WFMW-Recipe Organization

I love trying new recipes! And why not? I love eating. I love cooking (when I'm not ridiculously busy). The rest of the M house loves to try new food and thinks that Mommy is a pretty decent cook. I love going online to get inspired, or to borrow other people's fabulous ideas for tasty treats. There's just one problem-I could never keep track of my recipes!

I tried hard to be organized. I really, really did. It's just that sometimes (most times) I got busy. So instead of writing my recipes down in an organized manner I had a tendency to scribble them on, oh I don't know, the back of a receipt. Or-true story-the cardboard insert from light bulb packaging (until recently, that was the home of my Quiche Florentine recipe). You know, whatever was handy.

In a real pinch I have been known to schlep all the way upstairs (to where Franken-puter the desk top lives), re-google a favorite recipe, re-write it on yet another piece of scrap paper, and then immediately lose it after I complete the meal.

This is not an effective way to be spending my time.

Someday, when the kids are older, I want to create an actual recipe book for each of them with all of our favorite family recipes and pictures of them cooking with me-you know, something for them to take with them when they leave the nest and have little birds of their own to feed. For now though, that's not really a practical solution. I am still in the process of collecting said "favorite recipes" and two of the three kids are far too little to cook yet.

Still, I desperately needed some organization. So I ran to Freddy's (Fred Meyer, or Kroger if you don't live in the Pacific Northwest) to see what they've got and I find THE PERFECT SOLUTION!

(Sorry for the blurry pictures, it's hard to stay stable taking a picture one handed!)

How fantastic is that? They are lined index cards, hole punched at the top and kept together with little metal clip rings. The index cards have colored edges in four different colors (which I have organized into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sides/snacks/baked goods) and are protected by a perfect little blue plastic cards on the front and back. It is small enough to be portable (unlike Frank), big enough not to get lost, and easy to organize. Now when I look up recipes I just pull out my little note cards and write the recipe directly on them.

Voila! Magic organization.

And it only cost $2!

This definitely works for me! If you'd like to get more Works for Me Wednesday ideas check out We Are THAT Family....happy Wednesday everyone!

(I also did a Wordless Wednesday post today~don't miss it!)