Make your own recipe folder/book
For a long, long time, I’ve been wanting a recipe folder where I could organise my beloved recipes from various recipe books, magazines, web site print outs and pieces of paper with recipes scribbled down from frenzied phone conversations with my mother-in-law.
I started with one of those books where you can write-in recipes – but who’s got the bloody time to do that? Plus, my handwriting turns shite after about 2 sentences.
There are lots of folders available from places like Kikki-K, if you can afford to pay the $40+ for the privilege. Um, no thanks. And besides, the tabs are pre-labelled and I don’t want to categorise my recipes into categories like “Fish” and “Desserts”. I want categories like “Fancy dinners”, “Cupcakes” and “Finger food”.
So I decided to make my own:
I bought a display folder from Officeworks with a clear front and spine so I could personalise it with one of my photos of my cupcakes. It took some work in Photoshop to get the writing on the spine just right, but the same could easily be done in Word or Publisher.
I bought a box of plastic sleeves to pop the recipes in – this way they’re protected from my cooking mess and splatters. I bought them from from Officeworks, but they can be found much cheaper from the supermarket and a gazillion other places.
The final piece was a couple of packets of dividers with plastic tabs and blank inesrts to create categories that I want. At the moment they’re still blank because I’m giving myself time to work out what sections really work best for me. The dividers I got (and this was the crucial point) are wider than plastic sleeves, so they’re always visible. At work we only have normal-width dividers that get lost when you have a folder full of plastic sleeves (one of my pet hates as a stationery nerd).
So now I have this customised, exactly-what-I-wanted recipe folder, and it cost me just $12. A bargain, and much better than the recipe folders I’ve seen in the shops and online!
Love it!
I’ve been given the blank recipe books that require you to write your own recipes in but, like you, I don’t have the time to sit and write them all out. I’d prefer to print them out and pop them in a sleeve.
I’m definitely putting a recipe folder together! :)
Tina @ Housewife Hiccups’s last blog post..Green cardboard
be lazy like me, tina! although, there’s enough effort involved that leaves you wondering if it’s worth it ;o) but i can tell you that it’s definitely worth the effort!
They are a great idea aren’t they. I have had my handy recipe folder for years and it gets used all the time. Although, mine is an old blue thing ….. not as pretty as yours :P
Barbara’s last blog post..I am in L.O.V.E.
hey barb, nothing wrong with a trusty blue folder; i’m just a bit… anal about cupcake-themed things ;o) lol
That looks awesome!
I shall have to do one methinks…….
Mistress B’s last blog post..Let me count the ways……….
I’m in the process of doing something very similar, but i went out and bought a cheap laminator ($15 from aldi) and i’m laminating all my recipes. Absolutely no chance of spillage, which is definitely neccesary ha.