Why I Keep a Recipe Binder

I’ve always loved cooking, …well, ….it’s a two-part kinda love.  I love cooking AND eating.

This past year with covid quarantines and a nonexistent commute to a job (at its worst it was 2.5 total hours) have left me with a lot more time to explore this favorite activity.

One thing I wanted to remedy was to stay more organized with recipes that worked and didn’t work.  As an example, “once upon a time”, I made these KILLER Fish Tacos.  I tried reproducing them from a local restaurant called Blue Lemon that was no longer available.  This taco had marinated shrimp, scallops, and salmon along with this citrus chipotle aioli sauce you could pour on top.  I couldn’t find a recipe that came close online so I kinda mushed 3 recipes together and winged it. After cooking, I brought them to a family birthday party and they turned out AAAAAMAZING!  Lots of compliments including comments on how they were the best fish tacos they’ve ever had.

Fast forward 5-6 months and I had another family member request these same tacos for their upcoming birthday.  And……

I couldn’t remember what I did!  I couldn’t even find the recipes online again that inspired me.  Only remembering a few things like fresh orange juice in the marinade plus a few random things I had on hand, but that was it.  Sadly, the second time around was disappointing.

Ultimately, this is why I now keep a 3-ring binder with printed recipes.  If I’m trying a new recipe from my Pinterest board I always print it now instead of reading it off my phone.  My kids and I have a fun rating system of 1-10 and everyone gets to say how they like it at the end of dinner.  Anything over a 7 gets added to the recipe binder along with any notations of what I did with the recipe.  Substitutions, extra spices or herbs, longer cooking time than what’s mentioned as well as how many people it would feed.  It seems a recipe rarely equals what is noted.  I made a potato and leek soup one time and it said it would feed 4 people.  Well, it ended up feeding 2 kids and EIGHT adults.  Too large of potatoes maybe?

As my recipe binder grew, the harder it was to find a specific recipe again.  So it was time to get organized!

What’s available in my Etsy Store to help

There are several different listings on my Etsy Shop that have to do with menus and recipes.

A quick overview:

Kitchen Planning Binder – inventory lists, kitchen staples, conversion charts, favorite recipe lists, and more

Menu Planning Printables – Sunday through Saturday Meal Planning Printables to organize your shopping trip as well as posting a menu forecast to the fridge so everyone knows what’s for dinner

Recipe Templates and Illustrated Recipe Category Dividers – for creating your own recipe 3-ring binder at home or creating a DIY professionally printed keepsake of family recipes

I’m going to go over the very last one mentioned, the Recipe Category Dividers.

How to create a Recipe Binder with Dividers and Tabs

Since I use plastic sheet protectors for my recipes in my 3 ring binder, I had to create divider tabs wide enough to be seen.  

What you’ll need:

Supplies:

• Color Printer (at home or a place like Office Max Services)
• 110lb cardstock made for color printing (your colors will be richer in color)
• Heavyweight plastic sheet protectors – Letter size 8.5×11.02 in
• Laminator (at home or a place like Office Max Services)
• Scissors
• Permanent Double Sided Sticky Tape
• Heavy-Duty 3-Ring Binder – 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, or 3 inch – Instead of one huge binder, I have my recipe binders divided into 2 smaller binders and it’ll soon be 3.  Either find a binder with clear view covers or you can purchase a binder without.  I think it’s a personal preference. I own both, here are links on both:  Bellagio-Italia 3 Ring Binder $25-30  or   Exceed 3-Ring Heavy-Duty Binder  $6
• Purchase my dividers pages on Etsy or create your own – <<purchase here>>
• Download my FREE DIY Divider Tabs sheet AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST

5 Minute Video of  DIY Recipe Binder Tabs and Pages

My first DIY video tutorial!

Step by Step Written Instructions

STEP ONE:
If you’ve purchased my divider category pages, determine which pages you want to print.  If you’ve opened them in PowerPoint or Google Slides, you can rearrange the “slides” to the order you’d like and then print the range in the print settings.  Print on the 110lb cardstock made for color/graphics.

If you’re creating your own pages, I’d recommend using PowerPoint or Google Slides so it’s easy to duplicate your pages as well as navigate.

STEP TWO:
Next, insert your printed pages into the heavyweight sheet protectors.

STEP THREE:
Open the FREE DIY Divider TABS document that you downloaded.  Either use the pre-filled sheet (PDF) or add your own fonts and wording to the PPTX File.  Print HIGH QUALITY in your printer settings on the same 110lb cardstock. Alt: have it printed at your local print shop

STEP FOUR:
Laminate the Divider TABS document, at home or the local print shop.  I tried fitting as many tabs as I could on one page so it would be minimal laminating.

STEP FIVE:
Cut out the tabs like the image below

STEP SIX:
Add your category pages to your binder in the order you want.  I have my soups, salads, and sandwiches at the beginning and then it moves on to the main dishes (poultry, vegetarian, beef, etc) and then I have the more miscellaneous after that (sauces, appetizers, juices, etc).  In my second binder is where I keep the baked goods and desserts, so something like Breads, Cookies, Cakes & Pies, Cold Desserts, and so on.

STEP SEVEN:
On your work table, line up your tabs to match what you have in the binder.  Tabs are sized to fit 8 to one row going from the top of the binder to the bottom.  Gently move them to the side keeping them in order.  Grab your binder and place it in front of you.

STEP EIGHT:
Take your first tab from row 1 (top) and put 3 strips of double-sided sticky tape (permanent) in the gray area of the tab.  Line up the tab with the tape to the BACK of the divider (that’s in the sheet protector) with the same name.  SOUP to SOUP.  You shouldn’t see any of the gray areas of the tab once stuck on the divider.  Use the black edge to keep it straight as you can. Give yourself about 1/4 inch room from the top edge of the page.

STEP NINE:
Repeat the same process for the remaining tabs on EACH DIVIDER with the same name.  Butt the tabs up against each other after the first tab, and don’t leave a gap.  Pull the dividers (in sheet protectors) taut to the right when placing each tab. On the last tab, you should end with at the bottom with still about 1/4 inch of space.

STEP TEN:
Repeat the same process on the second row of tabs (#’s 9-16) until you’re finished.  Luckily the laminated tabs with the sticky tape are pretty forgiving at first.  I had to pull a few off as I was adding them to readjust my angles and positions.  I recommend double-sided sticky tape rather than hot glue.  Although a thin line of hot glue also works.

STEP ELEVEN:
Add your recipes to sheet protectors (I don’t necessarily use heavyweight for my recipes) and then add them to the corresponding categories.

STEP TWELVE:
Lastly, add your recipe binder cover to the front of your binder if it’s a clear view with pockets. As an alternative, you can also add it as a first page (in a protector) to your binder.

TA-DA!  That’s it!  Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions on anything.

Links to my Etsy Store for the Recipe Binder Printables

Recipe Binder Illustrated Dividers (coming soon a la carte)

Recipe Templates + Illustrated Dividers

Weekly Menu Planning Binder Printables

Menu & Kitchen Planning Binder Printables (combined and includes a monthly calendar)

FREE download of the DIY Tabs – clink links  – PPTX File or PDF File

• PPTX can be opened and edited in Google Slides, PowerPoint or Keynote.
• PDF File is not editable