Are You a Recipe Hoarder?

Recently I’ve come to the realization that I’m a recipe hoarder. One day I was looking at my Recipes board on Pinterest and saw that I have collected close to 800 pins. How many of these have I actually made? Nowhere near 800, that’s for sure. I also have a cabinet full of cook books, and a file folder stuffed with recipe clippings. There are also cook books stored all over the house, wherever I could find some shelf space. Not only that, I’ve got countless recipes stored in a notebook on Evernote. I do actually make some of these recipes, but nowhere near the amount I have collected.

I enjoy looking at recipes and saving the ones that I might make – someday. And, storing them digitally takes up no room in my house.

Most of the cook books that I have are community cook books. I just love them, especially the vintage ones. I love looking through them and picking out the recipes with the particularly gross ingredients. I find it very entertaining. I also look through the community cook books for recipes that I’ll actually make. I really do enjoy making new recipes. I’ve found some keepers over the years.

Then there’s my folder stuffed with recipe clippings. It’s a hot mess with papers every which way and the folder itself held together with packing tape. But it does a good job holding all that loose paper together .

All of these recipes, being stored in different ways, got me to thinking. What if I made more of an effort to actually MAKE some of these recipes. After all, that is why I’m collecting them, isn’t it? I think it’s easy to fall into a routine, making the same things over and over. When life gets busy, it’s just easier to do what’s quick, easy, and what we’re familiar with. So, I thought I might try to make one new recipe a week. But, if I’m completely honest with myself, that might be a little too ambitious. As it is, I feel like I’m being pulled in a million different directions. For me to stick with it, I have to have a doable goal. I know I can make two new recipes a month. If I make more, then that’s great.

So I’m going to try to put my recipe collection to work and get more enjoyment out of it aside from just collecting and looking at it. Are you a recipe hoarder?