This Vintage Kitchen Must-Have Nearly Vanished (But Now It's Making A Comeback)

Home kitchens have evolved quite a bit over the past century. For better or for worse, there are a plethora of retro kitchen staples no one uses anymore. While some of these old-school culinary tools disappeared for a reason (like real vintage refrigerators, which simply aren't practical in a modern kitchen), others are long overdue for a comeback.

One formerly ubiquitous kitchen staple that has fallen out of favor in recent decades is recipe cards. These handy cards were an essential element of home kitchens across America throughout the 20th century. A box brimming with recipe cards and newspaper clippings was a prized possession of home chefs across the country, and a treasured and fought-over keepsake in many families. However, the rise of online recipes and cooking apps in the early aughts rapidly made recipe cards largely a relic of the past. 

The ability to find almost any recipe with a quick internet search made hard copies feel unnecessary for many cooks, and while recipe cards certainly never disappeared, they were largely forgotten in many homes. Recipe cards saw a rapid decline with the rise of the internet, but interestingly, at a time when we're more online than ever, they seem to be making a comeback (case in point: Aldi's selling cute and cheap recipe card tins).

Analog recipe cards are back in fashion for many of the same reasons that it pays to handwrite the recipes you love. For one thing, paper recipes are more comfortable and user-friendly — not having to squint at a phone or tablet and click away from annoying pop-up ads with messy hands is just plain convenient, and your eyes (and devices) will thank you. Plus, you don't have to worry about remembering which cooking blog you found the dish on, or risk losing access to a beloved recipe if the webpage becomes inaccessible. The cherry on top? Hard copies allow you to add personal notes to your recipes, an essential step you should be doing while cooking. 

Beyond these practical benefits, writing down recipes is a wonderful way to create beloved family heirlooms that will be used and cherished for generations to come. If you've ever found an old recipe box in a relative's kitchen, you'll know the unique joy of flipping through handwritten instructions for gelatin-heavy vintage summer foods and forgotten old-school dips. If you're feeling inspired to start (or revive) your own recipe card box, here's the best way to preserve your family recipes.