As a cook and a baker, I am constantly looking for new recipes to try. I not only find them in my cookbooks, but I also print them from websites, rip them out of magazines and jot them down on scrap pieces of paper. I also get a lot of recipes from friends. Some recipes I try and end up making frequently and some I never get around to making. Nevertheless I end up with a pile of random pieces of paper in my kitchen, a stack of recipes shoved in the junk drawer, random recipes stuck in with my bills or stuffed in my purse. Whenever I did actually want to make something I could never find the recipe!
So how to solve this problem? Create your own personalized recipe book. Your own recipe book allows you to store and organize your recipes in a manner that suits you and also allows you to edit and update your recipes over time.
To start you will need the following supplies:
3 ring binder, any size. I use a one inch, polka-dot binder I got at Target for $4.99 (see picture above), but any binder will work just fine.
Sheet protectors. These will keep your recipes safe while you are cooking. If you splatter spaghetti sauce on your pages you can just wipe it right off.
Cardstock or paper
Dividers. Any number or size for however you want to section off your recipe book.
Recipes! Gather together all your loose recipes.
The first step is to sort through all the loose recipes you currently have. If you have had a recipe for over a year and you haven’t made it yet, throw it out. You’ll probably never make it. If you come across recipes that you did make but didn’t like, throw those out too. No sense keeping a recipe that you’ll never use again!
The next step is to sort your remaining recipes into categories. The categories can be anything you like. You can sort them by meal; breakfast, lunch, dinner or desert. You can sort them by food type; vegetables, meat, or grains. You can sort them by number of ingredients. You can sort them by how often you make them. Anything goes here.
Now start putting your book together. Recipes on a full page can go directly into the sheet protectors. Recipes that are smaller can be grouped together and glued or taped onto cardstock and then slid into the sheet protectors. Place the sheets into the sections of the binder, label the dividers and voila! Your own personal recipe book. Whenever you get a new recipe from a friend, magazine or the web, you can add it to the book.
Every couple months or so, go through your book and pull out any recipes you don’t want anymore. You also may want to put your go-to recipes at the front so you can find them quickly.
One final tip – when making the recipes from your book, pull them out of the sheet protectors and write notes on them. For example, if you made a recipe for 8 people at a party, write down if people enjoyed it and if there were any leftovers. If there were tons of leftovers then next time you’ll know that you might only need a half recipe instead of a whole recipe.
So is it worth it? Yes! It was well worth the time and money I spent to make my kitchen more organized and eliminate recipe clutter. My personal recipe book has all my favorite recipes in it so I use it all the time. I keep it above my stove with all my other recipe books so it is easily accessible.
Now print out the recipes I’ve posted during the past couple of weeks and add them to your new recipe book!
So how to solve this problem? Create your own personalized recipe book. Your own recipe book allows you to store and organize your recipes in a manner that suits you and also allows you to edit and update your recipes over time.
To start you will need the following supplies:
3 ring binder, any size. I use a one inch, polka-dot binder I got at Target for $4.99 (see picture above), but any binder will work just fine.
Sheet protectors. These will keep your recipes safe while you are cooking. If you splatter spaghetti sauce on your pages you can just wipe it right off.
Cardstock or paper
Dividers. Any number or size for however you want to section off your recipe book.
Recipes! Gather together all your loose recipes.
The first step is to sort through all the loose recipes you currently have. If you have had a recipe for over a year and you haven’t made it yet, throw it out. You’ll probably never make it. If you come across recipes that you did make but didn’t like, throw those out too. No sense keeping a recipe that you’ll never use again!
The next step is to sort your remaining recipes into categories. The categories can be anything you like. You can sort them by meal; breakfast, lunch, dinner or desert. You can sort them by food type; vegetables, meat, or grains. You can sort them by number of ingredients. You can sort them by how often you make them. Anything goes here.Now start putting your book together. Recipes on a full page can go directly into the sheet protectors. Recipes that are smaller can be grouped together and glued or taped onto cardstock and then slid into the sheet protectors. Place the sheets into the sections of the binder, label the dividers and voila! Your own personal recipe book. Whenever you get a new recipe from a friend, magazine or the web, you can add it to the book.
Every couple months or so, go through your book and pull out any recipes you don’t want anymore. You also may want to put your go-to recipes at the front so you can find them quickly.
One final tip – when making the recipes from your book, pull them out of the sheet protectors and write notes on them. For example, if you made a recipe for 8 people at a party, write down if people enjoyed it and if there were any leftovers. If there were tons of leftovers then next time you’ll know that you might only need a half recipe instead of a whole recipe.
So is it worth it? Yes! It was well worth the time and money I spent to make my kitchen more organized and eliminate recipe clutter. My personal recipe book has all my favorite recipes in it so I use it all the time. I keep it above my stove with all my other recipe books so it is easily accessible.
Now print out the recipes I’ve posted during the past couple of weeks and add them to your new recipe book!
1 comment:
Amy helped me make my recipe book and it is amazing! I no longer have to worry about spilling things on the cards and ruining them because the plastic sheets keep everything protected. You can also try getting photo album sheets to use with your 3 x 5 recipe cards.
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