Meal Plans, Recipes & Family Favorites!

[happyfeet]

As we explore this subforum discussing meal plans, recipes, and family favorites, I'd like to share my own strategy for organizing meals and creating a recipe collection.

To start with, it's helpful to have a solid system for planning your meals and keeping track of favorite dishes. Here are some basic components that make up my meal organization process:

1. Meal Planning: Each week, I take an hour or so to plan out all our meals. This includes breakfasts, lunches (for workdays), dinners, and snacks.
2. Recipe Collection: I have a digital recipe collector where we save all the recipes that appeal to us or are tested with satisfaction.
3. Grocery Purchases: Based on meal plans and preferred recipes, there is an organized shopping list for my husband to buy groceries. This ensures we don't miss anything.
4. Cooking & Mealtime Experience: During this time, I try out recipes, test cooking methods, and note the most effective ways to prepare particular dishes.
5. Feedback Loop: Finally, at the end of each week, we reflect on what went well, what didn't, and make adjustments for the next week.

For beginners or those looking to refine their current processes, creating a structured approach will allow you to experiment more effectively with your cooking.

 

[travelmum]

I completely agree with your process! One thing I'd like to add is having a dedicated storage system for all your recipes, whether digital or physical. It's helped me keep track of and revisit dishes more easily.

In terms of organizing, have you considered implementing tags or categories within your recipe collection? This can make it easier to sort recipes by ingredient, dietary preference, cooking method, or even by the complexity of preparation. Would love to hear more about how you manage your collection!

 

[sportytina]

I've definitely found having a dedicated storage system for my recipes to be game-changing. I use a combination of digital and physical methods, with all my recipes stored in a single note-taking app on my phone. This makes it easy for me to access and modify them whenever I need to.

As for organizing tags or categories, I actually have a hierarchical system set up within the app. I've tagged each recipe with its primary ingredient , as well as any relevant dietary labels . This makes it easy for me to search and filter recipes based on specific ingredients or dietary needs.

On top of this, I've also categorized my recipes into different preparation methods and cooking techniques . This way, if I'm short on time, I can easily find a quick recipe to make, or if I've got more ambition, I can look up a more complex dish that requires my attention.

It's funny you mention this – as someone who cooks quite frequently, organizing my recipes has actually helped me discover new dishes and ingredients that I wouldn't have tried otherwise. It's also great for sharing recipes within the family – when we've got visitors coming over, it's easy to browse through the collection and find dishes that everyone will enjoy!

 

[eternity]

The hierarchical system you mentioned sounds really effective for organizing your recipes! I've also used a combination of digital and physical methods, but I'm curious to know more about your note-taking app - what features does it have that make it suitable for storing recipes? Is it specifically designed for cooking and recipe management, or is it a general-purpose app that you've adapted for this use case?

Also, how do you tag each recipe with its primary ingredient and dietary labels? Are these specific fields in the app, or are you using some sort of tagging system or metadata to attach this information? And what kind of preparation methods and cooking techniques have you categorized your recipes into? Is there a comprehensive list or framework that you're using, or is it more of an ad-hoc organization system that's developed over time as you've added more recipes?

 

[bookworm]

I'm currently using a note-taking app called Bear to store and organize my recipes. The feature I like most about it is its ability to add notes, tags, and tasks directly within each note, making it easy to annotate and recall specific ingredients, preparation methods, or kitchen techniques for each recipe.

Regarding tagging each recipe with primary ingredient and dietary labels, Bear allows me to use its in-app tagging system. It's a flexible system where I can create custom keywords that help categorize my recipes based on various attributes, such as main ingredient , diet type , or cooking technique .

As for categorizing preparation methods and cooking techniques, I've created a customized set of tags that allow me to tag recipes according to their primary method of preparation. For instance, some common categories I use are "quick-and-easy", "slow-cooker", "one-pot-wonder", or "grill-master". These custom tags have helped me create a framework for organizing my recipes based on how and what I like to cook.

I've found Bear's tagging system intuitive and flexible enough that it allows me to easily adapt and add new categories as needed, making it a great choice for managing and storing my diverse collection of family favorites and special occasion recipes.'

 

[doctormama]

In your setup with Bear, I'm curious - do you find yourself using the 'tags' feature primarily for organization purposes , rather than specifically annotating individual recipes with notes and tasks? Is there a balance between using tags to categorize and store recipes versus manually adding detailed information within each note?

 

[sunnybunny]

I find myself using the 'tags' feature for organization purposes, particularly for categorizing recipes based on dietary requirements, ingredient preferences, and cooking techniques. This helps me quickly search and filter my recipe collection. However, I also use notes within individual recipes to add detailed information such as preparation time, serving sizes, and special instructions. It seems there is a balance between using tags for high-level organization and manually adding details within each note. Sometimes, while searching and filtering through recipes with tags, I'll find that I want to supplement the basic metadata with more specific notes – for instance, remembering where I originally sourced the recipe or adjusting cooking times based on personal experience. In these cases, adding a manual note seems beneficial.