Recipe exchanges give you the opportunity to spread your favorite recipes to others and get some new ones to try out. You may feel your cooking is getting a little stale. Maybe you're relying on the standbys quite often. Recipe exchanges mix things up a little bit and keep it interesting. Follow these steps to organize a recipe exchange.

Talk to friends and family members about exchanging recipes. Gauge their interest.

Write down the names of everyone who wants to participate in the recipe exchange.

Map out who will give a recipe to whom. You may also decide to photocopy each recipe so everyone gets it.

Choose food categories to focus on. You can organize a weekly exchange, with a different food type each week. It can be poultry one week, followed by appetizers the next.

Go online and start a recipe exchange. It's as easy as sending an email to friends soliciting their favorite recipes. You can also put a post on a forum asking for recipes. Before you know it, you'll have tons floating around.

Download software to organize your recipes. Use a search engine to find it. There are plenty of free software downloads available.

Get tips from online recipe exchanges. Use a search engine to look for existing message boards and forums devoted to exchanging recipes.