It used to make me crazy when I couldn't find a recipe I wanted. Was it in my recipe box? That Cooking Light from 2 years ago? Joy of Cooking? etc.I also didn't like getting my nice books all dirty or saving magazines. I started a 3 ring binder with plastic sleeves a few years ago and have been really happy with it. Its a little extra work at times, but has a lot of benefits.
You can display and protect handed-down recipes. See Grandma's lemon loaf in her handwriting.
You can tear pages out of magazines and save space by throwing the mags out when you're done.
You can tape the recipe cards you already have to a blank sheet.
You can add and cull easily.
Make up your own categories like sides and salads, dinner under 30 minutes etc...
No more blank sheets flying around when you're mother-in-law sends you a recipe or when you print one off the food network or epicurious websites.
You can remove a page and tape it onto a cupboard for reference at eye-level while you're getting messy.
Your recipes are protected from spills and stains.
You can mark and photo-copy favorite recipes from books so you have one source and don't have to hunt through a shelf of cook-books.
How do you organize your recipes?
Grab a bunch of cooking magazines at garage sales or Half-Priced Books and try a few. See if they're "worthy" of your new recipe binder!
When I was in college, my mom actually made a cookbook of family recipes in a three-ring binder with plastic sleeves. My sis and I each have our own, and while we started with lots of extra plastic sleeves, over the years, we've been filling ours up separately. Possibly the coolest present ever.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I have loose recipes flying around my kitchen...this is the perfect solution!
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