My sister introduced me to this idea for a recipe binder through the Clean Mama Blog and months ago I got started on it. It's a 3 ring binder with clear page sleeves that you can slip printouts in from blogs or other cooking websites. I was so tired of trying to cook from my lap top and it going to sleep only to have me need it when my fingers were covered in raw chicken or mashing up meatballs. At that point I had to log in to bring it back and it was just a big ol' mess. So as I said, months ago I got my folder and page sleeves and got to work printing out my favorite recipes from blogs and recipe websites. What I wanted to do, but hadn't done yet, was to create a template and enter all of my 25 or so handwritten recipes to eliminate my old 6x9 recipe binder and decide on the categories for section tabs that worked for us.
Today I finally accomplished that and it looks great. I ended up tossing several recipes that were in my old binder (or choosing not to enter and print them) so it cleaned it out even more. Once I had the keepers printed I spread them out on the floor, with the recipes that were already in there and started sorting them into categories. It took a bit of shuffling but when I was done I had eight categories that covered everything we had.
Breakfast - Breads/Crusts
- Dips/Sauces
- Main Dishes
- Side Dishes
- Sweets
- To Try
- Take Out
This was the most difficult part for me. I considered it by meals; appetizers, main, side, dessert but that left a lot out. Then meat, vegetable, fruit, casserole, dessert, dips (sweet & savory), Italian, Mexican, there were so many contenders. I finally decided on the above after working out several categories based on the recipes in there and what made sense to me. I printed the tab labels on little Avery labels and used the clear packing tape to stick them on the dividers like Clean Mama says. Then it was just a matter or putting it all together.
Now I have a neat, streamlined recipe binder that looks good and is really very functional.
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