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**Attention Readers: As of 1/24/14 all printables are first come first serve. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I had to end my Box membership, so they will only allow a set number of downloads per month. Once I’m moved and have settled in to my new home, I should be able to once again afford the monthly fees. In the mean time please come back at the first of the month and try downloading. Thank you for your patience.

9/12/12

Recipe Binders & Magnetic Menu Planner - Part 1

Between Pinterest and all of the yummy food blogs out there, I could spend hours browsing through thousands of delicious recipes. The only problem is what to do with my favorites? 

This is a little embarrassing... I had so many recipes haphazardly shoved into my former binder that it never closed all the way and the binder spine was starting to tear. Digging through a giant stack of unorganized papers each time I needed to make dinner was so frustrating. It was high time for a recipe binder revamp! 

I divided all of my recipes into 7 different categories and made 5 1/2in x 8in recipe cards. Each card has 4 symbols that can be filled in to better describe what type of meal it is (30 min, one-pot, etc.). I no longer have an excuse not to cook!

Want your own?


1. First things first grab all of your recipes – all of the recipe cards and internet print-outs, the ones ripped out of magazines and written on post-its. Make sure you have enough space to go through them!
Make 2 piles "keep" & "recycle". Split the "keep" pile into 7 categories: Poultry, Beef, Vegetarian, Pork, Seafood, Soups & Sides and Desserts. 
From each category decide which recipes are your “favorites” and which ones you have yet to "try".

2. Snag (7) 1” binders from Staples along with 4 Martha Stewart Secure-Top Sheet Protectors (8 ½” x 11”- 10 pack). You will also need plastic sleeves for the recipes you want to try.

3. Next download the printable recipe cards and fill them in with your “favorite” recipes. Copying and pasting your recipes can be a little time consuming, so unless you have some down time you may want to spread out the process over a few days.
Print and color in the symbols with a colored pencil. This could be a fun activity to do with older kids, maybe make a new recipe each week and have the family decide on how many stars to rate it?
Place the completed recipe cards inside the secure-top sheet protectors and place all of the recipes you’ve yet to try inside the plastic sleeves.*you can place recipes back to back in each pocket to save room.

4. Finish printing and placing the covers inside the binder fronts. You’re now ready to insert all of those tempting recipes and cook up something yummy!

In the upcoming part 2, I'll reveal my new Magnetic Menu Planner. Stay tuned!


The above printable is editable so you can fill in the fields by typing instead of writing.
For personal use only. Please do not reproduce for commercial use.




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29 comments:

  1. That is awesome! Thank you so much for all of your ideas!!

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  2. Bekah! what an awesome gift! i love your blog and the whole recipe binder thing has my creative juices flowing. we are entering a new faze of life going gluten free for my daughter and i am excited to create a special binder for her to keep her new recipes in. thanks for the inspiration and all the free printables!

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    1. Hi! I understand a little of what you mean by a new stage of life, because I am just at the very beginning of learning how to go G-free myself. There are plenty of new recipes to learn and old ones to adapt. I’m so happy that the recipe binders will help you and your daughter. :)

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  3. I just wanted to tell you what a blessing this whole recipe binder idea is. I currently store my recipes in plastic grocery bags hung on a coat hanger in the closet. Not exactly an outstanding plan. Not only do I want to make a set of these recipes binders for myself, I have been looking for a beautiful and unique way to present all of my grandmother's, mother's, and my own recipes to give to my daughter who just got her first apartment. She will love these. Thanks for giving so freely of your creativity. God Bless You!

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    1. I love the idea of making a family recipe book, eventually I need to do something similar.

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  4. Love these and I already printed them out, but now that I'm starting to move recipes into these separate binders, I have a question/request .......
    Can these be edited? Or where should I put my breakfast category??

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    1. These binders go with the Magnetic Menu Planner and can't be edited, but I just posted a Personalized Recipe Binder Kit that hopefully will help you.

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  5. Hello Bekah I love these printables. THanks for making them for us to use. I emailed you asking if there was a way to type my recipes on to your cards (as opposed to printing out and writing by hand).
    How do I go about doing that?

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    Replies
    1. These are editable, so after opening them in Adobe Reader you should be able to start typing into the fields. :)

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    2. Hi Bekah, I was looking for pretty cook book ideas for my sisters bridal shower..loved yours! BUT I am unable to edit them as my Adobe Reader says its protected document.
      Could it be an error on my side or are these not editable? Would appreciate any help:)

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    3. The fields are editable in Adobe Reader; the security protection is only used for copyright reason and shouldn't prevent you from typing your recipes in the fields. The Adobe Reader program however won’t let you save edited fields, which unfortunately I can’t do anything about.

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  6. These are by far, the best printable recipe u that I have found - thank you so much for sharing! Shared you link on Homestead Living at http://vitalhomestead.wordpress.com/

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  7. I may have told you this before...you have no doubt, have some of the finest free printable's on the web. I am just about to complete my first home binder and I have used just about everything you have offered and they are my favorite. Thank you so much for offering these for free...you are to kind. Bless you.

    With kind regards,
    Marilyn

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  8. Hello, I was wondering if there is any way you could get this download to me, possibly via email? I have gone to the link and am not able to download this file for some reason and would love to have a copy! This is an incredible freebie. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Love these - thank you for sharing!

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  10. I would like to thank for penning this article. I am going to find these recipe cards today to get started. I am sure my husband will be happy to have some old favorites on the table.

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  11. I tried to download them and save it to my computer. It wouldn't save as a pdf and the site it downloaded from won't let me print directly from it either. Is there anyway I could get these? I really like the idea.

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  12. Hi Bekah, I'm having the same problem as Katie and was wondering if there was another way I can access these? I'd appreciate it if there was!

    This is a really great downloadable and thank you so much for having shared it!

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  13. Hi Bekah, I just found your site and I tried to download your printables. It won't let me down load them, I really love your printables. Can you please tell me how I can get them. Thank You, Ann Cox creativemoma@yahoo.com

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. I am having the same problem trying to download these pages. my email is af.lynne20@gmail.com if you could tell me how I can get them, Thank you.

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  16. I simply wanted to write down a quick word to say thanks to you for those wonderful tips and hints you are showing on this site.
    nebosh-courses-in-chennai

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