I baked a cake for my husband on Father’s Day. I’ve had the recipe since 2003; it’s the first time I’ve baked the cake. Fortunately, it was delicious and will be made again. Two weeks ago I baked some oatmeal cranberry muffins. Horrible, squishy, chewy little lumps. Muffins into the green bin; recipe into the blue bin. This is especially disappointing because I’d had the recipe since 2000.
In my defence, my recipe hoarding began long before I was a Professional Organizer. I’ve learned a bit about my own behaviours since then: If I don’t make a new dish soon after acquiring the recipe, the likelihood of my ever making it diminishes with each passing day.
I have a great system for storing my recipes and fortunately, each piece of paper takes up no more than 1 mm of space. Fairly unobtrusive. But regardless of how little space my recipes need, there’s no point having a folder full of paper I will never refer to. My system is rendered ineffective if I don’t maintain it. Establishing the system is the first step. Using the system is the second. But step three, ongoing maintenance, may be the most important of all.
So, over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be getting reacquainted with the contents of my recipe folder. Old favourites will be returned to their labelled pocket. Recipes that intrigue me will be tried and judged. And those that make me think, “well, maybe . . .” will be immediately discarded. Because if I’m still on the fence, I’m never going to make it!
Archive for Recipes
It seems that no matter what the publication, the first thing I look for is the recipes. I will admit that while leafing through the latest issue of Chatelaine I made the shocking discovery that I had flipped to the recipes, before even realizing they were launching their clutter-busting series. But I digress . . .
Magazines remain my number one source for new food ideas. Only when I’m really desperate will I go online to scout out a new dish. What can I say? I like paper. But what I don’t like is to have piles of magazines taking up what little living space I share with my family.
So, if I like the newly tested recipe, I will immediately tear it out of the magazine and file it away. I’m partial to the accordion folders, but am discovering that many people prefer to stash their recipes in a three-ringed binder. An added benefit of this storage method is that you can use sheet protectors to house the individual pages. Then splashes and sticky finger prints can easily be wiped away without compromising the integrity of your recipe.
