Linked files

Hello everyone,

First time I join this community. Here is my (complex for me) query.

I have one file with a list of ingredients, suppliers, prices.

Then I have individual files with recipes. Each recipe file is linked to the ingredient files in order to include the ingredients name, the price and the supplier. For doing this, I start from recipe file type "=" then go to the ingredient file and type "enter" to copy the relevant cell, and so on...

This way any change of price or supplier is automatically updated on the recipe file.

Question 1: Would it make more sense to have ingredients and recipes as separate sheets within the same file? One advantage I see is that updates are immediate. One cons is that I have hundreds of recipes and it may become more complicated to locate them quickly.

Question 2: When I need to add a new ingredients on my ingredient list, I cannot insert in the right alphabetical location, nor can I sort automatically, nor can I add a column, otherwise all recipes become wrong, due to the fact that "$ sign" are blocking the cell inside the recipe file or sheet. Would you have any advice other than deleting the "$ sign" manually, for every single cell in the recipe file?

I hope my explanation is clear enough and thank you for your help.