How to preserve your family's recipes
A box of cards, a stained notebook, and a few dishes nobody ever wrote down. Here is how to get all of it somewhere safe, shared and printable.
Free while we are in beta. No credit card.
The plan, start to finish
Gather everything in one spot
Recipe boxes, notebooks, clippings taped inside cookbooks, emails, texts with "here's how I do it". Do not sort yet. Just get it all on one table.
Photograph the cards
In Snap and Simmer, tap Add, then From a photo. Photograph each card in good light, front and back. Each one comes back as a typed recipe you can search.
Read each one against the card once. We write down what the card says and never fill in what it leaves out. Full steps: digitize handwritten recipe cards.
Capture the ones nobody wrote down
Some recipes live only in someone's hands. Two ways to catch them:
Film it. Record them cooking and talking through it, then use From a video. We listen and write down the recipe, leaving blank whatever was never said. See turn a cooking video into a recipe.
Paste it. If they texted or emailed it once, copy the whole message into Paste a recipe. Messy is fine.
Mom making her chicken soup
Add the stories
A recipe is more than its ingredients. On each recipe, add a note: who made it, when it came out, what they always said about it. Tag the recipes with the person's name so the whole set is one tap away.
Share them with the family
Invite siblings, cousins and kids to your kitchen as members. They can open every recipe, rate it and leave their own memories in the comments. See one shared kitchen for the family.
Print the book
Gather the recipes into a cookbook, sort them into chapters, write a dedication, and download a print-ready PDF. Print it at home or take the files to a print service. See make a family cookbook.
Tips from the cards themselves
- Keep the originals. A typed recipe is for cooking; the card is the keepsake.
- Photograph stains and all. Then add the card's photo to the recipe so the handwriting travels with it.
- Where a card is vague ("bake until done"), cook it once and write what you learned in the recipe's notes.
- Ask the relatives now. The amounts nobody wrote down are easiest to get while someone still remembers them.
Questions
How do I save a recipe that was never written down?
Film the person cooking and talking it through, then use From a video. Amounts they never say are left blank for you to fill in together.
Can relatives in other cities see the recipes?
Yes. Invite them to your kitchen by email and they can open everything from their own phone or computer.
Will my family need to pay?
No. Snap and Simmer is free while we are in beta.
Can I print just a few copies of the book?
Yes. You download a print-ready PDF and print as many as you like, at home or with any print service.
Keep going
Digitize handwritten recipe cards
Photograph the card. The handwriting becomes a recipe you can search.
See how ›📖Make a family cookbook
Chapters, a dedication, an introduction and a print-ready PDF.
See how ›🍳One shared kitchen for the family
Everyone sees the same recipes. You decide who can change them.
See how ›Good food is better shared.
Start your kitchen, save your first recipe and invite the people you cook with.
Start your kitchen, freeFree while we are in beta. No credit card.