A recipe binder vs a notes app
A notes app is a fine capture tool. A binder is what another person can cook from when you are not there to search.
Capture in whatever is fastest, then put the recipes people would miss into a binder with an index. A camera roll is not a cookbook.
Finding a recipe with wet hands
Binder: Index and dividers
Notes app: Search, if you titled it well
Original handwriting
Binder: Sleeved card behind the page
Notes app: A photo in a folder
Someone else cooking
Binder: They can open it
Notes app: They need your phone
Backup
Binder: Paper plus a scan
Notes app: Only if it syncs somewhere else
Choose Binder if
- The recipes are family history.
- More than one cook uses them.
- You want a gift that is not a login.
Choose Notes app if
- You are still collecting.
- You cook alone and search works.
- You will transcribe later and you actually will.
The failure mode of the app is the photo you never transcribe. The failure mode of the binder is the blank book. Do one page.
Read next
- Recipe binder
- Digitizing family recipes without losing the card
- Family Recipe Binder
- Heirloom Cookbook Kit
Questions
Which is the heirloom?
The one a person who is not you can find in ten years.