The Lazy Genius Podcast - #179 The Lazy Genius Stores Recipes

Episode Date: October 12, 2020

This is a very unsexy topic but also a really important one because we all have to eat. I don’t think a single person listening has never tried at least one recipe. So while this is super personal which we’ll get to and that there is really not some magical system which we will also get to, I hope you leave this episode with one small step that helps you feel like your recipe storage is serving you, not you serving it. Stuff Mentioned Plan to Eat digital recipe organizer or try Evernote to create your own system The Lazy Genius Plan Your Hot Dogs notebook Follow me on Instagram @thelazygenius to get a peek at how I store my recipes this week Download a transcript of this episode. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I don't know why I'm singing. I'm Kendra Adachi, and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 179. The Lazy Genius stores recipes. This is a very unsexy topic, but also a really important one because we all have to eat. I don't think a single person listening has like never tried at least one recipe. Recipes are just, I mean, I'm about to recipe. recipe explain you. You guys, are you ready? They're just instructions, like on how to cook a meal.

And we eat a lot of meals and we might need a lot of instruction. So while this is like a super personal way of approaching thing, we will get to that. This is very personal. There's really not a magic system, which we will also get to. I just want you to leave this episode with one small step, one thought, one thing that helps you feel like your recipe storage is serving you. not you serving it, not trying to maintain a big system to store your recipes. So let's jump on, jump on in, figure out how to do that. All right. So I keep waiting for the day when we have a topic where we don't start out with why, but today is not that day. It has not happened yet. Here we are. We are going to start with why. Why do you want to store your recipes? Like what is the point?

What is the purpose in keeping them? Because here's the deal. there are actually a lot of different reasons and purposes. And as is often the case, we get stuck because we're trying to solve a problem before actually naming the problem. We just think we're supposed to store our recipes. And so we search for a system before naming what we need that system to actually do. So recipe storage is like a lot deeper than we thought. So let's start with why you want to store recipes.

here are some likely possibilities. But this list is, you know, by no means exhaustive, of course. You get to name what matters about recipe storage to you. But maybe these will get the juices flowing. Okay. So you want when it's time to make a meal to reach into like a metaphorical pot of options where the steps are already laid out. You know, like it's about having available resources.

That's your reason. You just want your resources right there. Now, that can actually split off into two different reasons right there on its own. You might want resources for things you've already made. You know, you like that chicken rice thing and you want to be able to make it again. Or you might want to like a pot of resources for when you want to try something new, right? So it could be that you're looking for a system to store recipes, just in general, that's what we say.

Like, how do I store my recipes? But really, you want a system to store the recipes you've already made or that you want to try or whatever. So, like, maybe you even need two different approaches, like one for recipes to try and one for recipes you want to make again, right? You're just naming what you're after. Again, we're going to unpack that again in a little bit, in a little bit. Another possible why.

You want to pass your recipes down. maybe you have like family recipes that you want to preserve or teach your kids that matters to you so keeping them written and accessible and part of the family culture it matters a lot how you store those it's probably different than how you store recipes that you find on food blogs maybe not but likely okay so those are just a couple of ideas but here's here's what I think okay here here is what I think I think a great place for you to start is with what kinds of recipes matter to you. Okay. I'm guessing it's once to try, once to try again, and then once to like pass down or keep close. So perhaps having like a range of systems for those

three categories or whatever categories you come up with, that will really help you in knowing how to store your recipes. The problem here is that I just don't think that there is one perfect solution for all of these kinds, these categories of recipes. You don't want them all to be digital, probably. Now, it's easy to pin a recipe that's already on a blog post, obviously, but it's harder to pin your grandmother's chocolate cake recipe, you know? Now, you might not mind a box of index cards or a notebook where you've printed stuff out, but do you really want to print out every single possible recipe that interests you? That's just really overwhelming. I think that's why we don't know how to store our recipes. So as you name,

why you want to store recipes. Think about how the different categories of recipes, and I don't mean like main dishes and desserts and that kind of category, but purpose categories. Name how those might need different storage solutions. I'm going to be, I'm going to be like super annoying and not give you a formula because I just don't think there is one because we all like different things. We all need different things. We all cook different things. We all process information differently. So instead of giving you a formula, I want to offer some directive questions that can help you name how you personally need to store recipes, especially in light of this categorical idea. That's kind of your first question, is what are your categories? Okay, so first, do you prefer reading and cooking from a recipe when it's

written out, like on paper, or when it's digital. And what's great is that answer, it could be different based on the category. So for me, I try a new recipe in whatever form it came to me, right? So if it's from a food blog, I pull up the post on my phone. If it's from a cookbook, I open the cookbook. But I am less worried about the form when it is new, if that makes sense. Like if I make something and I want to make it again, then that's when I write it down. Like, I almost always write it down if it's not already written out in a cookbook. There's just something really comforting and steady to me about cooking from a physical page rather than the screen. It's almost like, like that meal has joined the family once it's written down. So, you know, maybe it's a tiny bit weird to have a response

like this to a question about digital or analog. But I think that's the point. Like my particular answer might be a little bit weird that writing down the recipe feels like it's joined. the family. But you need to have your answer, you know, like name your thing. And here's what's great. Is the difference in analog or digital? It might not matter to you. You might not have any preference. But that is important to name too. So just see what that analog digital consideration opens up for you. Second question, do you have a preferred or most frequented or most dependable source for new recipes? maybe 90% of your new recipes come from cookbooks. And that's amazing, okay?

So instead of spending a lot of energy on managing a small number of online recipes, focus on how you store and interact with your cookbooks and the recipes inside those, right? So consider your most trusted sources and then how you might use those recipes. Or maybe even as you consider those trusted sources, you will find that you have plenty existing within your cookbooks or within that one food blog that you always go back to. And you can decide once that you're not going to choose recipes from another place for a while during this current season of your life. Right. Now again, the result of the question is up to you. The question is it just helps you know where you're going. So that's your next thing. It's like

what's your preferred, frequented, dependable source if there is one. And then one final question to think about. Obviously, there are lots of questions that you can come up with on your own, but here are a couple to get it going. How important are new recipes to you? Sometimes I think we feel, I know I feel this way, we like feel compelled to collect every possible new recipe. But then we have to manage how to keep track of them. So maybe you're overwhelmed with recipe storage because you're storing more recipes than you currently need. The right that's steals the spotlight every time it hits the road? That's the Volkswagen Tiguan. Its sleek exterior makes a first impression you can't ignore. Step inside to find available full leather seats and

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store your three categories or any category of recipe purpose category that we talked about. You can store those in different ways with different approaches or different systems. I think that you are going to find, as you think about this, you're going to find a small step or two of what you're looking for to get you moving closer to a direction of organization with whatever that means to you. Now, this feels important. Okay. So a reminder, lazy geniuses are a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things

that don't. Okay. If elaborate storage just as a concept for your recipes, if that does not matter to you, please be lazy about it. You do not have to figure out a system. You can have torn out magazine papers and like multiple cookbooks and Pinterest boards and all of that without it needing to fall in line. Like being disorganized about it, I mean, that is lazy, but you're allowed to be lazy about it. That just feels really important to say. So just name what kind of genius you're actually. after here. And then once you do that, I think that the solutions will show up and surface and start making sense for you. So as we close, I want to give just some specific thoughts and strategies that you could use in some combination based on what you figure out from our first few minutes

together. So this is just like a quick, bulleted list of ideas. They're tethered to nothing but themselves. Just some ideas, right? Okay. So the first thing. Number one, one is planning parameters. I have talked about this in some other episodes and such. If you have the meal plan, you know that I've talked about this. But planning parameters are basically just like a couple of limits for yourself and how you choose what recipes you want to make. So for me, a planning parameter that I have is a very limited ingredient list. We, I don't really go outside of that right now. It makes my grocery shopping easier. It makes choosing recipes easier because if something has an ingredient that's not on our current list, I just don't make it.

There's too many recipes out there for me to feel limited by the fact that I can't make all of them. It's actually easier when I can't make all of them. So planning parameters are really, really helpful where you can set your own limits. Number two, the washi tape trick. So I've shared this on Instagram before. But when I got a new cookbook, or when I get a new cookbook, I flip through it and I mark the recipes that I'm, I've shared the recipes that I've been, I've I want to make with washi tape, like fold it over on the page. And so that way, when I pull out a book, I don't have to flip through the whole thing. I have limited my choices again based on recipes that work for me and my family right now. Okay. Number three, a binder, like a three ring binder. Now,

a lot of folks love to print out or write out their recipes in a binder. You could even put the pages of paper in those page protectors and then write on those. with like a dry erase pen or whatever wet erase which kind of pen would you use marker it's not even a pen it doesn't matter but that way as you adjust ingredients or notes or whatever it is you can just write those on the page protector without messing up the paper some people love to do that number four plan to eat which is a digital like recipe aggregator and there are several of those probably I used to actually use plant to eat for years. It's so easy for you to say recipes that you find online. It's like relatively easy to add your own. I mean, you have to do it manually, but you know,

you can add them. It also has built in shopping lists and meal planners. It's actually pretty fantastic. You do have to pay for it. It's actually fantastic if you are a fan of digital storage. Now, I am not. I prefer analog pretty. much exclusively. So I just stopped using it. I just didn't use it. I paid for it, but I never opened it. But there are options like that, which could be great for you, especially if you love digital storage. Evernote. Number five is a lot of people create their own systems for free using Evernote. So you could Google how to store recipes in Evernote and just kind of dig around. There's so much stuff on there about that, on there being the internet. the same could be said for Trello.

You know, like Google is your friend. If you're just how to store recipes using this, digital or otherwise, you know, look for something specifically that might get your juices flowing again. That's the third time we've said juices flowing. Number six, you can use index cards or a notebook. Now listen, to capture the highlights of a recipe, not the complete picture. Okay. This is something I do and I just want to share this.

So you might have seen my playing your hot dogs notebook. I have it on Instagram sometimes where I have written, I've written out my fall dinner queue like what I'm choosing from this fall. And I am making notes around the recipes that I'm cooking this year. Now, I don't write out every single recipe, okay? If it's new. I write down where I found it, you know, whether it's like a cookbook or online. And I'll just say it's in Mad Hungry on page, whatever.

And then I will make notes in the notebook. when I make that recipe. But not the whole thing. So for example, a page might say instant pot butter chicken. I will write down the blog that I got it from. So I can just Google it. I can Google instant pot butter chicken wherever it came from. But I will write down like the highlights in the notebook, like the spice mix that's used or very general bullet point steps like 10 minutes high pressure, 10 minutes natural release. That way when I'm flipping through or I'm choosing meals later, I kind of know the gist of how long something takes or the general idea of what it will need. And when it comes time to actually cook it, I will look the recipe up or I will open up the cookbook.

But that notebook or those index cards, just kind of having like the Reader's Digest version of what it is you're making rather than the complete thing. So you're not copying over something that's actually pretty easily accessible. Really helps me a lot. Okay. Now here is the most important point. Listen very, very closely. There is no one way to do this. There is not even a best way to do this, like across the board. There is only what works best for you, based on what matters to you. So start with those categories, you know, whatever ones that make sense, the purpose of them. Ask yourself those questions about how you interact with recipes and what you

prefer. See if there are different ways you store your recipes based on those categories, right? How it's okay to choose different ways for different categories in one house. So I'm going to show you some of my own approaches on Instagram this week. So be sure you're following me there at The Lazy Genius if you're interested in seeing that. I won't go into those now. But yeah, I'll share those later to give you some ideas. But you get to choose how to do this. It's not that the perfect recipe you haven't found it yet or the perfect recipe storage system it's not that you haven't found it it doesn't really exist because perfect doesn't really matter and it doesn't work for everybody so you get to choose what works for you but I would love to show you what works for me

and I do that this week on Instagram and that is it I hope that you feel some freedom and direction in this episode and don't sweat it that you don't have like color coded binders or a hand-carved box of passed down recipes from a grandmother. That is not everyone's reality. Okay. That's not everyone's choice even. You can be lazy about this if you want. But if you do want to be a genius, make sure you're being a genius about what matters to you. And that is it for today. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra and I'll see you next week. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so,

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