I have been meaning to tackle my recipe box for a long time now, but this week I have decided to finally get it done.

I am in no way a big recipe collector. I can’t cook or bake, and even when I do follow a recipe, I make a horrible mess out of it.  That being said, I want to try to start making more meals that don’t come out of a box… so recipes are a must for me.

I do have a recipe box, but currently I toss everything in and have to sort through scrap pieces of paper looking for my favourite banana bread recipe whenever I have over ripe bananas…. I have decided to tackle it and I am actually excited about it.

There are many different ways to organize recipes. You can use a 3 ring binder with sleeves for photos (which hold recipe cards perfectly) and also add large sleeves for full page recipes from magazines.  I like this method, but I already have a photo box, so I am going with index cards and dividers for my photo box.

I plan on having dividers such as appetizers, salads, desserts, pork, beef, chicken etc… Each recipe will be written on an index card and filed accordingly.  When I try a recipe, I’ll rate it on a scale of 1-5 and place the number on the top right hand corner of the card. I will leave a spot for comments on the bottom..such as… only cook for 20 minutes next time or try using apples instead of pears etc… I also like the fact that when meal planning and grocery shopping I can bring the recipe cards with me and I have the ingredients I need already written down!

I love http://www.allreipes.com/ and the great thing is you can print the recipes on 3X5 or 4X6 or even full page.  Each time I find one I love on the site I can print it off and glue to my index cards.

I know, recipes are lame and I am a total loser, but I really think that having tried and tested recipes that my family likes in an easy and convenient spot will help me in the kitchen…. wish me luck!

If you have a recipe you really like, please email it to me at [email protected]!

Thanks

Cas