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To start the process, with Eric, I went through all of the recipes that I had in the binders. We pulled out all of the recipes that we didn’t actually like, some that were duplicates, and then any that I pulled out of magazines (or the like) at some point because I thought we would try it, but we now know that we will just never try it. This step alone cleared out a lot of recipes.
(On a green side note, any of those that were printed from the computer were cut in half, stapled at the top in a stack, and will be used as pads of scrap paper.)
I had originally had things organized into the following categories: (1) Tips and Ideas, (2) Main Dishes, (3) Salads and Sides, (4) Desserts, (5) Main Dishes to Try, (6) Salads and Sides to Try, and (7) Desserts to Try.
Here’s the problem with all of these “to try” sections. While it was nice to have those tried and true recipes all together, I also realized that I was hardly ever going into the “to try” sections.
I moved everything I had from 1 inch binders into a 2 inch binder (which is plenty big, especially after culling through the recipes).
This time, however, I put all of the “to try” recipes that we kept in with the tried and true recipes. And, I also broke up the sections into what I thought would be more helpful for me. I could still break them down more, but I think what I have for now is broken down enough for my purpose.
My new categories are: (1) Tips and Ideas (this includes things like a grilling chart and a sheet of ideas for kids’ snacks), (2) Appetizers, (3) Breakfast, (4) Main Dishes, (5) Salads and Sides, (6) Breads, (7) Desserts, and (8) Scanned Recipes.
On a side note, the “scanned recipes” is a section of color scans that I did of an old magnetic photo album that my Mom put together of all kinds of handwritten recipes from family and friends, as well as newspaper clippings, etc.
I just love having my recipes in binders, and it’s great to have them all in the same binder now!
Now…if I didn’t just have an entire bookshelf of cookbooks, I might be even more organized!
This post was submitted to the following memes: I am Blissfully Domestic, Talk About Tuesday, and Tackle It Tuesday.
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19 comments:
Mommy said…
Looks *very* neat now! Good job. 🙂
I don’t tend to keep any recipies that are loose, because I know myself, and they wouldn’t even make it into a binder! LOL!
March 24, 2009 12:28 AM
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Donna~Blessed Nest said…
looks wonderful..better then my loose printouts folded in my cook books! I need to do this!
March 24, 2009 3:24 AM
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Katie said…
Great Job! That is a fabulous idea. Mine are all folded and tucked into an old photo album, but this is inspiring. I think I might use them more (and spend less time looking for recipes I need) if I did it this way. Thanks for the tip and Thanks for sharing at ‘I am Blissfully Domestic’
March 24, 2009 4:17 AM
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Poof said…
That’s exactly what I need to do. But it’s hard to take the time to do it. It looks great!
March 24, 2009 7:04 AM
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Michelle said…
I love this! My DD who is 9 told me this week that I need to write down all my recipes for her this would be a great project for us.
March 24, 2009 7:09 AM
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Terry said…
I have a binder just for recipes but hadn’t done anything with it yet. Thank you for talking about what works for you, guess I best start working on my recipes!
March 24, 2009 8:30 AM
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Sherry said…
Wow! That looks great. I have my loose recipes in a large envelope, but I could definitely benefit from something like this.
March 24, 2009 9:57 AM
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FromThe Creek said…
Looks wonderful…I have been wanting to tackle that job for some time now…maybe soon?!?
March 24, 2009 10:29 AM
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Jennifer said…
Great tackle! I can imagine how good that feels. My recipes are an absolute MESS! I started organizing them, but didn’t get very far. Maybe that’s what I need to tackle for next week…you’ve just inspired me. Thanks!
March 24, 2009 11:17 AM
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shopannies said…
great idea
[email protected]
March 24, 2009 11:43 AM
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JUST ME, THE MOM said…
I love your binder idea! It looks wonderful. I have like 5 notebooks with recipes just waiting to be organized. It would save so much time shuffling though all the recipes. Thanks for sharing!
KristinK
I love your blog! It is gorgeous and so much fun to visit!
March 24, 2009 11:47 AM
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mnkristy said…
I need to organize my recipes this summer so this is one idea to think about. I’d like to computerize them though so I’m still trying to decide what to do with them.
March 24, 2009 12:24 PM
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Kris said…
I so need to do this! I’ve thought about it before, but have put it off. Your nice, shiny pages have inspired me, though. Maybe. 😉
March 24, 2009 12:57 PM
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princessmomma said…
Great work, and I love the way you categorized. I really need to go through my recipes. The way they are now we hardly ever pull them out because it’s just a pain to find what we want.
March 24, 2009 12:57 PM
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Under the Florida Sun said…
Hi There. I’m stopping by via Tackle it Tuesday.
This is beautiful! My post is about together family recipes for my girls. This looks so nice and neat!
March 24, 2009 3:19 PM
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Lori said…
I saw your link on Blissfully Domestic, and I’m glad I stopped by. This is genius! I love organization. Thanks for motivating me.
March 24, 2009 6:12 PM
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betterislittle said…
Beautiful…so organized an neat! My mother-in-law does the same thing. Great project for me to tackle one day 😉
March 24, 2009 6:16 PM
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The Lazy Organizer said…
Way to go! I keep my recipes in a binder as well but it’s not very useful to me now since we have drastically changed our eating style. I’m going to have to start over!
March 25, 2009 10:19 AM
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Hoosier Homemade said…
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I have a binder that’s similiar.
Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
March 25, 2009 1:46 PM