The Family Cookbook Planning Workbook
Use these worksheets to take your cookbook from a vague "someday" to a clear plan with a title, contributors, and chapters.
16 pages
Want a copy emailed to you for safekeeping?
1. Cookbook title & dedication
Most family cookbooks start with a title that's too generic. Try again.
Working title (e.g. The Eastman Family Cookbook)
Subtitle / family motto (optional)
This cookbook is dedicated to…
In memory of…
First chapter of the dedication / opening note
2. Family contributor tracker
List every person you'd like to contribute. Don't filter. You can always trim later — but you can't add someone after they're gone.
Name · Relationship · Best recipe · Contacted (Y/N)
3. Recipe collection tracker
Track which recipes are gathered, which are still missing, and who owes you one.
Recipe name · From whom · Status (have it / waiting / lost)
4. Story collection tracker
A cookbook without stories is a recipe binder. List the stories you want to capture — and who can tell them.
Story · Storyteller · Recorded? (audio / written / both)
5. Photo collection tracker
Photo subject · Who has it · Scanned? · Caption written?
6. Cookbook section planner
The structure most families use. Adjust to fit your family — but every section should have at least three recipes before you publish.
- Front matter: dedication, family tree, how to use this book
- Breakfast & breads
- Soups, salads & sides
- Main dishes (everyday)
- Holiday & celebration mains
- Desserts, cookies & treats
- Drinks, sauces & odds and ends
- Stories: the people behind the recipes
- Back matter: index, contributor list, notes from the keeper
Tasted Table organizes all of this for you automatically — but the worksheet works for any cookbook project.
When you're ready
Turn what you've gathered into a real family cookbook.
Tasted Table is where families collect recipes, stories, photos, and voices in one private cookbook — and print it as a lasting heirloom.
More free kits
Keep going
The Family Recipe Rescue Kit
A step-by-step kit for gathering, scanning, and saving the handwritten recipes scattered across your family before another card is lost.
Open kit Free kit100 Questions to Ask Parents & Grandparents
One hundred gentle, open-ended questions to help you record the stories your parents and grandparents would never tell on their own — organized by theme.
Open kit Free kit25 Things Every Family Should Preserve Before It's Too Late
A printable checklist of the 25 most important things to record from the people you love — and the simplest way to capture each one this month.
Open kit Free kitRecipe Collection Worksheets
Printer-friendly worksheets for capturing not just the recipe — but the person, the holiday, and the memory attached to it. Hand them out at the next family gathering.
Open kit