My Recipe Binder

I used to have a ton of cookbooks. I admit I had a problem when it came to them. They made feel as if I was a better cook. Cook books made me feel...adequate. However, they hardly were used and I honestly felt bad for them. They were lonely and bored sitting up in my cabinet. I know Jen uses hers as a part of her decor, but mine are pretty.blah. *smile* So, that wasn't an option.

I also have a ton of magazines with wonderful recipes that I have collected over the years. The pictures are so pretty that I hate to toss them.

I also had this binder that was referenced as my "Recipe" binder, however it was just a mix-matched hodge-podge of torn out magazine recipes and articles that even to me made no sense. And to add to that, I hardly ever pulled it down to use. 

With my new Recipes to Try Party, I've been accumulating several recipes a week and the collection is growing. In order to keep them all straight and remember I even have them, I realized it was time to get my act together.

I took a really long time a little bit of time and skimmed through them flagging recipes that stood out. I made a list with correlating pages and began soon figured most offered nothing to our family. With our newer outlook on eating, majority of the older recipes were tossed to the trash and made room for healthier options.

I decided to start fresh with my recipe storage plan and what better way to portray fresh than having a bright green binder accented with a bit of yellow. That's pretty fresh to me. *smile*

Here's what I used...

A new GREEN binder 

Page protectors

Manila folders

Paper cutter

Colored paper (not shown)

There are a lot of different ways you can organize your recipes, but the best way to do so is to think about how your family functions around food. If you're a regular for entertaining, that's a section you might want to make important in your selection.

Here's how I divided my binder:

Side dishes

Poultry

Beef

Pork

Pasta

Seafood

Crock pot

Soups/Stews

Salads

Snacks

Breakfasts

Sandwiches

Drinks/Punches

Misc.

I try to keep it very basic because that's sort of how my mind works. If I make it too complex, the likely-hood of me maintaining all the work I put into redoing my binder will go ka-put. Take that into consideration for realz...you don't want to waste your time for pointless effort.

The whole "put-to-together" process was done during nap time to prevent interruptions and speed the task along. I spread the essentials out on the table and got to work. Some of my recipes were glued to to card stock paper and others were already on recipe cards and inserted directly into protectors purchased in the photo section of Target.

The final result looks a bit like this:

I found some images out of some of my magazines slid them in for some eye candy. While I was rummaging through my collection, I came across an assortment of older recipes. To my amazement, I had stashed some of my grandmother's handwritten recipes a while ago. I was thrilled. There's nothing like having a recipe to pass down to my daughters, but to top it off it's in her hand writing.

A before and after for ya...

After I was all finished, I picked out some cookbooks that I no longer needed. No sense in having unused books sitting around, so off to donation they will go. However, if you are interested in one of these, let me know. They have some great dishes in them and are a great addition to any cookbook collection. You'll have by Saturday to let me know for sure. First come first serve.

Anyhoo...

I love having a nice representation of my recipes. With a smaller cookbook selection and a better awareness of where to look for recipes, maybe I'll accomplish more in my kitchen. This works for me,

What Works For You?

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