Organizing Your Recipes - Part II

In Organizing Your Recipes - Part I I shared 5 steps to organizing your recipes using my organizing acronym SPASM. Following those steps you should have all of your recipes into sheet protectors by category with a tab in front of each main category.

Now we will label each tab. I use the white tabs that come with the insertable plastic dividers. I print out the category name on my label maker and stick the label onto one of the tabs. I wrap the excess label around the back of the tab if there is any so that I don't spend time cutting down the length. But, you could write your category on the tab or print out labels on card stock and cut them out. Here is a picture of my tabs.


Notice that I have BARS separate from cakes and cookies. In my recipe box I would always wonder which category my lemon bar recipe or my Loui's Ooey Gooeys recipe would be under. I LOVE it that I can have my own tab for BARS!!!!! That is the great thing about customizing your binder. It fits YOU!

Next, I wanted them to look great. I went on my computer to create a cover and a spine for the binder. I found an attractive photo and font and made the cover. I printed it on photo paper which I think makes a huge difference in the appearance.

Then I used a text box, adjusted the size to match the spine's width and length and typed out the categories in each binder. I wanted to easily see which binder I needed to pull off my shelf to find the recipe I would be looking for.


Now your binders are ready for your shelf. I keep mine in a cabinet but am considering where I could put them out because they make me so happy! :)

The great thing about a binder for your recipes is that you can use various size sheet protectors to add recipes. Here is a recipe printed off the computer in an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet protector. You may have a lot of recipes like that. GREAT! Just insert those behind the right tab.

What if you print a new recipe off or rip an article out of a magazine that you want to try? I would suggest you put it in the tab folder before inserting it into a page protector. That way when you plan out your next week's menu you will see that you have a new recipe to try and will schedule it into your menu!

This weekend I was craving my favorite Bran Muffins so I pulled out my binder and under BREAD I found it! It was so fast and enjoyable just looking for the recipe! My daughter helped my make them. I didn't even take the recipe card out. I just left the binder out on the stove. All the recipe cards are protected behind plastic.

PLEASE share with me how you organize your recipes. And, of course, send pictures of your new binders if this post has motivated you to organize your recipes!!

As promised in Part I here is my favorite bran muffin recipe...

Simply Squared Away's Bran Muffins

In mixing bowl stir bran and milk. Let stand 1-2 minutes.

2 1/2 cups Bran Flake cereal

1 1/4 cup milk

Add egg and oil to bran mixture stirring.

1 egg

1/4 cup oil
In separate bowl mix dry ingredients.

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white flour

1/2 t salt

1 T baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

(I add 1/4 cup ground flax seeds)

Mix dry ingredients with wet JUST until combined. Put into muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes. Eat fresh and hot with butter.

Organizing Your Recipes - Part I

I knew it was time to organize MY recipes because...

• My recipe box looked like this! Ugh! It was crammed full with recipe cards, torn slips of paper and recipes printed on full sheets of paper folded up! The tabs were worn and bent. AND, the lid kept falling off!!

• Every time I needed to find a recipe I had to grab the whole category (e.g. main dishes) and look at each title one by one to find the recipe I wanted. OR, I had to sift through loose recipes and papers.
  
• I had so many recipes in each category that as I scanned the titles I would think, "I should throw that out. I have never even made that! That looks too hard. That doesn't even sound good."

I finally had the time to work on this project. I had some of the supplies I needed and then actually remembered (wow!) when I was out running errands to look for the 3X5 page protectors. Here are the supplies I used:

• A Binder - I used a 1 1/2 inch and a 1 inch binder. I later switched this blue one to a white one so the two binders matched. In part two I will show you the after picture of my awesome recipe binders! :)
• 3X5 page protectors - I like the 3X5 size because my cards are that size (duh!) and because there are 4 per page (the 4X6 only have 2 per page). I found mine at Office Depot. I bought 10 packages just so I wouldn't run out.

• Dividers - I LOVE this kind. They have 8 dividers and each one has pockets - I will talk about how to use the pockets later.

So, let's get STARTED!!!

The 1st step in organizing is to...SORT! Since recipes in a box are already sorted I sorted my loose papers/recipes into the existing categories in the box. Then I took one category (i.e. main dishes) at a time and sorted them down further: Chicken, Beef, Ham, Italian, Mexican, etc. Please note that I continued with step 2 and 3 for each main food category before starting the next.

The 2nd step in my organizing acronym - SPASM - is to PURGE! Get realistic. If you haven't tried a recipe in a year don't keep it. If you decide to keep it then get it on your calendar and buy the ingredients. When you have whittled it down to those you want to keep you are ready for step three!

The 3rd step is the A - ASSIGN A HOME! Each main category's 'home' will be after it's tab divider. Place the first tab into your binder. Use a sticky note to label this tab temporarily until you are certain that this is the order you are happy with. Before placing your recipes into the protectors decide how you want to order the recipes/mini categories. I put them into the sheet protectors by mini categories. For example, I choose to put my chicken recipes in first with my favorite chicken recipes in the front. Then I put my beef recipes in with my favorite beef recipes in the beginning. And so on... There were a couple of blank pockets after each mini category so I would have room to add recipes later.

CONTINUE this process until all of your recipes are in the binder(s) with each main category behind a new tab.

The 4th step is to SET LIMITS. Try and think of natural limits that help control your stuff. Here, it could be the actual binder - once the binder is full you must purge. Or, another limit could be the number of page protectors per section - for example, 5 pages per category, etc.

The 5th step is to MAINTAIN. Here again try and think of natural occurrences where maintenance could occur. For example, with a closet you could maintain each time you wash clothes, each season when you switch seasonal clothing, each time you bring a new item in, etc. With your recipe binder(s) you can maintain each week when you menu plan or whenever you pull your binder off the shelf.

In Organizing Your Recipes - Part II I will talk about labeling the tabs, creating the cover and spine, and what to do with new recipes coming in! I will even post a picture of the first time using my new binder AND a favorite recipe!

Meal Planning

Meal planning - getting a healthy, balanced meal to our tables - is an area where many people lack organization and become frustrated and disappointed.

I always find myself drawn to this topic. I usually plan a menu and go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients I need but I am always looking for new ideas and recipes. I have friends on both sides of the spectrum - those that don't have any list or meals planned out and those that have it down to a science with coupons, fliers and deal-hunting focus. My mother-in-law always tells me that she menu planned around the sale ads - whatever meat that was on sale was the center of her menu.

Categorizing each day of the week is a handy tool that helps with menu planning. Of course, you need to arrange the categories to fit your schedule. Try these category ideas:

Monday - New recipe
Tuesday - Crock pot
Wednesday - Easy/Fast
Thursday - Kid's Favorite
Friday - Meatless
Saturday - Asian
Sunday - Eat out

Or you could also try categories like these:

Monday - Mexican
Tuesday - Italian
Wednesday - Crock pot
Thursday - Asian
Friday - American
Saturday - Frozen
Sunday - Eat out

Or what about salad, pizza, soup, sandwich...Remember to stay flexible! Have an outline of meals for the week but when it comes down to it don't cry if you forgot to put food in the crock pot on Wednesday morning. When you get home, eat the frozen meal from Friday and do the crock pot meal later in the week. Also, if you ate Mexican on Sunday when you went out to dinner you might want to switch your Mexican Monday with your Asian Thursday meal.

I get on these kicks when I am reading a new [recipe] book and have to try a ton of new recipes. My favorite book, click here for my post reviewing this book , The Eat Clean Diet has a RECHARGED version out now. In it is my new favorite recipe: Thai Basil Chicken Fried Rice that is unbelievably delicious. This was the first time I cooked with fish sauce and oyster sauce...not a nice smell when you add it to the mix but somehow it turns into fabulous flavor! Also, the Thai Steak on Soba Noodles was wonderful. I think that is why I have a category for Asian in both lists!

Try this:
Take an hour this weekend and plan out a month of meals using the category ideas above. Write your grocery lists for each week. Keep the menus and lists in a binder for easy access. Let me know how this helps you stay organized with your meal planning this next month!

Are there other ideas that work for you when it comes to meal planning? Please share!