Do you have a "MAKE SOON" list/folder/binder?


 
J

Joan

TVWBB Hall of Fame
Between what I see here, Weber cookbooks, all my other cookbooks and binders full of recipes I have collected over the years, back of boxes, on the internet.......you get the idea. I come across recipes galore that just appeal to us and they wind up in my Make Soon folder. And that folder is getting soooo thick. So, for the last month, as a recipe goes in the folder, I have started to put a sticky on it with date/main ingred./ marinating time (if any) method of cooking. Now I have to decide how long to let that recipe sit in the folder, and if it doesn't get made within that time, just toss it.

So, I am just wondering how do you decide what to cook for dinner.
 
I struggle with the same issue — too many delicious-looking recipes, not enough days in the year to get to all of them. I'll be interested in seeing how everyone else handles this.
 
Case in point the other day, I finally made some chimichurri to go with some steaks I grilled for the family and they were like holy smokes, you need to do this a lot more often. I had just never gotten around to it, but with a response like that, it will have to become a regular occurrence. That was a week after simply marinating some beef with Korean BBQ sauce which got a similar response. Sometimes I just get complacent, but I think you're right. I should take some of these BBQ books which I have spent a not small amount of money on and start putting them to use.
 
All the recipes I take off the internet I convert them to Word documents and place them in binders by category such as chicken, beef pork or by type of cook grilling, cast iron, slow cooker, IP etc. or by the type of cook Mexican, sides, soups, stew, casseroles.
We have index sheets for all classes of cooks and say we want something Mexican that we can put in the slow cooker. The recipe may actually be physical filled in the Mexican binder but also cross filed on the Slow cooker index directing us to the Mexican file to get the hard copy.
We cull the binders about twice a year to eliminate any we haven't made and don't think we ever will, as the are all dated by the date we filled them into the binders and notes as to what we thought of them and the date when we made them.

As of last week when we finished cleaning out the binders I have approximately 2150 word document recipes on file and in the binders.

Besides that we have all of the Jamie Purviance Weber books and various other grilling and standard cook books we use also.

We also make up a weekly menu for dinners so that we can get the ingredients we need from the store in one shopping trip vs. running back and forth to the store. Although sometimes we need to make a run if there is an item that we need later in the week that won't hold in the fridge.
we pull the hard copies for the dinners coming up and place them in the folder we keep in the kitchen.

It's works very well for us and we don't have that "what do want for dinner at 5pm" :unsure:
 
Last edited:
John Monk said:
Case in point the other day, I finally made some chimichurri to go with some steaks I grilled for the family and they were like holy smokes, you need to do this a lot more often. I had just never gotten around to it, but with a response like that, it will have to become a regular occurrence. That was a week after simply marinating some beef with Korean BBQ sauce which got a similar response. Sometimes I just get complacent, but I think you're right. I should take some of these BBQ books which I have spent a not small amount of money on and start putting them to use.
Click to expand...
I know, isn't that a predicament? We are always doing that also. With so many new recipes waiting to be tried, we always seem to go back to something we have had many, many times.

I won't bore you with all the details, but for almost 10 years now, I have been keeping a record of how many new recipes we make and how many old ones. (yes, I have a lot of time on my hands. lol) Last year, we made a total of 128 new recipes and 39 repeats that we thought were good enough to make again. WOW I never did the math before. That means for a total of 198 days left, we either ate leftovers, or DH winged it, or we spent a lot of money on take out/delivery cra*. lol
 
Rich Dahl said:
All the recipes I take off the internet I convert them to Word documents and place them in binders by category such as chicken, beef pork or by type of cook grilling, cast iron, slow cooker, IP etc. or by the type of cook Mexican, sides, soups, stew, casseroles.
We have index sheets for all classes of cooks and say we want something Mexican that we can put in the slow cooker. The recipe may actually be physical filled in the Mexican binder but also cross filed on the Slow cooker index directing us to the Mexican file to get the hard copy.
We cull the binders about twice a year to eliminate any we haven't made and don't think we ever will, as the are all dated by the date we filled them into the binders and notes as to what we thought of them and the date when we made them.

As of last week when we finished cleaning out the binders I have approximately 2150 word document recipes on file and in the binders.

Besides that we have all of the Jamie Purviance Weber books and various other grilling and standard cook books we use also.

We also make up a weekly menu for dinners so that we can get the ingredients we need from the store in one shopping trip vs. running back and forth to the store. Although sometimes we need to make a run if there is an item that we need later in the week that won't hold in the fridge.
we pull the hard copies for the dinners coming up and place them in the folder we keep in the kitchen.

It's works very well for us and we don't have that "what do want for dinner at 5pm" :unsure:
Click to expand...
Hi Rich, as you know, same here. lol but, we don't always get around to making a weekly menu every week. We are getting a little better tho. lol

But, just how do you decide WHAT to make that week?
 
Joan said:
Hi Rich, as you know, same here. lol but, we don't always get around to making a weekly menu every week. We are getting a little better tho. lol

But, just how do you decide WHAT to make that week?
Click to expand...
We have an inventory of what's in the three freezers and we will get some ideas as to what needs to used by date. Also because I'm constantly pulling up new recipes so we look at those and usually pick a couple of those. Barb on most weeks has a late shift the being getting off at 6;30-7pm so we on those nights will have leftovers. Plus we have the old standbys of steaks, grilled chicken, brats, hamburgers, pasta dishes, salads and things like that.
 
My wife finds recipes on the internet all the time and prints them. We have a file where we sort them. I do not think they every get made, but we have a great file.
 
Oh boy, a little off subject here. While cleaning out an old binder (believe it or not, the 4th of July binder) I came across an old ad (1986) for Kingsford Charcoal, full page, picture of food on a grill and a recipe for "Barbecue Beef Skewers" (more on that later). and an ad for their cookbook. I didn't know they had one, so I went on line to check it out. Couldn't find out any thing about a cookbook, but they had a lot of recipes that sounded so good. I know, a lot of us do not need more recipes, but here is the link anyway in case you are interested. lol

www.kingsford.com

Grilling & Smoking Recipes for Charcoal & Pellet Grills | Kingsford®

Explore a world of flavor with Kingsford's charcoal and pellet grill recipes. From sizzling to smoky delights, discover mouthwatering recipes to elevate your experience.
www.kingsford.com www.kingsford.com
 
Everything kept electronic on this end, but I do keep a "Recipes to Try" and "Recipes Tried" folder in my favorites. Once tried and if we liked it, it gets moved to the "Tried" folder.

Charlie
 
Wow, all y'all are alot more thorough than I am! I have a bunch of bookmarks saved on Chrome that I want to try "someday"...
 
i keep a bookmarks folder for when i need to refer to recipes.

i choose to cook based upon seasonality, availability, health (so i tell myself), what's available to to cook, head count and what other people like to eat in my household. i have a pretty extensive menu of what i am capable of cooking and the family is vocal about what they'd like. i also watch a lot of cooking on YT for inspiration and new ideas. and i like to try new cuisines and dishes that are out of my norm so i can expand my knowledge.
 
Joan said:
Oh boy, a little off subject here. While cleaning out an old binder (believe it or not, the 4th of July binder) I came across an old ad (1986) for Kingsford Charcoal, full page, picture of food on a grill and a recipe for "Barbecue Beef Skewers" (more on that later). and an ad for their cookbook. I didn't know they had one, so I went on line to check it out. Couldn't find out any thing about a cookbook, but they had a lot of recipes that sounded so good. I know, a lot of us do not need more recipes, but here is the link anyway in case you are interested. lol

www.kingsford.com

Grilling & Smoking Recipes for Charcoal & Pellet Grills | Kingsford®

Explore a world of flavor with Kingsford's charcoal and pellet grill recipes. From sizzling to smoky delights, discover mouthwatering recipes to elevate your experience.
www.kingsford.com www.kingsford.com
Click to expand...
Just wondering if anyone found any good recipes here from Kingsford that they would recommend we try.
 
If Barb and I tried a new recipe we have already and have not made making a new one every day it would take us 6 years and 6 months to do them all. Without adding anymore to the collection.
If we took all the recipes including old favorites we have it would take us 8 years 4 months doing a different one every day.
That doesn't include any recipes in our 26 cook books.
And we just purged over 600 recipes out of the collection.
 
ha ha you think you have it bad. I have been trying for quite some time now to condense all my binders by going through them and discarding recipes I know we will never make. DH has been going through the 4" binder that is just Steak A thru R recipes. S thru Z are in a 3" binder. lol
 
interesting read:

Food Market Outlook 2022 - 2026

Daily Updated Industry Statistics and Top Emerging Trends about the Food Industry
www.reportlinker.com www.reportlinker.com

"In addition, 28% of all Americans say they prefer to use their own recipes, rather than turn to cooking blogs and websites for inspiration. One in five respondents say whatever foods are in their refrigerator or pantry is mostly likely to determine what they cook for dinner that night."

I'd say on average, I cook 4-5x a week and eat leftovers in between. My cooks tend to be overcooks so we have leftovers and can repurpose meals into other meals. Example; I cooked two yard birds last week and we ate one at the meal and i shredded the other over the weekend. The shredded will become burritos tonight and I'll whip up a potato and corn chowder to go with it. The soup stock (chicken) is my bones from deboning and cleaning up chickens over time and I'll make this stock 1-2x a month, concentrate it and freeze the stock.

I estimate I have 60-70 meals that I can cook without recipes/instructions at this stage, that are worth making and family likes/enjoys. And if we were to eat our freezer and pantry in full, we'd have 30 days food until we'd need to restock and that'd be a huge shop and giant bill.

I am guessing many here are cooking for two only. That'd sure be easier than cooking for 5-7 consistently. So trying new recipes would be easier then; I suppose.
 
I posted this somewhere here recently but don't remember where. What I said was this, sort of. lol

I keep track every month of what recipes we use. New and old (T & T). It may seem that we are always making new recipes but we are not. I haven't totaled Sept. yet, but in Aug. we made 12 new recipes and 6 old ones for a total of 18 days. So that is 13 days that either DH winged it, ate leftovers or ate from a pick up place. Just in case everyone thinks we can't function without a recipe. lol. I just like to try something new once in awhile. You know the old saying, VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE. ;)
 
This is going to be TMI again, (lol) but, to try something different with all the recipes piling up in our "Make Soon" folder, I sorted them by cooking methods. So now I have folders marked, Grill, Oven, Slowcooker, Stove Top, and Wok. And inside those folders I have recipes sorted by chicken, beef, pork, etc. Now it makes it easier for DH. It depends on the weather, or how much time he has as to what folder we go to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top