Cooking could be so much fun, especially when you try concocting unfamiliar dishes. You can best produce the dishes to serve on the dinner table if you have the instructions to do these. Using a recipe card templates could be the answer to your prayers as these can help you arrange your instructions and ingredients making these easier to read.
Contents
Recipe Card Templates
A short history of recipe card
In older days, the favorite recipes used by our great grandparents appeared on pieces of paper or cards stored in recipe boxes. Today, it’s likely that we pull out these recipes from electronic devices or from sheets of paper from online recipe sites. Nevertheless, most of us still use handwritten recipe card templates, especially those with treasured recipes handed down through generations.
Through the centuries, people have handed down recipes orally from one generation to the next. The advent of literacy had these recipes written down although in the beginning, the results were frustratingly terse. This is because of instructions like “enough flour to create a stiff dough” or “bake until done” which weren’t meant to impart anything new.
Then the advent of women’s magazines early in the 20th century is the main factor that brought written recipes into light. Nutrition science became an “in-thing” and magazines wanting to reach out to housewives, started searching for standardized recipes, going as far as offering recipe subscriptions for home delivery printed on heavy card stock that had the company’s logo printed on them.
These printable recipe cards became hugely popular during the 30s and the 40s. Since the written format for recipes got established, it didn’t take long when women started writing their own recipe cards and this, in turn, led to the recipe card templates for Word that we have today.
Blank recipe cards are a reminder of how it came to be together with the memories of cooking and eating these dishes with our families. In essence, the habit of keeping recipe card templates seems to have originated from the same urge that makes us fill our shelves with books we have already read or enjoying snapshots of each vacation we go on.
Recipe Card Templates For Word
What is the standard size of a recipe card?
Great meals require the right ingredients, enough time, and a great recipe. At times, however, just locating the recipe can be a task on its own. Finding the recipe shouldn’t be the most difficult part of cooking. But with the use of recipe card templates, you can gather all of the best recipes in one place then organize them so you can find your favorites faster. There are different styles of recipe cards but the most standard sizes are:
- 8.5-inches x 11-inches
- 3-inches x 4-inches (index card style)
- 4-inches x 6-inches (index card style)
Printable Recipe Cards
How do I make my own recipe cards?
The standard recipe card template for Word is a tool that restaurant owners and chefs use to make them aware of the cost of each dish on their restaurant menu and the average cost of all costs per dish gives you the outlet’s potential cost. This is one of the most important tools used to measure food costs.
After creating your printable recipe cards, you can establish the popularity of each recipe through menu engineering. Knowing the yield of each item is always considered when creating recipes. Every standard recipe in your blank recipe card should have the following:
- Recipe Number
You will associate this number with the dish found on a master sheet that you will make later. - Menu Category
This refers to the part where you classify a particular recipe under. Most of us have noticed that menus fall into categories like soup, appetizers, main course, snacks, and dessert. You can create an Excel sheet for each of these categories. - Name of Dish
This refers to the name of the dish. - Portions
This is another important section that many people forget. It’s highly recommended to create recipes based on 10 portions for restaurants. For home use, base the portions on how many family members you have. - Ingredients
This contains a detailed list of all the food items you use for making the dish. - Quantity
Knowing how much you will produce for a particular dish is very important when creating recipes. - Unit
This is the essential measurement of the ingredients. Packaged food items may vary in weight and size. It is, therefore, important to maintain uniformity in terms of units. It’s recommended to use kilograms for solids then liters for liquids. - Unit Price
Because of different packaging, there can be a variation in terms of costing. You can either keep all of these uniform or input the current unit price per unit. - Total
This refers to the total cost of the ingredients when preparing the dish. You can obtain this value by multiplying the unit price by the quantity. - Miscellaneous Cost
This refers to the added cost to a recipe that accounts for other factors during the preparation like the salt you use while blanching, the spices you add while cooking, and so on. - Total Cost
This refers to the sum of all of the prices of the ingredients. - Waste and Drain
In computing the total cost, allot 5% of the total cost as cooking or thawing loss, draining frozen items, waste, and so on. - Cost per Portion
You can compute this using the total cost plus 5% drain and waste divided by the number of portions in each dish. You can add the method of preparation under the recipes to ensure consistency through standardization.
Blank Recipe Cards
Making recipe card templates for a restaurant
Often, 10% of food in restaurants already goes to waste even before it reaches the customer. For this, restaurants should be extra careful when it comes to portion control when serving their customers. They should put their best practices in place to secure the bottom line. When it comes to using blank recipe cards for restaurants, there are key parts to include. Here are the key steps to consider when making a recipe card template for your restaurant:
- Menu Item Name
The top of the printable recipe cards should bear the name of the dish clearly printed so it won’t get mistaken for another item. You can also include the name of the restaurant and the chef who came up with the recipe. - Total Preparation Time
Food should always reach the customers at its freshest, so including the preparation time on the card will be a great help. - Descriptions and Qualifiers
Reserve some space for how the number of servings that come from a single batch, what section of the menu you can find this, and a brief description of the item. - Ingredients
The main essence of a recipe card is a list of ingredients for a certain dish, including their portion sizes. Assuming that it is the cook’s first time to make the dish, make your list as detailed as possible so the flavor won’t veer too far from the original.
Enforce the rules of the recipe as closely as possible when it comes to portion sizes. Each time a chef feels like adding a “little extra,” this could increase the variance of your food cost and can negatively impact your bottom line. On the other hand, if a different cook reduces the ingredients too much by deciding to cut back, your guests might feel cheated when they get a meal with lesser quality. - Cooking Procedures
All of the steps in a cooking procedure that feel intuitive to you should appear in detail on your recipe card template for Word to maintain consistency and quality. Each procedure should also have its corresponding time. Following even the most minor instructions could see different results when plated. - Plating Notes
It will be here where you explain the packaging and presentation best practices. Take note of things like how to add a caramelized drizzle for a cheesecake, a reminder on how to wrap a chicken sub in the foil, and other instructions. Remember that people will see their food first before devouring it. Should it look drastically different from what they expected, they won’t feel satisfied at all. - Allergen Info
This issue helps the front of the house and it serves as a reference point for any customer with allergen issues. Make a quick note for dishes that contain nuts, gluten, or those means for vegans, vegetarians, and other special diets. That way, if a server should ask on behalf of a customer, there is no need to call the manager or head chef to confirm. - Shelf Life and Other Storage Notes
If you make some of your meals in bulk, record the steps for food storage and the facts about how long these would last. Accuracy in this aspect can mean your restaurant would waste less food and see less spoilage. - Date Revised
The items in a menu can constantly get subjected to changes. It could perhaps come from some feedback that makes you decide to modify your recipes. Should such situations happen, revise your recipe card templates along with the date. After that, you can communicate these changes to your staff so the change doesn’t go unnoticed.
