Monday, August 16, 2010

Organizing Recipes (Part 4) - A tutorial

Organizing Recipes Part 1
Organizing Recipes Part 2
Organizing Recipes Part 3

Now that you have all of your well loved recipes in sheet protectors and filed under their proper tabs, it's time to deal with those recipes that you have wanted to try but haven't had the time. This is where the pockets on your binder and on the dividers play an important role.

I found that because I kept my "want to try" recipes in an unorganized fashion, it was too much trouble during meal planning to find them and incorporate them into my grocery shopping and daily meal schedule. Because of this, my collection kept growing but I rarely used the things I was keeping! The steps you go through today will eliminate that problem and keep them right at your fingertips!

I find recipes that I want to try in the paper, from friends, in the mail, email etc. Choose one of your categories and gather those recipes.













These are some "Chicken" recipes that I want to try. They came from magazines, newspapers, a recipe card that came in the mail, the back of a mayo jar, email and some books.

Gather your "want to try" recipes for one category.  You are then going to open your book to the tab for that category.  You will file these recipes in the front pocket of that tab.




















Here are all of those recipes tucked safely into the front pocket of my "chicken" divider tab.  Next time I decide to add a new chicken dish into my weekly schedule, I can pull these out, pick one, add the necessary ingredients to my shopping list and add the meal to my planning schedule!

Each time I find or am given a new recipe to try, it goes into the front pocket of the proper divider.  It's so easy to keep track this way!

Once I take a recipe from the front pocket and give it a try, it's time to decide if it is a keeper.  If it wasn't a hit in my house then I just throw it away.  However, if it was a recipe that I want to use again, it goes into a sheet protector and in the book under the proper tab.

I found that after cooking dinner and cleaning up, I often didn't feel like hunting up a sheet protector and following through that night.  After our evening meal is when the boys and I spend some time together talking, playing a game or reading aloud.  I did two things to help me fix this problem. First, I now keep about a dozen empty sheet protectors in the back of each book to make it easier to accomplish right away if I have the time.  Second, if I really don't want to mess with it at that time or perhaps have used several new recipes for that meal, I gather the new recipes from that meal and file them in the back pocket of the proper tab.


















Here are several chicken recipes that I have tried and we love.  I slipped them into the back pocket until I have time to spend a few minutes putting them into sheet protectors.





















They are now safely tucked away into the back pocket of my "chicken" divider. About once a month, I sit down and take the "keepers" out of the back pockets of my dividers, put them in sheet protectors and file them properly.  This keeps me from feeling that after the meal I have to sit down and do a bit of filing.   I prefer to spend 15 minutes sometime during the month and get them all done at once. Choose the method that works best for you.

The last difficulty I found was dealing with multiple recipes on one sheet of paper. Sometimes in our local paper, there will be several recipes from different categories on one page. I have also been given multiple recipes on one sheet of paper.  Perhaps there are several recipes I want to try on that sheet but they belong in different categories!



















Here was a sheet of paper given to me that has several recipes I'd like to try. I take these mixed sheets and file them in the front pocket on my binder.













As I go through them, I put a small check next to the recipe if it was a "keeper" and mark a line through it if it wasn't.  Then I need to either copy the good ones (which I often do) or cut them out and save them in the back of the proper divider.

Now that you have all of your labeled dividers in your books, you need to place something on the spine so you know which book to grab off of your shelf if you have more than one.













Remember these binder spine inserts?  You can easily make an insert for the spine of your binder following the directions in this package.  You can also cut a piece of firm card stock and create your own.  When you are done it should look something like this...









The name on each of your tabs in your book should appear on the spine of your book. How you organize them is completely up to you.  I tried to keep most of my "meal" categories in one book - meats, veggies, salads etc.  In my other book, I put desserts of all kinds, beverages, breads, non-foods items etc. You organize your books in the way that makes it easiest for you.

You may find that after using your books for awhile you want to change things around.  Just remember to change your spine inserts to reflect the contents of your book.

Once you have finished going through the steps I outlined today, you should have a very organized system that keeps all of your recipes (tried and untried!) at your fingertips.  Hopefully you are well on the way to eliminating your recipe collecting clutter!

Any questions?  Leave me a comment and I'll try to help.  Any suggestions?  Please share with all of us if you have an idea that could make this even better!


*An added note about tabs*
Several of you expressed interest in what my tabs were in my own books. Just thought I’d share that as I created this tutorial I realized that some of my categories needed to be subdivided. They were much to varied, making it hard to locate what I needed.  I will be adding the following categories to my books. Muffins & Scones (I do a lot of muffins for breakfast and during the fall and winter months), Brownies & Bars (bar desserts are quick, easy and very popular with my boys!), Holidays (for those special things I only cook during the different holiday seasons!), Candy (so I know right where my recipes for homemade caramels, tootsie rolls, peanut butter cups and more are located!), Herb & Spice Mixes (for all those seasoning mixes I concoct from my herb garden!), Cobblers & Crisps (because we love fruit based deserts so much...I collect a lot of these!), Biscuits & Rolls (a mainstay of our evening meals!)
This will probably require me to add an additional book to my shelf but that’s okay...this system is designed to grow with you over the years.  Just remember to re-order your tabs and re-label the spine of your books so you know which book to grab!



Blessings!

7 comments:

  1. I am in love with this system....having had my recipes in three or four different places....ten years ago, I could "go right to" any recipe I needed...now I find myself "forgetting" which spot which recipe is in, and wasting a lot of time searching! :)

    The only fault I see with this method? (Found this out last night trying a new recipe) Murphy's Law says: there is a really strong chance that you will slop, drop, or splatter something on your new recipe if you try it out before it is in a sheet protector. LOL

    Other than that ~~ A BIG HATS OFF!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My recipes are spread between two index card boxes (3x5 and 4x6) and a pile of various sized pieces of paper in a drawer in the kitchen. Between my kids (3yr old and 14 mnth old) both occasionally getting into the drawer and perusing and my husband nagging me about the disorganized drawer, ‘Thank You’ just doesn't seem the proper term for the appreciation for this tutorial!! I’ve not gotten the supplies yet but will next trip out! Yea! THANK YOU! And keep those helpful hints, tips, and tutorials coming! I need all the help I can get ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cheri,
    You don't know how much I have enjoyed the recipe make-over that you did for me! I bless you each and every time I cook something. It brings a smile to my face whenever I pull out one of my binders and remember the day that we shared together. Thank you for your friendship and the time you spent doing something special for me. Not only did it make for great organization, but you also poured into my life duirng a very stressful time. I needed that day to have you pour into me. I love and miss you!!!
    grace and peace,
    julie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jackie,
    I'm so glad you found this helpful!
    Blessings,
    Cheri

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rebecca,
    Wow - you'll have an extra drawer in your kitchen - always a plus! So glad you liked this tutorial :)
    Blessings,
    Cheri

    ReplyDelete
  6. Julie,
    It was a wonderful day - we should have done that more often :) I really miss you being here. Guess it's time for a trip south :) Tried to call you today - I'm getting a box together for your little man from my little man. Most are well loved things but Doodle assures me that they will be well-loved by your little man!
    Love you! Miss you "somethin turrible" as my Grandaddy used to say :)
    Cheri

    ReplyDelete
  7. *An added note about tabs*
    Several of you expressed interest in what my tabs were in my own books. Just thought I’d share that as I created this tutorial I realized that some of my categories needed to be subdivided. They were much to varied, making it hard to locate what I needed. I will be adding the following categories to my books. Muffins & Scones (I do a lot of muffins for breakfast and during the fall and winter months), Brownies & Bars (bar desserts are quick, easy and very popular with my boys!), Holidays (for those special things I only cook during the different holiday seasons!), Candy (so I know right where my recipes for homemade caramels, tootsie rolls, peanut butter cups and more are located!), Herb & Spice Mixes (for all those seasoning mixes I concoct from my herb garden!), Cobblers & Crisps (because we love fruit based deserts so much...I collect a lot of these!), Biscuits & Rolls (a mainstay of our evening meals!)

    This will probably require me to add an additional book to my shelf but that’s okay...this system is designed to grow with you over the years. Just remember to re-order your tabs and re-label the spine of your books so you know which book to grab!

    Blessings,
    Cheri

    ReplyDelete

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