How to Create Your Own Recipe Binder

At one point earlier this year, I had come to the conclusion that I needed to organize the recipes I had collected from magazines and friends. I had dozens or recipes stuffed in a manila envelope that I wanted to try and a stack of outdated magazines that I had not tossed because I thought one of the recipes was worth trying someday. Unfortunately, because they were so unorganized, I had only tried a couple of the recipes that I thought were worth saving. So, using material that I already had on hand for scrapbooking and teaching, I created my own recipe book. My book took me several hours to complete but it has been worth it so far. Even though the book is only a week old, I have already used three of the recipes!

Materials

Sturdy 3 ring binder or 3 ring photo album that holds 8 ½ x 11" paper or cardstock

Clear plastic sheet protectors

Photo album pages

Three hole punched folders

Dividing tabs

8 ½ x 11" paper or cardstock

Glue stick or double sided tape

Directions

1. Organize your recipes into categories. You may just want a few categories: Appetizers and Snacks, Sides, Main Courses, and Desserts. Or you may want to have a category for every type of food you can think of: Appetizers, Beverages, Salads, Soups, Vegetables, Grains, Beans, Poultry, Beef, Pork, Seafood, Vegetarian Entrees, Cakes, Pies, and Cookies. While you are organizing, toss any recipes that you don't think you will use.

2. Create a blank table of contents for each category by hand or on the computer. In one column write the page number and in the second write the recipe title or a description of the recipe.