Decluttering My Late Mother’s Recipe Box Brought Back More Than Just Delicious Meals

As I am anticipating downsizing within a few years, my decluttering journey has taken me through crowded kitchen cupboards, across the expanse of toy-filled basement shelving, and within the linen closet’s confines. My newest challenge landed on the messy shelf below the microwave, where an unexpected surprise was waiting for me.

My mom’s recipe box, which I had retrieved before we sold her home, was stored in a box underneath the microwave. My mom has been gone for 10 years, but her memory is always with me — and decluttering her recipe card collection resonated with me far more than I could have anticipated.

My mom, Estelle, belonged to that generation of stay-at-home housewives who developed a penchant for kitchen wondrousness. As I looked inside her recipe box now, I found myself on a trip through the oven and stovetop hall of memories. Here lay past smells, tastes, and love-infused delicacies crafted by my beloved mom. I’ll admit I shed tears as I went through each card! There were cards for desserts that I hadn’t remembered, such as Apple Snow. My mom’s delicious bean and barley soup recipe card was right there before my eyes. 

To this day, my son, daughter, and I have never been able to approximate the taste of her roast chicken and potatoes. To my delight, the recipe card for that recipe, in her handwriting, was right there in the box. It’s time for me to try this recipe just the way my mom made the dish.

Beyond meal staples, there are also recipes for baked delicacies. Her recipe cards include the sponge cake made with six eggs separated, with the egg whites beaten until stiff but not dry. This fluffy cake always showed up when my mom was hosting dinners. The cake did not remain in its plain state. On went the strawberries and whipped cream. Delicious!

Sadly, a few recipes that my daughter and I have been seeking the most are gone. Where is the famed chocolate cake, passed down from my grandma? What about the apple squares that she used to bake, which are unmatched and not found in any online listing or forum? We had both baked these delights with my mom, but never asked her to write down the particulars for us. Our yearning for those lost recipes is tangible and ongoing.

The future holds a link to the past as I embrace the recollections gained from this decluttering project, in honor of Mother’s Day. Currently, I am photographing each recipe card I want to save, so that they can be digitized for posterity. I’m saving each of those recipe photos into an album on my phone, so that I can find them easily when I’m ready to cook or bake one of my mom’s specialties. I will be sharing these precious links to the past with my children. I can already taste the dishes at their dinners, evoking my mom’s special flair with cooking and baking.

I’ve missed my mom for the past 10 years. This activity brought her back to me in ways that I couldn’t have even planned. Plus, the mess under the microwave has been tackled!