- Tried recipe cards, too small.
- Tried printed 8.5x11 recipes in sheet protectors, effective to keep grease and oils off of it, but since it didn't take up an entire page there was a lot of wasted space and a HUGE binder.
- Tried pepperplate.com. LOVE it, but I'm a firm believer that everything should have a hard copy, especially after my external hard drive crashed holding L's first year worth of pictures (HUGE props to a forensic data recovery team who got them for me).
- Tried saymmm.com. Again, effective (less effective than pepperplate), but I could only house something like 100 recipes before paying monthly to hold them all.
- Hoarded recipe books, but for the amount of recipes I'd actually use out of them, they're taking up a lot of space.
- Pinterest. That seemed REALLY effective for a while, until I found a million and one recipes I wanted to try. Now, searching across 14 boards that each house at least 150 recipes for one that I'd pinned a while back is almost painful.
So, I started gathering my recipes (name only) on 1/2 note cards in preparation of printing them on paper and binding them, or inserting them into a program online and building my own book. Not a bad idea, but I was still bothered that I couldn't add to it over time since, at 25, while my recipe collection is more extensive than most I know, I'm sure there will be LOTS I add to it over the years. In due time I would like to still do this, but for the mean time I'm looking for a solution that's fun, organized, and appeases my OCD.
In comes Staples. Yes, the store, Staples. This has got to be one of the best solutions I've come up with yet...I hope :)
Grand total? $12.39 as I already had 2 reams of their multi color bright paper in 2 different sets of colors.
So, here we go.
Go grab yourself some bright, fun, colorful paper. Seriously, once you make one of these you'll be addicted (I have 3 so far). So, you might as well just go buy a ream of paper you like.
I used 20 sheets of each color. I realized for the amount I liked to cook, I might as well make 2 cook books so I can give myself a little more room to store recipes. The first book is broken down into the following 4 sections.
- Appetizers and Snacks.
- Breakfast, Bread and Pastries
- Dessert to eat with fingers
- Dessert to eat with forks
Side note, I seriously wish more recipes books would break their desserts into these 2 categories. Because, anything with fingers is great to bring to parties, fund raisers, send to school with your kids, etc. You know the stuff I'm talking about. Brownies, cookies, fudge, puppy chow, the list goes on and on. I clumped these 4 together because they get pulled out once and a while. You don't go all out for desserts every night, breakfast and things might only be on the weekends...unless you're Betty freaking Crocker, at which point you can suck it. And appetizers and snacks will probably only be dug out if entertaining or attending a party. Seemed to make sense.
Book number 2 includes...
- Soups Salads and Sandwiches
- Meat and Pasta Dishes (pretty much your main course)
- Side Dishes (because if you're cooking dinner, if it's not a casserole, it'll probably be more than just a piece of meat on a plate...
- And 1 section left over...I'm thinking for crockpot recipes, regardless of what it is. Because, let's face it, if I know I'm going to be out of the house all day, I don't want to search 8 categories of 20 cook books for crock pot recipes, I just want all that stuff in one handy spot. I know I'm cooking in a crock pot already, so I don't need to scan the rest of it. Likewise, if I want to actually put some handy work into making dinner, I'm not interested in looking over crock pot recipes.
So, 8 categories in all. You can make 2 identical cook books, I made them a little different since I had all the extra paper that's hung out in my daughters nursery closet for the past 2 years without use.
So, back on track. 20- 8.5x11 inch pages of each color, 4 colors to a binder. Clip your 2 different stacks together and march your tushy right on over to Staples.
Ask them to be so kind as to cut the pages in half (so you're left with a 8.5x5.5 sized notebook.) Ask them to keep your colors together, so you'll have 40 pages of green, 40 pages of blue, 40 pages of purple, and 40 pages of pink (for example.) I asked them to put a piece of card stock between my colors, and they accommodated, but told me that in the future I need to provide them the cardstock as I wasn't getting anything printed. And, request a plastic front and back cover. I had them bind it with a spiral binding. I normally hate them, however Staples spiral binding is this springy plastic material that doesn't get all warped and stuck together like those horrid metal ones (Yea, I'm talking to you 5 star notebooks!) And then, you're going to have them bind it on the long side (the 8.5 inch side).
So, here we go, according to my receipt.
1 notebook binding, $4.49 each. Multiply by 2, $8.98.
4 pieces of card stock @ $.20 each, $.80.
1 Cutting charge (I think she said 1 cut is anything under 250 pages) $2.00
Subtotal: 11.78
Tax @ 6.25%
Grand total, $12.39
I also happened to have some of the handy little tabs sitting around my house, so I put those in and stuck them to the white paper that divides my colors. If I can help it, I'm a huge fan of putting tabs on the top of a notebook instead of the sides. When you store a notebook usually the opening face in towards the back of a shelf. If your tabs are sticking out, further than your covers, they get bent and destroyed. But, on the top, you can accommodate for them and nothing gets damaged. Unless you stack your books, then I don't know what to tell you other than, come to the dark side and see the light :)
So, now as I try recipes and love them, I can write them down in their categories. I have 40 pages, 80 sides, of each color which should be MORE than enough room to get me started and keep me going. And, when I finally opt to REALLY bind them and put them in a cook book, there will still be the hand written versions to pass on to my daughter :)
And, if you're really needing a "to try" book to write down recipes you have yet to try but haven't officially made the cut yet, create a 3rd (if you're as in love as I am and don't want to use a regular notebook) and have another spot to jot them down!
Happy organizing, hope this works for someone else the same way it does me. There is nothing worse than hunting for a good solution and not being able to find one, anywhere.
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