Haha! The women of my father’s family had lots of unwritten recipes. We did our best to memorialize them in writing and collect them into a family cookbook that we printed for each family. I’m sure your children and, later, your grandchildren would love to be able to refer to a written version of your favorite family recipes.

I have a handwritten recipe book from my grandmother that includes such gems as "butter the size of a walnut" and "small green glass of milk," referring to a long lost set.

I have recipes in a shared Google file. I can also add links and photos of ingredients that way, and update or correct them. Not nearly as quaint but it works!

PS i miss Schitt's Creek

Mtn maybe print things out, too. We never know when our virtual worlds will become obsolete for us or our kids.

I give most of my recipes to friends; my son doesn't cook and my grandson is being raised by people who eat Costco prepared foods - most of it not even needing to be cooked (bars and pouches, etc.) My recipe book for him (based on what he will eat here) would read something like: Open a can of Amy's Organic Vegetarian Black Bean Chili. Open two cans of organic plain black beans, drain and rinse. Combine all 3 cans and heat in the microwave. (He doesn't like the chili too saucy, thus the addition of lots more beans. Accompany with corn bread. Place one package of Trader Joe's cornbread mix in the food processor. Whirl to grind up the whole dried corn in the mix (he doesn't like the texture of the corn) follow box directions but add an extra egg (makes it not so crumbly).

I do cook fresh wild salmon for him most weeks and I marinate a flank steak regularly, so I could write how I prepare those, I guess. I could write down for his parents how to buy fresh broccoli and asparagus from the Farmers market and steam them lightly instead of buying big bags of it from Costco and cooking them to death. They aren't that great to start with and both get old before they make a dent in the bags. Poor kid. I hope I live long enough to continue to feed him at least some decent, nutritious food until he can shop and cook for himself. Tho I think he's doomed to a palate tuned to highly processed food.

I’m constantly surprised by how much I love to cook, as do my 8 siblings. Our mom was a fantastic cook (and mother), as was her mother, but Mom had her hands full with 9 active kids 24/7. As we got older, our jobs were to keep the youngers occupied and out of the kitchen while she was cooking, and to clean up and do the dishes. She never taught us how to cook, but her best friend, Kay who couldn’t have kids of her own and lived two houses down from us all through our childhood did that. Gourmet all the way, too! Sadly, though, no one actually wrote down their recipes.
I ended up marrying a family practice physician who was, and is, very into eating healthfully. So, being the oldest of my sibs, I decided to start writing down the best recipes as I found or adapted them, and sharing them “down the line”. Being a super organized person. they’ve evolved over the years, and are organized online AND in binders that I work from. Our two adult kids are also great cooks (as is their dad) and I’m now in the process of culling their favorites into cookbooks for them. Here are my own personal cookbooks with each recipe in organized sections of my binders, all in clear plastic sleeves so that I don’t slop them up (LOL). But, as I am, they’re always evolving and being refined. There are quite a few more than pictured here, but it works for me.
I also have a binder where I keep a list of each week’s nightly menus. This, I’ve found, helps me to keeps our meals varied while giving me a great search method to inspire my Monday morning menu list for the upcoming week, as well as my list for my Tuesday grocery shopping. Anyhoo, this is what works for me

A number of years ago I assembled family recipes and had them printed by a cookbook company in a binder for my parents, each of my siblings and the older kids. I wish I had also gotten them for the younger kids as the company went out of business before I had more printed.

It was my father's favorite gift ever-- it made him cry and he showed it to every visitor to the house for years! LOL It included family photos and some stories as well as tips. Many of our family recipes were from his side of the family. They had been passed down from person to person and had never been written down. Each holiday that year, I hung out with my dad in the kitchen and did my best to translate the recipes to paper -- estimating amounts and sharing little insights and tips dad shared. Things like when making our traditional New Years Day sauerkraut, "you put im a whole onion... and when it has melted down and disintegrated, the sauerkraut is done"

It also included recipes from friends and neighbors who are no longer with us. The kids all refer to Inez' Fudge -- but none of them ever met Inez.

I do need to make another one day. I cringe when I see typos in it (argggg) and there are some recipes I'd like to add. I didn't put as much time into it as I'd have liked. I am thinking next year is the year for the updated book. This time I will print copies for cousins and aunts as well.

I’ve been writing down my family’s favorite recipes. They’re in sheet protectors in a binder. I thought it might be nice for them to have the recipes once they’re out on their own, and I thought they might appreciate that they’re in my handwriting once I’m gone.

Porkandham - the handwriting thing is real. I've saved a few things from both parents (both are deceased), solely because it's in their handwriting. My mom's last checkbook register, which my dad took over after her death....and then his decline into Alzheimer's is starkly apparent in that checkbook register. I'll never get rid of it.

I also kept her cookbook, with a lot of her own notes in it, for the same reason. It brings back memories of holidays from many decades ago, leafing through it.

Sad how parents and kids did not bond/learn together.

Why didn’t your children learn to cook? Did you folks teach you how to cook?

Well, my husband and I made sure that we taught our kids , from an early age, how to cook, bake, as well as how to discern healthful ingredients and recipes from those not. We also made sure both our son and our daughter could sew on a button, do simple mending, knew a bit more than basic first aid, could change a tire, use tools and fix household things. I imagine a lot of parents do that.

In my family, many of our fondest memories and experiences center around food. My mother did not teach me how to cook, but I learned by osmosis of watching and hanging around the kitchen. I learned some good cooking skills and tips from my MIL. My father taught me how to make eggs and perked coffee. My mother kept a recipe box with index cards even though she cooked by heart. The recipe box is filled with recipes my mother got from her sisters and her friends and coworkers. I reach for my mother's file box of recipes more often than I do my own. I did not teach my daughters how to cook and they were not responsible for preparing meals until they went out on their own. They are excellent cooks. My grandchildren have cooked with me and their parents for fun since they were little and have an interest in family recipes. Last week my 17 year old grandson and I prepared Cioppino. Today 2 teens and a tween made several sides for Thanksgiving in my kitchen. The youngest tore the bread for the stuffing. The oldest in college is bringing a special appetizer that everyone loves that his great grandmother, whom my grands are fortunate to have known, always made. I really need to pare down my recipe box; it houses many recipes that I never tried. Making a book of recipes as written on the original index cards is something that I started several years ago and never finished. I should revisit it again.

I have recipes from my adored great aunt, which she refers to as receipts. In one she says to use a hat pin to dip candy into melted chocolate.

My mom typed a cookbook for me of her standard recipes along with shopping tips. I still refer to it, although chuck is no longer 65 cents a pound. When cleaning out her myriad notebooks of recipes, I was surprised to find few were written out.

I have index cards and also folders ( NOTHING like LynnNM) One says Thanksgiving and has lots of splotches on it.

Back in the days when I participated in the Cooking forum, I printed out many recipes but have yet to try most.

My grandmother tried to teach me one of her recipes. As I remember, she took one of her teacups and said "take a cup of..." and then she added, "take a teaspoon of ..." and took one of her teaspoons to measure another ingredient. I was young, and thought that since I didn't have her cups and spoons, there would be no way for me to duplicate her recipe. Years later, when my grandmother and her dishes and silverware were long gone, I realized that I should have taken her cups and spoons and measured their capacity in standard measures. Alas.

She did all her cooking and baking in a tiny kitchen. The worktable was maybe a 30" square, and she could make strudel on it. Just envision a six foot long paper thin pastry dough stretched out on a linen tablecloth draped over that 30" table, then filled and rolled up.

I love these stories! I'm leaning toward handwriting my recipes, simply because it's becoming a lost art. I'll need to practice my penmanship a bit. It's not nearly as attractive as it used to be.

...my husband and I made sure that we taught our kids , from an early age, how to cook, bake, as well as how to discern healthful ingredients and recipes from those not.

Lynn, this is a valuable gift to your kids, setting them up for a lifetime of healthy habits.