Recipe Binder

I am always in search of recipes to try for my family.  When I find them in magazines I rip them out.  When I find them on a website I print them out.  The problem is, I then have all these loose papers full of recipes all about.  The cabinet where I keep my cook books was quickly becoming overtaken by this disorganized collection of recipes.  I tried to come up with a way to contain them all yet keep them accessable and useable.  More importantly, I wanted to keep track of ones that I have tried and wanted to keep and ones I have yet to try.

I decided to create a binder for myself.  It is a regular 3 ring binder you can find anywhere.  I then purchased divider pockets.  I labeled each tab with a different item such as chicken, beef, pork,dessert, appetizer, crockpot, etc.  You create the tabs which works for you in how you like to separate your recipes.  Recipes that I would like to try then go into the pocket portion of the divider.  When I try a recipe, if I do not like it I throw it away.  If it was determined a keeper then it is placed in a plastic sheet protector and placed under the approriate section. 

This not only keeps me organized but because it is all plastic, it is kitchen friendly as well!  If I splatter anything on it while cooking all I need to do is wipe it off.  It stores well with all of my other cook books as well. 



I hope this gives you an idea of how to tame some of the clutter in your kitchen!  Happy New Year!