How to Set Up Your First Home Cooked Book

From your bookshelf, choose to create a cookbook. Add a title, then use the optional description to explain what the book is for. A short description is enough: Recipes we make when everyone is home, or Mom's cards and the versions we cook now. It gives future contributors a useful starting point.

Choose a cover color that makes the book easy to spot in your bookshelf. The cover is not a permanent editorial decision; it is simply a visual cue that helps the collection feel distinct when you have more than one book.

Choose Private if you want to collect, edit, or test recipes on your own first. Only you can access a private cookbook until you turn sharing on. You can make it Shared later from the book's settings, so private is a good default when you are still deciding what the collection should become.

Choose Shared if you are ready to invite specific people into this particular book. Sharing does not make the book public, and an invitation to one cookbook does not open your other cookbooks. On Free, invite up to three people as Family members. Plus supports unlimited Family invitations and Contributor invitations for people who will add recipes and edit their own.

Begin with recipes that someone would genuinely look for this week. One reliable dinner, a favorite breakfast, a dessert everyone requests, or a dish connected to the book's purpose is enough to establish the collection. You can enter them by hand, copy and paste recipe text, or start from photos and files when that is the clearest source.

Do not wait until every detail is perfect. A recipe can begin with the information you know, then improve after you cook it or ask a relative a question. Add a source, note, or story when it matters, especially when the recipe came from someone else's card, website, or memory.

After adding a few recipes, notice how you look for them. Create or refine categories around real decisions such as Quick Dinners, Baking, Breakfast, or Holidays. Keep them broad at first. A category should make a recipe easier to find, not create another filing task.

Return to the book after you cook from it. Correct timing, add a photo, record a substitution, or write down the note that explains why the recipe matters. A Home Cooked book is meant to stay alive through cooking, not to be finished before anyone can use it.