What we're talking about: How do you keep your family recipes? Share in the comments below how how you hold on to treasured family recipes.

Learn how to write them down

It may seem simple, but many family recipes are often left incomplete or rely on guess work to get the desired outcome. Here are a few simple steps to ensure your recipe is easy to read:

Ingredients list

  • Write the ingredients in the exact order that they’ll be used. If two ingredients are used at the same time, list the larger ingredient first.
  • Make sure the ingredients are listed in the state they’ll be used. If the onions need to be chopped, diced or sliced write it down here.

Steps

  • Here, the aim is to keep things short and sweet, but with enough detail that there’s no room for guesswork. Try to keep one task in each step, even if that task involves a single sentence.
  • Don’t forget to use the senses to tell the cook what to look, smell, touch or listen for. Writing ‘cook the onions for five minutes’ is very different than ‘cook until translucent, approximately five minutes.’ Use these clues to help the recipe succeed every time.

Serving size

  • Don’t forget to include how many servings your dish makes. Also, if you want to scale your recipe up or down, make sure you test the amended recipe, as changing the size of the ingredients can dramatically alter the cooking times needed.

Get a second opinion

Once you’ve recorded your recipe, give it to another person to look over and double check that everything is included. If possible, get someone else to cook the dish and give you honest feedback on how it turned out. When it’s your own recipe, it’s often easy to miss vital steps; however, a fresh set of eyes can quickly point out these exclusions.

Don’t forget the story

Most family recipes have become treasured heirlooms that are tied up with a story. Whether it’s the chocolate cake Mum made for every birthday, the pasta dish grandma learnt from her mother or the 1970s classic that defined your childhood. Make sure you record these memories under the name of the recipe, taking time to recount the story and the memories associated with the dish. In the end, it’s these memories that future generations will be tapping into when they try them in their own kitchens.

Choose your format

Once you’ve written down your recipes, tested them and gathered together all the stories, it’s time to choose a way to document them. Here, you can opt for paper or electronic options, or a mixture of both. Some of the best options to explore include:

Electronic word document
Use a basic word processing document to record your recipes, and email them to others. The benefits also include being able to quickly edit your recipes and being able to print out a hard copy to use in the kitchen.

Best Recipes
For unbiased feedback and a chance to share your recipes with the wider community, there’s no better way than adding your recipes to our website. Here, you can also add images and can see what works and what needs further development.

Online record
Free data programs, such as Evernote, allow you to type up your recipes and synch them across all your devices. Other benefits include being able to add tags to your recipes, allowing you to search by ingredients or cuisines, and being able to add images.

Notebook
Perhaps the oldest – but one of the most reliable – ways to record your recipes is to write them down in longhand in a recipe notebook. Try using pencil so that you can erase any errors, or make changes, without having to rewrite the recipe in full.

Book
There are now several companies offering competitive rates for printing photo books. This makes a wonderful gift for any family, allowing you to give a gift that will be well loved for generations to come.  

Classic family recipes