Making a recipe planner
Plus: my love for banana bread continues...
Hello, friends! I hope you have been looking after yourself, keeping well and keeping safe. A great big WELCOME to new subscribers - you’re in great company and this is a safe space.
Last time, I wrote about being stuck in a creative rut, which seemed to resonate with many of you, too. It’s something that is part and parcel of being a creative person, so learning how to ride the ebbs and flows is pretty important.
This week I am happy to report that the metaphorical clouds have started to part and I am once again feeling inspired and brimming with ideas.
In a few weeks, we’ll be off for a short break to a log cabin in the middle of a field, with a hot tub and views of the rolling English countryside - which I am very much looking forward to! This time last year we stayed in Colton Bassett for a few days, so I’m hoping to get back there for a few days before summer ends. For the Hiro fans among you, here’s a little video of his adventure:
The Problem: I find myself saving recipes here, there and everywhere - making it impossible to bring some sort of order to recipe and meal planning. I’ve got collections of collections on Instagram, 100s of pins on Pinterest, articles on my Reminders app and even hand-written notes detailing all the wonderful recipes I want to make, but will inevitably be lost to the void.
I’ve tried various recipe-saving apps but they either cost an arm and a leg, or they don’t save a recipe properly or with enough information that I need to stay organised
The Solution: I wanted to create one place where I could save all the recipes I want to try to, and then use that place to organise what recipes I was going to create and when. I’m a massive advocate of Notion so it was an easy decision to start building what I needed on there. I’m sure many of you have heard of it, but if not, at it’s core it’s a free program/app that allows you to build and create any sort of written content either as pages or databases.
I won’t bamboozle you with too much technical jargon (although it is super easy to get the hang of once you ‘get it’). I will whirlwind through this, but feel free to ask any questions if this piques your interest!
What I Needed: I started with a list of all the things that I needed to keep myself organised. Here’s what I wanted to see from a mile high view:
Recipe name
Meal: is it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack
Source: where the recipe is from, be that a book or a url
Difficulty: how easy/medium/hard do I think it’s going to be for me to make it
Date: when am I planning to cook the recipe
Made: a checkbox I can tick to indicate if I’ve made the recipe before or not
Photo: an attachment block so I can upload a photo of the recipe once I’ve made it
As you can see, it’s a pretty simple layout and that is intentional. I find if you make something that looks too complex and takes too much time to use… the novelty wears off real fast.
Now, as much as I love lists - when it comes to planning, I’m much more of a visual person. As we have date blocks, we’re able to view the planner on a calendar either weekly or monthly.
I generally use my Apple Reminders to keep track of my shopping list, so as I go through recipes, I just add what I need on there. However, once you’ve added a recipe to the database, this becomes a page you can open and customise as you like. You can even set them up as templates!
Top tip: If you have an iPhone, you can use the Reminders app to create a shopping list that will automatically place the items you add under sections where you’ll find them in the supermarket!
I’ve only been using it for just over a week, but can already feel much less overwhelmed now that everything is organised and easily trackable. If you think that something like this would be helpful for you, too - then I was thinking of putting a video together on 1) the basics of how to use Notion and 2) how to get a copy of this planner to use/edit as you see fit. I love helping people learn new tech, so feel free to let me know!
Banana Bread Muffins
My love saga with banana bread is holding strong - much to Ben’s dismay, as he’s not a fan. Although, it does mean that it’s one of those rare treats in the house that’s all mine. I’m now at the really exciting (to me) stage of knowing the foundation of a recipe by heart - which allows me to play with flavours and textures!
For today’s muffins, I folded in dark chocolate nibs and chopped pistachios - which gave them a nice depth, richness and an added bit of crunch.
The Shot/s: Funnily enough, both shots were taken in exactly the same place - just an hour or so apart! I’m still amazed at how light can completely change the feel and emotion of an image.
’s shots on his latest post, I also wanted to try a lower f-stop. I think the tight focus creates a much more intimate image - which I like!
For these shots, I knew I wanted to keep one muffin as the focal point and then create some sort of symmetry for the rest of the image. After seeing
I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. Thank you for reading, friends. As always, it’s very much appreciated.
-Mark
Me, me! I'd love more info on how to use Notion and get a copy of the planner. I have a recipe spreadsheet but it's become so unwieldy I haven't updated it in over a year.
I do like a bit of organisation, although I wish I implemented it more often! Lovely photos. Hope you're now spreadsheet-set in the kitchen!