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Organizing
Your Recipes and Menus
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"I
know I have a recipe for that casserole
somewhere. Where did I put it?"
"Honey, I've invited the Jacksons for
supper tonight."
"Mom! What's for supper?"
Do any of these phrases sound familiar to
you? Wouldn't it be nice to live like the
Jetsons, or the crew of the Starship,
Enterprise? Then all you would have to do
is tell the computer what you want and
presto! you'd have an instant meal for
one, ten, or however many you needed to
feed!
Modern technology really has come a long
way - we have microwaves, juicers, bread
machines and countless other gadgets and
doo-dads to make life easier for us in the
kitchen - but, we still have to know what
we're going to cook and we still have to
purchase the ingredients. Unless, of
course, you're going to the local
fast-food drive-thru, in which case you
come pretty close to speaking into a box
and getting what you want!
Recipes can be found everywhere. Today's
media is saturated with them: recipes for
snacking, for entertaining, for desserts,
and for quick meals; recipes that take all
day in the crock pot, or ten minutes in
the microwave. You can find them in
magazines, newspapers, cookbooks, sales
flyers and coupons. You can find them on
television in half-hour shows, on cooking
channels, and in special segments of news
programs. Recipes can even be found on the
Internet at web sites, on bulletin boards
and in mailing lists.
These days, the problem is not in finding
recipes, it's in deciding which ones to
use, and where to keep them all. I'd like
to discuss the latter first.
File boxes and file folders can be assets
in your kitchen: small ones that hold
index cards, big ones that hold manila
folders, andcabinets that hold legal-size
papers. And let's not forget 3-ring
binders! These items are not just for the
office or school anymore. They are
invaluable tools in our homes as well. A
trip to the local office supply store with
$20 in your hand should get you everything
necessary to organize your meals.
Start with an expanding file. The plastic
kind is a bit more expensive, but it holds
up well in the kitchen. Purchase a dozen
file folders and label them in any way
that works best for you. An example would
be "chicken," "beef," "pork," "fish,"
"vegetable," "dessert," "snack," etc. Set
up a 3-ring binder like this also, with
plenty of paper in each section. As you
acquire recipes, file them immediately in
the expanding file under the appropriate
heading. When you try a new recipe, if
your family likes it, tape it onto a sheet
of paper in the binder under the
appropriate heading. If your family
doesn't like the recipe, throw it
away.
I was eager to start my own personalized
collection, so I began clipping and saving
recipes as soon as I left my mother's
home. I clip recipes from the two women's
magazines I subscribe to, and also from
the magazines my grandmother gives me. The
Sunday paper has a food section, and a
coupon section, where I find recipes as
well. Even the grocery store has recipes,
like the beef marinade recipe I picked up
one week. Give me a minute of Graham Kerr
or Emeril Lagasse and I'm scribbling
recipes on the backs of old envelopes. My
collection of clipped recipes is growing
faster than my family, so it's now kept in
an expanding folder.
As I stated earlier, the problem is not in
finding a recipe, it's in deciding which
ones to use, and where to keep them all.
Now that you know where to keep your
recipes, let's discuss how to organize
them for use. For this, a six-week
rotating menu comes in handy.
One weekend I sat down and listed all the
meals that my family eats. I then cut
index cards into fourths and listed a main
dish on each piece. These cards were then
sorted into categories such as "ground
beef," "chicken," "beef" and "other." Then
I made six rows and put one "chicken" dish
into each row, one "ground beef" dish into
each row, etc. After everything was laid
out I rearranged them once more, repeating
favorite meals two or three times during
the six-week period, and balancing the
menus for each week. (For example, I put
home-made Sloppy Joes in the same week as
Southern Style Spare Ribs. I would buy a
double portion of ribs and use the
leftovers for the Sloppy Joes.) I then
wrote them in pen on sheets of paper, one
week per page, and placed them in a binder
that I keep in the kitchen. You could also
use a computer spreadsheet program to do
this.
Now when I make my grocery list I know
just what I need to buy. Whenever
something is on sale at the store I go
ahead and buy it. I then either freeze it
or work it into the menu. This is a very
flexible menu. I only list six meals each
week allowing for one night of leftovers
or a night out at a local fast food place.
I also use a pencil to change meals
occasionally to accommodate visitors or to
try a new recipe.
Do you have a plan for organizing your
recipes, menus and meals? How do you stay
organized in your kitchen? You can contact
me at huckaby6@execpc.com
with your ideas and comments. I'd love to
hear from you! Tell meabout your
successful organizing techniques,
organizational challenges, and any tips or
suggestions you may have. I look forward
to hearing from you.
As featured in The
Family
Corner.com
Did you like this article?
Rate
it.
About
the
Author:
Kelly
Huckaby
is a Christian/Wife/Mother who homeschools
her four children in Wisconsin. She has
been married to Jef for 10 years and their
children range in age from 1 to 9 years.
She is active in her local homeschooling
support group, (as Editor of the
newsletter and a House Group Leader, and
previously as the Resource Librarian) is
the moderator for two homeschooling e-mail
lists, and has a web page that offers
support for families using The Weaver
Curriculum. Her goal as a writer is to be
an encouragement to other mothers. You can
visit Kelly at her HOME
Writer
site.
Mail
this article to a friend (or yourself)
You will be returned to this page after
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