Kitchen Organization with a Personalized Recipe Binder

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These days, I need a lot of inspiration before choosing what to cook for dinner, and then a lot of motivation to actually make it. I don’t know about you, but I’m the sort of “cook” that has to follow directions, no matter how many times I’ve made a certain meal. I also have never had the ability to just whip up something delicious (or even just palatable) on the fly with no guidance. Thus, I’m in desperate need of having an organized recipe system when it comes to meal-planning!

I generally rely on Pinterest and my favorite blogs to find new recipes to try. The issue with this is that I frequently forget which recipes I’ve already tried and liked, or I lose the links in my sea of Pinterest boards. Also, I prefer following a printed recipe rather than bringing my computer or cell phone into the kitchen. I like having all my tried and true recipes at my fingertips when it comes to weekly menu-planning.

Kitchen Organization Must Have  – Personalized Recipe Binder

I decided to get myself organized by creating a special cookbook binder to sort and store my family’s favorite recipes. I designed a fun and colorful binder personalized with our family’s name on it, and I store it right on our kitchen shelf for easy access. I have all my favorite Pinterest recipes printed out and organized by the following categories:

• Breakfast
• Appetizers
• Salad
• Bread
• Sides & Veggies
• Soups & Stews
• Pasta & Noodles
• Main Dishes
• Dessert
• More

I added tabbed sleeves to protect my category pages (honestly, I’d consider putting ALL the recipe pages in sleeves since most of them are now covered with splashes of food here and there!). I added a few pockets to store those random recipe cards picked up at the grocery store.

Here and there I also like to jot down cooking notes on the recipe pages, so my binder has really become more like a personal recipe journal. This way anytime I have help in the kitchen, they can easily see my recipe journal notes as well as the cooking instructions.

Having my organized recipe binder has made my life, and specifically the tasks of weekly menu-planning and grocery shopping, a whole lot easier! I can sit down with my binder and quickly flip through until I find 3 or 4 recipes that are calling out to me, then plan our family meals accordingly. I prefer doing this over sitting down at my computer and aimlessly scrolling through my Pinterest boards (where I tend to get sidetracked pretty easily!).

Improve Your Kitchen Organization – No More Messy Drawers!

Storing my recipes this way helps with my kitchen organization. I used to keep my favorite recipe print outs crammed into a drawer in my kitchen, and I was always misplacing pages. Having them all stored in one place and visible on my counter keeps my kitchen much more organized. 

Give the gift of kitchen organization with a personalized cookbook!

Since my recipe binder has been a game-changer in my own daily organization, I think it’d make a thoughtful gift as well. The ability to personalize the color, layout, text, and especially the binder’s content opens up all sorts of possibilities. I’ve seen them gifted at the holidays to newlyweds, college students who recently moved away from home (and mama’s kitchen), and other busy moms like myself. My favorite gifting idea is to create one for a bridal shower and ask each guest to bring a handwritten recipe card to include in the binder.

How do you keep your family’s favorite recipes organized in your kitchen?

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