Make Your Own Recipe Book!

Just like the title says, that's what I worked on this week!  I had a folder full of recipes that have been printed from various websites, and it was a mess trying to sort through them to pick my next meal of the week.  The papers also got wet and dirty while I'm trying to cook, and one even got bloody when I accidentally sliced my finger with our large chef's knife...oops.

Anyway.  I'd had the idea to do this for a while, but kept forgetting about it when I actually went to the store.  I finally remembered one night and picked up what I needed.  I bought a 3 ring binder, and some of those plastic slip sheets that go inside.  I picked an orange 2" binder with plastic so I can insert my own cover, and a pack of 50 slip sheets (about 100 recipes if you use them front and back, unless some take up more than one page).  There is still a lot more room for more sheets, so the 2" is probably sufficient unless you want to get a larger size.  The whole thing cost probably $7 or $8 at Target.  The only other thing I have yet to buy are some tabs so I can sort the recipes.  It could end up costing a little more depending on the size of the binder, and how many sheets you want to buy, and add in the tabs if you decide to do so.

Since I bought the binder with plastic on the outside, I wanted to make my own cover.  It took me a while to find the inspiration for what I wanted, but thanks to Google Images, Photoshop, and a little bit of talk and inspiration from my coworker, who happens to do graphic design, I finally found images I liked and came up with a cover and a spine, and printed them on some thicker card stock we had at my work.

My next step is going to be to re-type a lot of the recipes since they don't always print the way they should.

So there you have it.  Here's an easy and cheap way to keep your recipes all together, and you can have fun making it your own!