Recipe Organization

A few years ago I decided it was time to get organized. I had a small spiral bound recipe book, the kind that you'd find in a gift store. I'd filled the pages and had begun stuffing recipes between the pages. It was a mess. 

I was frustrated by other recipe organization systems because they didn't have enough categories, so I was left with recipes that didn't fit anywhere. 

So I decided to get myself a large three ring binder, page protectors and a tab dividers and organize my recipes. The hardest part about organizing your recipes is dividing them into categories.  I labeled my tab dividers with the following labels:

• Appetizers/Beverages
• Salads/Dressings
• Soups/Sandwiches
• Veggie Sides
• Casseroles/Crockpot
• Meat/Poultry
• Fish/Seafood
• Grilling
• Pasta/Rice/Grains
• Breakfast/Brunch
• Breads/Pastries
• Cakes/Cookies/Desserts
• Holiday/Entertaining
• Cooking Basics/Instructional 

I put page protectors on the page dividers too, so they would be protected from spills, splatters and slimy hands. To accommodate the tab I made small slits down the side of the page protector, usually static cling keeps the page protector sticking to the divider, but you could also use double sided tape. 

In my recipe book I have both full-page print outs, clippings from magazines and the pages cut-out from my old recipe book. I've taped the clippings to blank 81/2x11 pieces of paper. 

The page protectors also act as pockets, for say, little recipe booklets that come with some appliances: like I have a small booklet that came with my crockpot which I keep in the "Crockpot" section. 

There's nothing that makes me want to cook more than a well-organized recipe book!


--Sarah