Organizing Recipes Hall Of Fame: Electronic Recipe Organizer Edition

by Taylor @ Home Storage Solutions 101

Along with the traditional paper ways to organize recipes, electronic recipe organizer software is now becoming all the rage.

It is easier to do this now than ever, since you can easily take your laptop or IPad into your kitchen with you (like the picture above) to use while you cook, so you can follow the recipe without ever having to print it out.

This hall of fame post shares some tips from readers on how they use various software programs, both free and paid, to organize their recipes.

If these ideas inspire you I'd encourage you to read the Organize Recipes Challenge, take these steps for yourself, and share your results with me here. I'd love to add you to the hall of fame!

Plus, if you've use a program for organizing recipes on the computer I'd love to hear what you thought about it, good or bad, to help everyone else know what some good programs are out there for this task.

So, without further ado, scroll down to see the tips and hints that have already been shared.

Photo by Lachlan Hardy

How To Organize Recipes With The Cozi Family Organizer

by Stacey V.
(Woodinville, Wa)

Stacey shared her tips for organizing recipes on the computer.

Stacey says:

For me this week's challenge was partly simple because I have been collecting and adding recipes to allrecipes.com for quite awhile. That was working really pretty well for me in keeping the recipes organized.

For the recipes we used a lot, I would print them out in 4x6 card size and kept them tidy in a little box.

Fast forward to this challenge. I recently got a new laptop and on that laptop there was an app downloaded called the Cozi Family Organizer. I already was familiar with the app a little bit because I had it on my phone.

So, in checking it out further on my computer, a few weeks ago, I found an area for meal planning... brilliant, I thought so I began planning meals.

Along with the meal planning there is a "recipe box" where I can compile recipes and then simply drag the recipe over to the appropriate day I plan to make that recipe.

So, I began adding all those recipes I have stored on allrecipes.com by copy and pasting all the info from the recipe on the site to my Cozi recipe box. It is really easy!

There is also a part to link a recipe from the internet right onto the Cozi recipe page... if that makes sense. For all my hand written recipes, I just simply added them into Cozi.

I'm loving it!! No longer do I need a book (however I may print them all out to keep in a folder anyway).

From the meal planning part you can also easily add those items to a shopping list and if you have the app on your phone it makes it brilliantly easy and very organized for shopping.

I have my meals planned out three weeks in advance right now and know exactly what I need at the store... Love that part!! I'd love to add a photo but I have nothing to take a photo of :)

***Update: After discussion on Facebook about some of the pitfalls of organizing recipes on the computer (see below for some more thoughts on this) - Stacey asked me to add this point about Cozi. She says:

One thing to add about the Cozi family planner, since it is also stored on a website you can have it on many devices or computers. If your computer crashes or something, no worries it is still stored on the website :)

Taylor says:

Thanks so much Stacey for sharing this great review for the Cozi electronic recipe organizer. It also sounds like a great way to plan your family's weekly meals!

Other people have also gushed about Cozi to me, for example when discussing family calendars, so this is definitely a FREE program everyone should at least check out.

The Cozi app is available for both Apple and Android products, and here are the download links (they're free!)

• Download Cozi Family Organizer For Apple {Free} (compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad)


• Download Cozi Family Organizer For Android {Free}

In addition, if you're interested in looking for even more cool apps for organizing your home, check out the HSS101 App Store For Great Organizing Apps.

I Keep My Recipes In A Word Document Becomes Technologies Can Become Obsolete

by Lisa

Lisa shared this idea with me on the site's Facebook wall, and graciously allowed me to use it here in the hall of fame too.

I think Lisa brings up a great point you've got to consider with all electronic recipe organizer programs -- becoming obsolete.

Lisa says:

I had some great recipe programs but they eventually wouldn't work with new operating systems. Now I just type them into Word. I printed out the kids their own book of family recipes when they turned 18.

Taylor says:

I'm glad you brought this up Lisa, because it is an important consideration.

I like choosing programs where you can migrate your information from one version to the next, but that still takes time and there is inevitably one version that is too old for it to be converted. That is a major flaw with organizing in this way.

However, many people think the advantages of being able to keep all your recipes together and organized, without paper, is worth it. It is just something you've got to decide if you're willing to deal with!

How I Use Sous Chef For Mac To Organize Recipes

by Angela @ Confessions of a Craft Addict

Angela from Confessions of a Craft Addict shared on her blog how she organizes recipes on the computer.

She uses a program called Sous Chef, which is for Macs and iPads only.

She says in her blog post:

I am currently going through my stack of cookbooks in the basement, marking which recipes I may actually make someday, and entering them in Sous Chef. It's not a fast process, since going through each book takes a while, but when I'm done, I can just get rid of the cookbooks. They just take up space anyway!

Are You Inspired To Use An Electronic Recipe Organizer Now?

I hope the hall of fame submissions above have given you some ideas for organizing recipes on the computer.

There are lots of different programs out there that can help you with recipe organization. Another one that I'm aware of is Plan To Eat, which has a free 30 day trial anyone can use. (Check out my review of this online meal planner by clicking on the link).

Further, I got a great review of several apps comparing what's the best grocery list app and best recipe app, from Jessi, a reader.

Further, many of the grocery list apps also work for organizing your recipes. I also got a review of ZipList app from another reader, Mary Jane.

See even more great organizing apps in the HSS101 App Store.

If you've tried another program for this purpose, I'd love to hear about it. You can share your review here.

Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase a product through them I receive a small commission which helps me provide this information to you for free, plus support my family. My integrity and your satisfaction are very important to me so I only recommend products I would purchase myself, and that I believe would benefit you. To learn more please see my disclosure statement.

Related Links At Home Storage Solutions 101

Join The 52 Weeks To An Organized Home Challenge

Ideas For How To Organize Recipes: Hall Of Fame {Part 1}

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