Chores Made Easy: Smart Recipe Organizers

OK, pretend it's a major holiday. You've just served a fantastic meal to friends and family, and someone asks, "That was fantastic, can I have the recipe?" Suddenly, you're a deer in headlights.

You either a) keep all of your recipes "up here" (pointing at your head), or b) you'd be happy to even find a recipe in the stack of messy papers, old cookbook pages and magazine articles you've got hidden away in a bottom kitchen drawer. So you answer "I'll email it to you," knowing you might never actually get around to it.

Familiar? If so, it's time to take one Sunday out of your life and get yourself organized! Let's take a look at some ways you can free up some drawer space and actually find that pot pie recipe you've been trying to locate for the past year.

For the modernist: a fun simple standing binder. You can try this Portochef from Umbra (above), available for $29.99 at The Container Store. It's sleek and modern but very useful, as you can place recipes, magazine clippings and even menus in there. Now you can store all those loose papers in one easy place.


For the traditionalist: a good, ol' card box. rfrantzdesign on Etsy sells a variety of beautiful handmade recipe box sets with cards and dividers included. I love the handmade look, and each set is one of a kind. They range from $18 to $25 in price, and are totally worth the personal touch.

For the retro chef: a cute, kitschy binder. This retro binder from Paper Posey is only $20 and comes with divider tabs and color-coded labeling stickers, as well as 20 clear plastic inserts. You can add recipe cards or more clear inserts for $3.75 each. This is the kind of thing you buy as a gift and the wind up getting one for yourself too.

For the technophile: software (what else?!). DVO's Cook'n Recipe Organizer is one software option, which got a 5-start editor's rating on CNET. It's $79.99 and not only helps you electronically organize your recipes, but you can also email them to family or friends, adjust measurements (to me, this means no math and that's a bonus!) and helps you create and plan menus.