How To Organize Magazine Recipes-A Few Tips!

Got recipes? Keep track of them more easily with a copy of the index![/

I have a confession. I am a recipe hoarder and I cannot help it! The pretty pictures and catchy covers always seem to call my name whenever a new magazine hits the stands. I’m especially fond of the special issue softcover recipe collections. It seems as though I can never have enough ideas! The challenge comes keeping track of all those recipes and remembering which ones looked good to me as I paged through the books. (By the way, I get a lot of these softcover books at Sam’s Club where magazines and books are 30% off the cover price!)

But I’ve come up with a solution! Most of the books in this format or magazines have an index in the back that is only one or two pages long. What I will do is scan and copy the index so I can print it out on a regular sheet of paper. Don’t have a printer at home that will do that? That’s ok! Just use a regular photocopier at the local office supply store or your local library. It might not be in color but it will still do the trick. I also copy the cover so that I can remember which index and book it belongs to in case I want to store it separately in my meal planning binder. I’ll either make it double sided (one side cover, one side index) or staple it to the index sheet.

Next, as I’m going through the book, I have my printed index copy and a highlighter handy so that as I see recipes that look worth trying, I can just highlight the recipe title. After I’ve tried a recipe I go back and put a star next to the title so I can mark what is good (or what is not!) What’s nice about the highlighter method is that the index is already sorted into categories for me which makes it easier later when I’m looking for some inspiration. Perhaps I want a meal that uses chicken or maybe a new side dish. All I have to do is scan the index, see the titles that already looked good to me and flip to that page to get the recipe.

Scan and copy the index at the back of the book or magazine!

I like to copy the front of the magazine or soft cover book so I know where the index came from!

Use a highlighter to remember which recipes looked good to you!

A new index ready to be marked with favorites!

Two different indexes…I will put them in my meal planning binder to refer to when I need some recipe inspiration.

After I’ve tried a recipe, I mark on it with a star or an X or some other note so I know if it’s a keeper–or not! I don’t feel bad about marking on my index because it is not in the original!

I have done this for several of my books and it’s SO easy! I like to take my books to the kids sports practices or when I’m watching television or a movie. It’s an easy task that helps me do double duty towards my meal planning organization.

How do you like to keep track of your recipes? I hope you find this tip helpful too!