DinnerSorted
Organising recipes
How to organise your recipes: a simple system that lasts
Quick answer
Put every recipe you cook into one searchable place. Start with the 20 or so you already cook, not the whole backlog. Use a handful of broad categories based on how you choose meals (weeknight, batch cook, weekend, baking), write every recipe in the same format with quantities and servings, keep the source link, and keep "to try" recipes separate from proven favourites.
Most recipe collections aren't one collection. They're screenshots in your camera roll, bookmarks in your browser, saved Reels and TikToks, a Pinterest board, a shelf of cookbooks with sticky notes and a folder of handwritten cards. Each on its own is fine. Together, they mean the recipe you want is always in the other place.
Here's a simple system for pulling it all together without spending a weekend on it.
Step 1: choose one home for your recipes
The single most important decision is to have one place that holds every recipe you cook. Here are the realistic options, and what each is good and bad at.
| Option | Good at | Falls down on |
|---|---|---|
| Notes app (Apple Notes, Google Keep) | Free, already on your phone, searchable | Manual copying; no meal planning or shopping list |
| Document or spreadsheet | Flexible, easy to share and print | Awkward on a phone while cooking |
| Pinterest boards or Instagram collections | Great for inspiration and saving quickly | Stores links and videos, not recipes; can vanish if the original is deleted |
| Binder or recipe box | Lovely to use, nothing to charge | Hard to search, easy to lose, one copy only |
| Recipe app | Imports recipes, consistent format, often plans meals and builds lists | Another app to choose; the best ones usually have a subscription |
Pinterest boards and Instagram collections are brilliant for discovery, but think of them as a waiting room. A recipe you cook regularly deserves a proper written copy that belongs to you.
Step 2: start with the 20 you actually cook
The mistake almost everyone makes is starting with the backlog. Sorting 400 saved videos is a project nobody finishes. Instead, write down the dinners you've cooked in the past month or two, plus the family classics you know by heart. For most people that's 15 to 25 recipes. Get those into your chosen home first.
That's already a usable collection, and it's the one you'll plan your week from.
Step 3: use categories that match how you decide
Organising by cuisine or ingredient feels tidy, but it doesn't match how you actually choose dinner. At 5pm the question is rarely "something Mexican?" It's "something quick", "something that uses the chicken" or "something that'll do two nights".
Try five to eight categories based on occasion, for example:
- Weeknight, under 30 minutes
- Batch cook and freeze
- Weekend and slow cooks
- Family favourites
- Having people over
- Baking and puddings
- To try
If your tool supports search or tags, cuisine and main ingredient come for free: search "chicken" and you'll find every chicken recipe regardless of category.
Step 4: write every recipe the same way
Consistency is what makes a collection fast to use. Every recipe should have:
- A clear name you'd search for ("Lemon chicken traybake", not "Amazing dinner!!!").
- Servings and total time.
- Ingredients with quantities, in the order they're used.
- Numbered method steps, one action each.
- The source: a link, or "Grandma's card" or the cookbook and page number.
For recipes that started life as videos, our guide on getting a written recipe from a cooking video covers how to fill in the gaps.
Step 5: keep "to try" separate from "tried and loved"
Two different lists do two different jobs. "To try" is a wish list and can be as long as you like. Your main collection should only contain recipes you've cooked and would cook again. When a "to try" recipe works, move it across. When it flops, delete it without guilt.
That split is what stops a collection from turning back into a graveyard.
Step 6: add notes after you cook
The most valuable part of a recipe collection is what you've learned. After cooking, add a line: "Needs double the garlic", "Kids loved it", "Actually serves three", "Freezes well". A recipe with your notes on it is better than the original.
What about cookbooks and handwritten recipes?
You don't need to digitise every cookbook you own. Add the recipes you actually cook from them, with the book and page number as the source. Handwritten family recipes are different: they're often the only copy, so they're worth photographing and transcribing properly. On iPhone you can scan a document or text into Notes with the camera. Our guide to digitising cookbooks and handwritten recipes goes through it step by step.
Dealing with the backlog
Once your core collection exists, the backlog becomes a source, not a burden. Spend ten minutes a week scrolling your saved videos and bookmarks, and move across only the ones you'd genuinely cook in the next month. The rest can stay where they are. If you haven't cooked a saved recipe in a year, you probably don't need it.
Doing this in DinnerSorted
Full disclosure: I make DinnerSorted, which is a recipe keeper and meal planner in one. You can add recipes by sharing a TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or Pinterest link, pasting a website link, taking a photo of a cookbook page, or typing one in by hand. Every recipe ends up in the same editable format with ingredients, steps, time and servings, sorted into your own categories and searchable. When you're ready to cook, you can put recipes on your week and get a grocery list from them.
Adding recipes by hand is free, for up to 50 recipes, and you get one free import to try the automatic kind. Unlimited recipes and imports are part of DinnerSorted Pro, which has a free trial. It's iPhone only for now.
Questions people also ask
What is the best way to organise recipes digitally?
Pick one place that lets you search by ingredient and title, holds recipes in a consistent format, and keeps the source link. That can be a notes app, a document or a recipe app. What matters most is that everything lives in the same place, with a small number of categories and a clear split between recipes you've tried and recipes you want to try.
Should I organise recipes by cuisine or by meal type?
For most home cooks, by occasion or meal type works better, because that's how you choose what to cook: "something quick on a Tuesday" rather than "something French". If your tool supports tags as well as categories, you can add cuisine and main ingredient as tags on top.
How many recipe categories should I have?
Around five to eight. Fewer than that and each category is too big to browse. Many more and you'll hesitate over where each recipe belongs, which is how organising systems get abandoned.
What should I do with hundreds of saved recipes I've never cooked?
Don't try to sort them all. Move across only the ones you'd genuinely cook in the next month, a few at a time, and let the rest go. If you haven't cooked a saved recipe in a year, it's unlikely to be one you need to keep.
Sources
Outside facts in this guide link to their source. The advice and examples are our own.