Thanksgiving is a time of celebration and quality time with family or friends. If you are in charge of the cooking, however, fun traditions can be overshadowed by the stress of planning and making the meal. It may not seem like photo organization and cooking would be connected, but photos can actually be a huge help to you when it comes time for your Thanksgiving dinner. While we are no professionals in the kitchen, Picture This Organized can help you use photo organization to plan a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.
Digitizing Recipe Cards
Many of us use old recipes found in recipe books or boxes that have been passed down from generation to generation. These recipes remind us of fond memories with our family when we were children or times we spent with loved ones who may no longer be with us. In order to protect these family treasures, it is important to make sure you have a digital copy. Cooking a big meal can be chaotic and messy, and old recipe cards can become damaged or lost in the shuffle of various ingredients and cooks in the kitchen. Instead of using the original copy, take a photo or scan the recipe card so your original remains in good condition. You could also use a photo of a special recipe and have it printed on a tea towel. This would make a great host gift or could be a gift idea to store away for Christmas.
Screenshotting Recipes
Sometimes it is nice to change up the recipes you have been using for years. When my kids started preparing their own dishes to bring to our house for Thanksgiving, they also began experimenting with new recipes for old favorites like green bean casserole or mashed potatoes.
Ahead of time, research recipes that you would like to use and take screenshots of the ingredient list and instructions as you find them. Once you have photos or screenshots of all of your recipes, make a folder in Photos so you aren't digging through your camera roll when it comes time to make the dish. When working on photo collection maintenance with clients, we have created Albums to organize recipe screenshots. This allows them to find recipes efficiently so they can begin to cook right away.
Make a Recipe Album
If you have recipes that you use every year, it can be fun to create an album of all of the recipes you have accumulated throughout the years. Some people design these albums like a typical recipe book solely containing scanned photos of favorite recipes. Others include Thanksgiving photos, captions about who made what dish, or stories of recipe failures or successes from previous years. You can find more information on preserving holiday recipes and creating a recipe book in our previous blog posts.
If organizing screenshots, digitizing recipe cards, or making a recipe album sound like something you would like to do but don’t have the time for, please contact us. We would love to help you organize your Thanksgiving meal and create an album of treasured recipes from the past!