Make A Recipe Binder

I encourage you to make a recipe binder. Besides this food blog, my recipe binders are probably the most useful tools in my kitchen.

Over time, I needed a way to contain the clutter from collecting so many recipes from magazines, newspapers, and books. Some of the recipes I have are even handwritten.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a cookbook collector. No matter how digital this world gets, I always prefer a hard copy. Especially when it comes to following a making those recipes in the kitchen. About 80 percent of the recipes I make I find online. I print them out to make notes on when adapting the recipe to add to my blog.

What can I say, I’ve made my career in the printing industry, I LOVE PAPER!

At a young age, I watched my mama gather up all of her recipes from magazine and newspaper clippings. She placed them inside a photo album (the one with the sticky peel away pages). It was a great idea!

I decided to make my recipe binders using a standard office binder with plastic sheet protectors out of convenience and they are less expensive than photo albums, I have two large 3-ring binders full of recipes. I only save the recipes we love.

Having the recipes protected in convenient clear sleeve means I can tack it on the side of the refrigerator beside my stove, and all the spatters just need a quick wipe when I’m done.

If a recipe is a small clipping that will not fill an 8 ½ x 11 page, I simply insert a sheet of what paper into the sleeve and smaller recipe clippings to fill the page. For the most part, the static between the sleeves keep them in place, so there is really no need for a glue stick to tack them on the sheet unless a little crookedness gets on your nerves.

I also have a smaller photo album with clear built-in sleeves. I use this album for quick reference recipes that I use all the time, such as dry rubs, sauces, and go-to recipes. There’s really nothing fancy about me and that recipe book is as close to being fancy as I get.

I go through gathering phase for recipes. Once I’ve gathered enough to fill the front pocket of the binder, I begin to trial and sort. It is something I love to do on Sunday mornings when the weather is nice. I’ll pour a cup of coffee and I’ll sit on the deck and add to my binder. I have a few basic categories for each binder: Breakfast, Appetizers, everything in between, Desserts and then an informational section. The categories are vague, but this system works for me.

The sky is the limit when making your own recipe binder. You can get as detailed as you want. There are all kinds of recipe printables on Pinterest along with tons of organizational tools specifically for making your own home recipe binders. You could even do smaller binders of their own category such as an all breakfast binder or a dessert binder.

So gather your supplies, print out dividers/categories, gather your recipes and put your recipes in plastic sleeves and sort them according to your categories. Have fun with it and get the whole family involved to make a MUST HAVE FAMILY RECIPE BOOK! Keep your recipe binder where you’ll use it – I keep mine with the few cookbooks I do own. It’s a great reference for meal planning each week.

Have fun!