Many of us who grew up cooking with our families have memories of a recipe box. My family’s recipe box is wooden with a painted floral design and belonged to Alice “Nana” Mantho, my maternal great-grandmother. It is full of index cards with typewritten recipes and handwritten notes to add a tablespoon here or a few minutes of additional cook time there. We referenced the same few cards over and over again and they became stained with sugar, cinnamon, and buttery fingerprints.

The recipe box (with handwritten notes and well-loved index cards) is a classic way to organize recipes, but it is not the only one! Recipe organization is challenging because it is so dependent on the personal preferences of the chef – some people cook exclusively with physical recipes out of books or printouts, while others prefer to go all digital to reduce clutter in the kitchen.

Whichever method you choose, you’ll want to start out by consolidating all of your recipes into one location. Then, you should sort your recipes by type. The categories you choose should be based on the needs of the chef, but you can get started with dividing them up based on type of meal. Organizing your recipes within a broader category will allow you to find them more easily and reduce frustration while you’re trying to focus on the task at hand.

Once you have your recipes categorized, there are a variety of options for physical organization. You can make your own modern recipe box with the Juliet Rose Tin Recipe Box & Recipe Cards from Rifle Paper Co. Another option is to print out your favorite recipes to add to a binder for easy access. We recommend using plastic sleeves or laminating these pages to protect them from fingerprints and spills. If you want to turn your recipe organization into a gift, you could also DIY a family cookbook using a printing service like Shutterfly.

If you have a collection of cookbooks, make sure they are easily accessible so that you grab them when you are meal planning. Use sticky notes or bookmarks to find your favorite recipes or scan those pages to have all of your recipes in one place.

If you want to keep things digital, consider using a tablet in your kitchen in a convenient stand for quick access to your favorite recipe website or app. Yamazaki Home has two sleek options for holding a tablet or a cookbook: the Countertop Tablet & Cookbook Stand and the Under-Counter Tablet & Cookbook Holder.

For the digital chefs, there are a huge variety of recipe management apps available depending on your preferences and needs as a cook. This list offers a comprehensive comparison of a variety of apps to provide you with plenty of options. Our favorite is the Paprika app.

As with most organizing challenges, organizing recipes requires a good understanding of the needs of the leader in the kitchen. Any good system should be tailored to its primary user so that they can use and maintain it for the long term. Time to get cooking!