Do you have a bookshelf to the ceiling packed with cookbooks, years worth of subscriptions to a half-dozen food magazines, a roster of 25 food blogs you follow obsessively and a binder full of grandma’s recipes?
If you actually want to use all these sources, the search is chaotic. Yes, Pinterest is great for websites, but what about the other sources? Post-it flags in cookbooks and magazines go missing, precious hand-written cards get lost or covered in sauce, and e-magazines don’t have an option to save or download single recipes for later use.
Wouldn’t you love to have all the recipes you want to make this week (or ever) in one, searchable location, accessible from your computer, tablet or phone? I realized I sound like a scary-smile infomercialbot, but guys, I am seriously excited to share this with you. BECAUSE I HACKED A SYSTEM. And it is so awesome.
Ok, here is what you do. Download Wunderlist. It’s a cloud-based task-management app that I have been using obsessively for at least two years (which is a record in app commitment for me). I rave about it so much I think they should be paying me.
I use it to organize my entire life, but the recipe part is the most valuable to me.
Using the app, you can make lists, and folders to organize them. Start by making a list called “recipes”. Now, the fun part.
- From a print magazine/cookbook/index card or any other any physical source: Grab your smartphone or tablet and open Wunderlist. Add the recipe name in the “add a to do” field, save, then go in and tap “attach a file”. Choose “from camera” and snap a pic of the recipe. Ta da! Now you can access your Nonna’s hand-written bolognese secrets from anywhere.
- From the internet: Enter the recipe name as above, then copy/paste the url into the “subtask” field. It’ll be clickable for later. Download the desktop bookmarklet and you can add to Wunderlist from any website, and it automatically pulls in the name, description and url for you.
- From a digital magazine or app: as you’re reading your magazines in an app (I am absolutely obsessed with Texture – I gave up all my print subscriptions years ago), take a screenshot of the page with the recipe you want to save (press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on the top or side of your device, and simultaneously press and release the Home button on an iPad/iPhone). Open Wunderlist. Enter the name as above, then tap “attach a file” and choose the screenshot from your camera roll. Same goes for other recipe apps.
Now when you want to refer back to your recipes, you can use the search bar at the top and have them right at your fingertips for menu planning, grocery shopping, and cooking
Just searching “salmon” brings up all the recipes with salmon in the actual name, but you can use hashtags in the titles if you’d later like to later be able to browse by broader terms, such as “#fish”. Use more hashtags if you’d like to peruse by recipe source, meal, etc. i.e. #BonAppetit #vegetarian or #mom #dinner”
I am constantly snapping pics of recipes, taking screenshots and saving urls as I come across them or browsing my cookbook collection, and now have a great database of recipes I’ve saved to try. Sure beats the heck out of my previous post-it flag system for bookmarking. I also add the recipe ideas or works-in-progress for Foodess, snapping pics of my crude, drip-splattered notebook as I go.
Within my “Recipes” folder, I have a master recipe list, then lists of spring, summer, fall and winter recipes. You can organize by whatever makes your skirt fly up, but I keep it simple because it is really easy to search your collection and browse your hashtags.
After I’ve made the recipe, I’ll often go in and add a note.
You can star recipes and/or add due dates that connect to your google calendar, which copies them into the “starred” or “week” folders respectively, aggregating them for easy access. These are exceptionally useful tools for meal planning, which I’ll explore in-depth with you in my The Ultimate Guide to Painless Meal Planning (that you’ll actually stick to) – coming next week!
Wow-this sounds UH-mazing! I’ve printed and will be trying it, soon! Almost time for Bnut Squash to go away :/
I know – so let’s enjoy it as much as possible till we are distracted by spring delights!
OMG!! That is such a gorgeous casserole! I LOVE it!!!
This sounds absolutely heavenly!!!
Had to pin it so I remember to make it later!
Prepared this dish for my family last night for dinner – HUGE success! This is going to be a staple recipe in my cookbook. Thank you for sharing this delicious meal! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed as much as I did!! You’re most welcome 🙂
This looks great, I am going to make this tomorrow night for a girls’ night dinner! Out of curiosity, how big was your baking pan?
I spread it out over 2 dishes to freeze one, but it would fit nicely in a 9x13x2 inch pan.
I jut came across this amazing recipe! Sounds incredible! I want to make it tonight for my boyfriend and I but I’m wondering how you froze it as its too much for just the two of us. Did you freeze the combined mixture? Thanks. 🙂
Yep, I just froze one uncooked dish, then baked it a few weeks later.
I love your photography! The recipe looks fabulous too. 😀
Thank you, Sarah!!
Your dish is looking very nice & delicious i’ll definately going to try this in next couple of days..thanks for share buddy !!
Delicious! Everyone loved it : ) Thank You!
This looks wonderful. I need some hands-off recipes (as in, sitting as much as possible) at this point with my pregnancy. I had my husband carmelizing onions last night (to top a BBQ pizza); he LOVES them, and my children do, too! I’ve never tried them with sugar.
I will see about making this very soon!
Wonderful! I realized too late that somehow I didn’t have any onions, but I got lucky that my boyfriend had grabbed some asparagus. It went perfectly with the mixture of goat cheese sauce, bacon and squash. It was delicious, although the step of peeling the squash took some time so be prepared for that. Otherwise, such a great recipe, thank you!
Love this recipe and love your others! We do meatless Mondays so make this without bacon – just as yummy. Thank you Foodess!! xx
Thank you, Laura!! Glad my recipes are being enjoyed all the way in South Africa! 🙂
WOW! Very good. I had to use Hokkaido because in Germany there are no more Butternuts available. But it was delicious anyway! Some days before I cooked Butternut (Hokkaido) Mac n Cheese. It was a week full of noodles and squashes =D
Thank you Jennifer!
All the best for 2015 =)
Wow-this sounds UH-mazing! I’ve printed and will be trying it, soon! Almost time for Bnut Squash to go away :/
I know – so let’s enjoy it as much as possible till we are distracted by spring delights!
OMG!! That is such a gorgeous casserole! I LOVE it!!!
This sounds absolutely heavenly!!!
Had to pin it so I remember to make it later!
Prepared this dish for my family last night for dinner – HUGE success! This is going to be a staple recipe in my cookbook. Thank you for sharing this delicious meal! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed as much as I did!! You’re most welcome 🙂
This looks great, I am going to make this tomorrow night for a girls’ night dinner! Out of curiosity, how big was your baking pan?
I spread it out over 2 dishes to freeze one, but it would fit nicely in a 9x13x2 inch pan.
I jut came across this amazing recipe! Sounds incredible! I want to make it tonight for my boyfriend and I but I’m wondering how you froze it as its too much for just the two of us. Did you freeze the combined mixture? Thanks. 🙂
Yep, I just froze one uncooked dish, then baked it a few weeks later.
Yep, I just froze one uncooked dish, then baked it a few weeks later.
I love your photography! The recipe looks fabulous too. 😀
Thank you, Sarah!!
I noticed your last two entries’ photos resolutions are super low. Looks like they were enlarged from thumbnails? I don’t know if you noticed, so thought I’d let you know. It’s hard to pin your photos without good photos!
Hi Reb – thank you for the heads up, but I’m not sure what you mean. They’re showing up just fine for me! I’ve been playing with the exposure on my camera a bit, so perhaps that’s what you’re seeing… thanks for the feedback, though. Good to know it comes off as poor quality…
Your dish is looking very nice & delicious i’ll definately going to try this in next couple of days..thanks for share buddy !!
This looks wonderful. I need some hands-off recipes (as in, sitting as much as possible) at this point with my pregnancy. I had my husband carmelizing onions last night (to top a BBQ pizza); he LOVES them, and my children do, too! I’ve never tried them with sugar.
I will see about making this very soon!
Wonderful! I realized too late that somehow I didn’t have any onions, but I got lucky that my boyfriend had grabbed some asparagus. It went perfectly with the mixture of goat cheese sauce, bacon and squash. It was delicious, although the step of peeling the squash took some time so be prepared for that. Otherwise, such a great recipe, thank you!
I’ve made Roasted butternut squash with sage & shallots, over rigatoni & goat cheese, but never thought about adding bechamel, bacon & baking….love it!
Love this recipe and love your others! We do meatless Mondays so make this without bacon – just as yummy. Thank you Foodess!! xx
Thank you, Laura!! Glad my recipes are being enjoyed all the way in South Africa! 🙂
WOW! Very good. I had to use Hokkaido because in Germany there are no more Butternuts available. But it was delicious anyway! Some days before I cooked Butternut (Hokkaido) Mac n Cheese. It was a week full of noodles and squashes =D
Thank you Jennifer!
All the best for 2015 =)
This looks wonderful. I need some hands-off recipes (as in, sitting as much as possible) at this point with my pregnancy. I had my husband carmelizing onions last night (to top a BBQ pizza); he LOVES them, and my children do, too! I’ve never tried them with sugar.
I will see about making this very soon!
Thanks so much! This is a great idea. I’ve been playing around with it. Any tips for sharing one big recipe file with a whole bunch of people? Maybe make a duplicate of mine and give them access to that?
How amazing this is. Thank you for sharing. No more print outs for me
Yay!
oh my gosh! you’re amazing! soooooo grateful. been looking forever for some way to store all of my recipes and couldn’t find anything that fit all my criteria, including being able to access from multiple devices. just downloaded wunderlist and it’s a dream! exactly what i was looking for! thank you very much!!
I’m so happy to hear it, I hope it helps you organize your cooking life!
Wunderlist totally changed my life! I use it to organize EVERYTHING.
can you use a scanner to down your recipes
I added another feature – copy/paste text of recipes I had been keeping in the notes app. I input the title and then paste the whole recipe into the notes area.
I am looking for some sort of application that I can copy my mother’s recipes, make some sort of a booklet, so my other sisters may also have a copy. I have a laptop and computer to use. Any suggestions are welcome.
I’m sad to have jus found this, as wunderlist is going away do you know if microsoft to do will be the same as wunderlist? I am tired of having a huge folder of recipe links with no organization. lol
im new to this so i like cheesecake,mermaid cakes,,giant cakes,cupcakes.
Hi Jennifer, I LOVE this article! So much so I thought I’d solved all my recipe book problems… until I went to update wunderliat and it says they are getting rid of it on 6th May 2020 and its being replaced by Microsoft’s ‘To do’ … which is great, except it doesn’t let you add photos or tags or arrange it nearly as well!!! ?
Do you have any suggestions?
I tried using the Cook book app which looks good but is very time consuming to use if you have a lot of recipes!
The only other idea I can think of is to take photos and arrange them under different headings on my iPhone? Eg breakfast, tea etc – although I don’t think that would be searchable?
I was SO close to organising my recipes after years then! ??? x
I too use wunderlist for recipes. But, what are you going to do now that it’s going away? Google bought it and is doing away with it. I’m curious what you will use next?