Filing recipes from magazines, etc.

I have collected probably hundreds of recipes from Good Food and other magazines. I am trying to weed through and file them now. Originally, I had them in an accordian folder with pockets for poultry, beef, pasta, veg, dessert, etc. But I've found that to be way too fussy for simple browsing through. I have a feeling I'm going to have to break down and buy a binder and plastic cover sheets... but would welcome any other ideas!

My sister uses the binder method and it seems to work well. I'm always impressed when she pulls it out. I use the 'stuff in a drawer' method and that doesn't work well at all. I wouldn't recommend it.

If you want to simply browse by category, then putting them in a book-like format like a binder (w/dividers) is going to be easiest- but I think gluing them down to some hole-punched A4 paper would work just as well as plastic cover sheets.

I can think of loads more (high-tech) ways to organize your collection, but I'm guessing you may not want to put in the amount of time necessary for something more elaborate...

I use the 'stuff in a drawer' method...

Hey!  That's my method!

I used to stick them in scrapbooks but now I just shove them in the front of one of my cookbooks.  It's about as good as the shove in the drawer method. 

What about a recipe binder? I saw some cute ones on amazon.
Like this one:

Dodo Book for Cooks!   I love mine...

I've done the binder with plastic cover sheet method and it worked really well.  Now I make a copy (on our all-in-one printer) and skip the plastic cover sheet. 

Dodo Book for Cooks!   I love mine...

I just knew one of you fantastic domestic mavens would come through for us!

But what is it like?  Do tell?

I do the accordion folder system--if I'm browsing through I just pull out one category at a time. I did eventually have to split mine into two separate files: one for recipes that we've tried and liked, and another for recipes that haven't been tried yet. That really cut down on the time to find things (and besides, I was outgrowing one folder...).

I'm way too lazy to do binders but too organized to do the shove in a drawer method. This is a good compromise! 

I use the 'stuff in a drawer' method

That's my method, too!  Except I have an intermediate step: The Large Ziploc Bag. 

I just knew one of you fantastic domestic mavens would come through for us!

But what is it like?  Do tell?

Here's an Amazon review of the Dodo Book

Dodopad products are a bit of a cult, and not all of them are for me, but when I was first introduced to this Cooks version a few years ago it hit the spot.
It's a kind of recipe file-o-fax - a DIY cookbook if you like - laid out with tabs for indexing to 'starters', 'meat', 'pasta' etc, pockets for recipe's torn from magazines and handy cooking facts ( imperial/metric/US conversion charts). Oh and it boasts a sprinkling of humour that wouldn't be out of place in a Christmas Cracker.

It's for anyone that makes up or tweaks their own recipe's and would like to make some record of what they did - perhaps so they don't do it again!

Well made, carefully thought out, a good product.

Ok, this is going to sound horribly geeky, but I wrote a web-based database program for my recipe collection.  I'm able to sort by type (dessert, side, main, etc), main ingredient, season and by my own personal rating.  There's also a search feature.

I put in over a year's worth of BBC Good Food guide recipes that I like and other recipes I had collected.  The BBC Good Food recipes simply reference a month and page number, other personal recipes have the full recipe typed out.

Terribly geek but highly effective.

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But, Cait, do you stuff your database in the drawer??   

Thanks everyone... I'll have a look at some of these ideas.

Cait, you are indeed very geeky! I like the idea but I don't have the space to keep all my Good Foods for reference and can't be arsed to type them up (way too many!). I have to say that when it comes to recipes I'm old fashioned... I like the hard copy! But I'm very impressed!