stopped buying cookbooks for the most part, unless they’re very special. These days I try to make at least one new thing too!
Robyn B | Modern Day Missus says
June 12, 2013 at 9:52 amI have cut out recipes from time to time and have a little scrapbook but have never used them. Cookbooks on the other hand…. I bought four yesterday and someone kindly gave me another – I devour them, and I am really getting into pinterest lately too.
Plus, one of the reasons I started blogging was just so I could remember my own recipes. Hrmmm…. how did I make that mushroom risotto again?
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:04 pmman, the amount of time I’ve googled “veggie mama” and whatever recipe it is I want, haha!
Smaggle says
June 12, 2013 at 10:40 amThat is adorable! I have several different places where I keep recipes but I mainly just make things once then remember it (ish) from then on!
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:04 pmThere’s one chicken and sundried tomato pasta recipe i remember so vividly, but I haven’t made it in 10 years. What a weirdo!
Michele @ The Hills are Alive says
June 12, 2013 at 10:59 amI had 2 very large crammed full folders one for Mains and one for Desserts/Baking but we moved house a little while back and while we still had boxes in the shed the shed flooded in the Australia Day floods and we lost a lot of stuff including my Recipe Folders : ( So sad! Had been collecting (and using) them since I moved out of home at 17 (I am now 42). One carrot cake recipe in particular I miss immensely I know there are countless carrot cake recipes out there but I have tried some and they are just not the same. Lost a heap of stuff, books, papers, linen etc but these Recipe Folders probably what I grieve the most.
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:03 pmOhh, that is so sad. I totally feel for you, all those years lost! And I lost a banana cake recipe similarly… NOTHING matches up.
Reannon Hope says
June 12, 2013 at 1:20 pmTotal recipe hoarder here! I have folders full of cut outs, print outs & hand written recipes- some from Tim’s Nan which include cut outs from some AWW in the 60’s!
My shelves heave with cook books- I once bought 9 milk crates of cook books from an auction!
I recently reorganized my Pinterest boards but my folders are next on my to-do list. I think it was Ruth from Gourmet Girlfriend who posted on Facebook about an app or something that can catalog all your cook book recipes for you- must get on to that too 🙂
Reemski says
June 12, 2013 at 1:56 pmEat your books! Download a barcode reader to your phone and scan in your cookbooks, save them as a .csv and import and voila! Your recipe books are there and SEARCHABLE! It’s genius
Ayla says
June 12, 2013 at 2:03 pmTHAT. Right there. Blow my mind. I just, oh man. Have no words for how amazed and excited I am. Holy crap.
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:08 pmha I was actually meant to do a giveaway for a lifetime membership, should I still do it?
Ayla says
June 12, 2013 at 2:22 pmI dont think you should. I think you should just GIFT it to meeeee…. Please and thank you. haha!
Ayla says
June 12, 2013 at 2:25 pmMy message disappeared 🙁
I don’t think you should do the giveaway. I think you should just GIFt it to me, please. Thank you. 🙂
Reannon Hope says
June 12, 2013 at 2:34 pmYes ! Right now lol
Reannon Hope says
June 12, 2013 at 2:34 pmExcellent ! Thankyou! xx
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:02 pmNINE CRATES OH MY GOD LETS SHARE
Lisa Mckenzie says
June 12, 2013 at 1:44 pmYep I am afraid I do that too Stacey,,I have this old note book thing with favourite recipes from friends relos and just things I have scribbled down,or ones like I get off off peoples blogs and food mags all cut out and stuck in the book and that’s not counting my real recipe books ,I even have some old typed ones from my mum and other older people I have admired .I am the same with knitting patterns as well,what about you ? do you collect them too.I do try all the recipes I have though so at least that’s something!
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:02 pmyep, I collect crochet patterns! And I have a couple of very old recipes from grandmas and things floating around… they are gorgeous 🙂
Reemski says
June 12, 2013 at 1:55 pmOh god, I am the same. Although I have only two stuffed folders, savoury and sweet. But like you, I’ve switched to Evernote and Pinterest and to keep track of my books I use http://www.eatyourbooks.com/ which is like the BEST THING EVER! I’ve also started using http://www.plantoeat.com which is also fabulous.
Veggie Mama says
June 12, 2013 at 2:01 pmhaha I have a lifetime membership at eatyourbooks….
Mrs BC says
June 12, 2013 at 2:21 pmI am so happy to meet a fellow recipe hoarder! I blogged recently about my cookbook collection but didn’t really go into the ring binder situation, or the file full of word docs..we should start a club.
xx
Veggie Mama says
June 14, 2013 at 9:47 amha I think there’s more of us than we realise!
Shari says
June 12, 2013 at 5:38 pmYes- I’m a recipe hoarder … I even find myself taking photos on my iPhone when I’m in a doctor’s surgery and can’t rip out the recipe!
Veggie Mama says
June 14, 2013 at 9:46 amooh I’ve done that!
Katie Rainbird says
June 12, 2013 at 8:25 pmRainbow Bright! You’ll be the crazy cat lady with
a spare room stacked to the ceiling with 2-ring binders full of recipes, 😀
Veggie Mama says
June 14, 2013 at 9:46 amhaha I will have the cats too…