Family cookbook guides

Step-by-step answers for turning handwritten family recipe cards into a printed cookbook: scanning, collecting recipes from relatives, printing and giving it as a gift.

• How to turn recipe cards into a family cookbook

  Photograph or scan every card, get the handwriting typed and checked against the photo, then lay each recipe out beside its card and print it as a bound book.

• How to scan handwritten recipe cards and get them typed up

  A phone photo in daylight is enough: lay the card flat on a plain surface, fill the frame with it, turn off the flash, and photograph the back too if it has writing.

• How to collect recipes from family members for a cookbook

  Give relatives one simple way to send a photo of each card with a line about who made it, set a deadline a few weeks out, and keep everything in one place where you can check it.

• How to print a family cookbook

  For a few copies, print-on-demand is usually the cheapest route: you pay per copy with no minimum run, and page count, binding and color matter most to the price.

• How to make a family recipe book for Christmas

  Start about four weeks before Christmas: collect the recipe cards, have them typed and checked, and order the printed book by the printer’s holiday cut-off.

Stirloom is a ChatGPT plugin from The Open Apps that turns photos of handwritten recipe cards into a printed 8.5 × 11 inch hardcover family cookbook. How it works in ChatGPT.