Order for All You Recipes

There really is a simple solution to keeping all your recipes organized, and it's not a box of overflowing index cards or recipes cut out here and there and strewn everywhere! Oh God, that sounds like the start of a children's rhyme...I digress again. Really....there is honestly a better way to keep track of all the recipes you want to try, plus your favorites and having the ability to change and get rid of recipes that no longer float your boat! Here's how...

• You are going to buy (or use what you have):

• a large (at least 2") sturdy binder with inside pockets

• a package of document protectors

• plain computer paper

• looseleaf dividers (not necessary but if you REALLY want to be organized go ahead and get them)

• gallon ziploc bag

• tape and scissors
  

• Start cutting out recipes, making copies of library book recipes or printing off recipes online
  

• As you collect recipes, put them in the Ziploc bag

• Organize your binder by putting in the dividers and label them (Appetizers, Drinks, Breakfast, Soup, Lunch, Chicken Main Meal, Pork Main Meal, Fish, Meatless, Breads, Salads, Sidedish and Desserts)

• Put those document protectors between the dividers, with a sheet of paper inside each protector

• Start trying the recipes in your Ziploc bag; as each recipe passes the test of something you'd like to make again, tape the recipe onto a sheet of paper in the appropriate category (use front and back); try to keep similar recipes together

• Tired of a recipe and don't want it in your binder anymore? Then just throw it out, leaving space for a new one

• Finding space for new recipes can almost be as fun as trying out new ones
  

Now you have a recipe book that is flexible and can change as your tastes and interests change. I also like to keep a blank page in the front where I keep track of cookbooks and authors that have become my favorites (you can even write the source next to the recipe). How do you keep track of your favorite recipes?

Read this article and others like it on Make It From Scratch #28 at Summer's Nook.