Tuesday, February 17, 2009

One Set of Recipes Organized...Check!

I have to say first that I did not come up with this idea. I found it on Carrie's blog...if you'd like to see what she did and how, you can go to her post.
So, after reading the post that Carrie did, I decided that I was going to organize my Kraft Food & Family recipes. I had this pile and I needed to get it in order:

It may not look like a lot of magazines but they were taking up a lot of space and I didn't even want everything in them.

So, I bought a presentation binder from Target and used some page protectors that I already had.


Then I went through each magazine and pulled out the pages that had recipes that I was interested in making. It made me kind of hungry! I organized them a little bit and inserted each page into the page protectors and then into the binder. I put main dishes first and then desserts. I didn't use tabs but I'm sure as this grows I will need to do that.

Doesn't this soup look yummy? Just had to share. I will say that going through these made me come up with some items to add to my upcoming week's menu.

I cropped the title of one of the magazines and put it on a strip of scrapbook paper for the side of the binder.

Finally, I took one of the covers and put it on a piece of scrapbook paper for the cover of my binder. Oh, and I added some stickers, just for kicks.

I'm so excited to have this little project done! It didn't take that much time either, which is always a plus.

Now I just have to work on my family organization binder (I've gotten some good tips on how to do that from other blog friends) and my inspiration binder, which will have cut outs of pieces I'd like for my home, decorating ideas, crafts, etc. Hopefully that will happen sooner than later.

15 comments:

Brittany said...

LOVE it! LOVE it! I am so copying this!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Kraft Food and Family. And this is a great idea!

Joanna said...

WOW! I am so doing this! I think I have a presentation binder, I will have to look and if not, I am going to get one. *smiles* Is that soup baked potato soup? I made a soup that was in the Kraft magazine (can't remember which one) but it was a baked potato soup (looked like that) and it was the best thing I'd ever eaten!

Ms. Tee said...

Perfect! Kraft food and family has some of the best recipes, too, don't they? :)

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

I SERIOUSLY need to do that. I have a recipe box in one of my cupboards which has on top of it tons of recipes all folded up and unorganized.

Love it!

Jen

schwadette said...

wanna do mine next?? :)

Meredith said...

What a GREAT idea!!! I love food and family and have quite the stack. I'm absolutely going to do that!! Thanks!

Heidi Boos said...

This is so funny because I'm working on something a little like this, but with my craft magazines. I don't get any food magazines or else I would be all over this one! I think I remember seeing this on Carrie's blog. You did a great job with this and making it look so nice! I like the idea of putting a strip of paper on the side to label the binder. Great job, Kelli!

Laurel @ Ducks in a Row said...

I love Kraft. I have so many binders, I use them for everything.

Kelli said...

I did this awhile back as well and it felt SO good to have it done. Isn't it so much easier to cook and find recipes now? =) You gave me another idea of a potential blog post. I also took this binder idea and have one for each holiday, summer fun, camping, party planning, gardening, etc. I got tired of pulling from magazines, or circling stuff and having to go find it so I made binders. They're a lifesaver. Now all I have to do is pull out the Christmas binder and it has all my info., craft ideas, cooking recipes, etc. in it and it makes life so much easier.
Happy Thursday!!

Shell in your Pocket said...

What a great idea!!!

Don't you love Food and Family? They have GREAT ideas...make it look so very easy!

Have a wonderful night!{It's only 3:30in the afternoon but I am ready for "night"}
-sandy toe

Sarah said...

Kelli, I think your blog is so cute! I just do my blog myself. I have the Minima Stretch template and I go into the Layout tab where you change colors around and pick white background and all the other colors for the headings and dates and so forth. I use Picasa for my photos..it's a free download from Google where you can keep your pics...sort of like Flickr or those other places. Picasa has a great feature where you can make your own Collages and I just play around with that...once you experiment a little bit you will be able to do it. Hope that answers your questions. I think your blog is different and cute though! It looks like you know more than me!

Katie from ABC&123: A Learning Cooperative said...

Oh man am I jealous that you have your recipes organized. It is on my list of to-dos right now, but I haven't done anything yet, other than read the suggestions on Org Junkie. Isn't Kraft Family & Food the best!

Jamie said...

Thanks for sharing Kelli! That looks a lot like my binder for recipes except that I usually "tweak" all recipes just a little bit so I print up a new copy of the recipe and slip the original (magazine article) behind my version.

Oh and I do not add anything to the binder unless we have tried it and love it. I keep a file folder of "Recipes To Try" that I usually dig from when I make out my menu each week. I like to try at least 1 new thing each week. Keeps things interesting around here. :)

Unknown said...

I saw your binder on a bowl full of lemons. I was wondering how you organize your Kraft recipes. I am doing the same thing as you by tearing out the recipes I want to use from the magaizne. My problem is some of the recipes are on the front and back of the page but they don't go together. For example on one side may be a chicken dish and on the other side a dessert. How do you file and organize them. Thanks