Is this the year you will finally make that family cookbook you’ve been thinking about for years (or decades)?!
We’re sharing some expert guidance on how to get organized and make it happen in 2025 from Sara Levine Rosenblum of SLR Creative. Sara is a food editor who specializes in helping families, businesses and organizations bring their recipes to life in custom cookbooks.
The first cookbook I created was a celebration of my beloved Grandma Florence’s recipes after she passed away in 2009. Grandma Florence inspired the lifelong love of food and cooking that led me down a path to food writing, culinary school, Food Network and eventually, launching my own business focused on cookbooks!
As you can imagine, I’ve learned a great deal since I published that scrappy little book (at Kinkos!) fifteen years ago, but it still means so much to me and my family.
If you’ve always wanted to celebrate and preserve your recipes in a family cookbook, here are my top 6 tips to get you started:
Give the gift of time.
Want to gift a family cookbook next Christmas? Start now! Spread the word and give everyone (yourself included) plenty of time to gather their recipes.
Get creative with collecting.
Use email and Google Drive folders to gather recipes and photos easily, but don’t forget older relatives who might prefer a phone call. Grandma’s secret recipe might need to be dictated — or better yet, cook it together and document the steps with pictures!
Capture the stories.
Great cookbooks capture memories, not just recipes. When you’ve got relatives on the phone, hit that record button! Jot down personal anecdotes and include them in short headnotes that bring each dish to life.
Make it a team effort.
My mom was my co-editor on Grandma Florence’s cookbook and it was a true bonding experience for us to tackle the project together. Collaborate with siblings, cousins, or parents to create something truly special. Turn that family group chat into a brainstorming session and gift a cookbook everyone will treasure.
Snap and scan.
Take simple photos of dishes at family gatherings – perfect contribution for that amateur photographer on your family “cookbook committee”! Daylight is your best friend for great food photos. Include scans of old recipe cards – the more well-loved, the better – for a nostalgic touch.
Don’t be intimidated.
Platforms like Heritage Cookbook make it seamless to organize, design and print your book. I wish I’d known about Heritage when I was pulling my hair out designing and laying out pages manually for my first Kinkos print job!
January 15th/2025