If you don't use it throw it out

Shannon Seek Author, Organic Organizing

If you don't use it throw it out
Shannon Seek Quoted in the Press on Organizing Recipes
by Jodie Chase,CONTRIBUTOR
ANG Newspapers, Food Editor, Danielle Centoni
Featured in the Oakland Tribune (Wed., July 24, 2002) and the Marin Independent Journal (August, 2002)

Most experts agree that one of the first steps in getting organized is to get rid of the recipes you've never used and aren't likely to use. If you just can't bring yourself to throw them out, put them in an envelope and date it. If you haven't used them in a year, throw them out.

Food Network host Alton Brown's policy is to throw out any tools he hasn't used in six months. He does the same with recipes.

Once you've whittled your collection down, the next step is to decide on a filing system. If you have trouble, look to how you organize other things in your life. How do you keep things organized at work? In hanging files? Binders? CD-Roms?

``Some people don't apply what they know about organizing to something like recipes,'' says professional organizer Shannon Seek. ``It's so common to be organized in selective areas.''

If you still come up blank, ask a friend how they do it. Sometimes you just need someone to show you how.

Perhaps the hardest part of getting a system going is deciding on how to categorize the recipes.

Keep in mind that filing systems such as recipe card files and binders with pre-set categories can actually keep you from getting organized. ``It's got to be your system,'' says Seek. ``It's important to do it how you think. Do you want just a pasta section or a vegetarian pasta section and a chicken pasta section?''

One way to start deciding what categories work for you is by making piles. Don't worry about the categories at first, says Seek. ``Start by putting like things with like things, based on the way you look at things. Clip it all together, label it with a Post-it note on it, and sit on it. Then get back to it and see if that's still what you want. Maybe you'll realize you need to categorize in a different way.'' Once you devise a system, you can organize things even further.

One way is to separate your tried-and-true recipes from those you have tried once or twice, or not at all.

You can even make a separate file for those untried recipes that catch your eye, so that you will be more apt to try them when you're feeling adventurous.

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Once you audition a recipe and you like it, says Alton Brown, move it into the tried-once-or-twice file. If you use it enough, you can move it to the tried-and-true file, along with treasured family recipes or those you've adapted to serve at dinner parties.

And regardless of how many recipes we save, most of us have a repertoire of 15 to 20 dishes we prepare over and over. These recipes can go in a smaller separate file so they are easier to access.

But once you get organized, you've got to stay organized. Shannon Seek recommends setting aside 5 minutes at the end of each meal to put away your recipes after you use them. Make it part of the routine, like doing the dishes.

If you don't have time to file your recipes as you clip them, try to set aside a little time one day a week to put them away. Set the timer if you have to, and give yourself permission not to get them all done. After all, it's better than not doing it at all.

And periodically you just have to purge. Go through your recipes and be realistic. Only keep those recipes that you honestly think you will make.

To make purging easier, stay familiar with what you have.

When you go through your file to get a recipe, Seek recommends sometimes spending a few extra minutes to flip through your collection.

``If you go through your stuff regularly, you'll be on top of what you have. Then in six months or a year, you'll know what you can get rid of.''

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