Recipe Binder

I love the way recipe boxes look, they are so neat and put together.  But here's the thing, my life isn't so neat and put together.  I like to make a mess, stir vigorously, splatter when boiling,  stack dishes, and use my hands while I cook.  These tendencies do not work well with a tiny card consisting of cramped directions.  This is why I have created a recipe binder!

(Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry)

I have found that keeping my recipes in a binder allows me to have all the ingredients and directions on one page.  Since I am using full pages I do not have to cramp my writing, write in (later undecipherable) short hand, or worry about ruining recipes that one of my family members may have written by hand.  I achieve all of these things by keeping all of my recipes in plastic page protectors.

I used to keep all of my recipes in a composition notebook, which is why most of the recipes are written in my handwriting in slipped into the page protectors.  As I have added to the collection within the recipe binder I have been able to print out recipes I have gotten online or slip in recipe cards from family members  into the page protectors as well. 

I separated my recipe binder into 9 categories: breakfast, appetizers, soups/chilis, salads, side dishes, pastas, main dishes, bread, and desserts.  You can change the categories based on what you cook most often!  I made my tabs out of some cute file folders that I found on sale at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. 

Since I have the plastic page protectors I never have to worry about ruining my recipes! I just wipe them off with a sponge, a Clorox wipe, a paper towel, or any other cleaning product then it is good as new!  Everything is organized, easy to find, and colorful!