Conquer Clutter: Recipe Relief

Many of us enjoy cooking and have a shelf full of cookbooks that we plan to use someday.  By reducing recipes, we can free up valuable shelf space in the kitchen and can more easily get our fingers on the recipes we like and use.  By using the following steps, you can no long be plagued with recipe clutter and will have extra space in your kitchen for what you want.    

1. Go through cookbooks.  Keep one basic cookbook that you use most frequently.  If there are one or two recipes in other books that you like, either copy or tear out the pages you use and discard the rest of the book.  Toss any cookbooks that you don’t use at all. 
2. Look through the recipes that you don’t use often.  Do you really think you will make them again?  If not, toss them.  Keep only the best recipes.
3. Go through current recipes.  Throw away ones that you don’t like or don’t want to make in the future. 
4. Keep recipes you haven’t tried but still want to try separated from your regular recipes.  Put them in a labeled Ziploc bag.  Try one when you feel like being adventurous.  If you think the cost of ingredients isn’t worth making the recipe, then toss it. 
5. If you have multiple recipes of one thing, make them at the same time so you can compare them and then keep only the recipe you like best.  By culling through recipes, it is easier to find the recipe needed and you know you will like what you make because the recipes left are tried and true.  
6. Keep looking for good recipes.  If you try something you like better than one of your recipes, get the recipe and replace your old one,  
7. Before buying a recipe book, check it out from the library and try a couple of recipes in it.  If you don’t really like them, save yourself the money and clutter from buying the book. 
8. If you enjoy using computers, put your recipes on the computer.  This makes it easier to add and delete recipes and to send recipes to others when they request. 

It is nice to be free of recipe clutter and know that the recipes you have are the ones you like and enjoy.  By following these steps, this is possible to achieve.