Meal Planning Made Simple

Creating a Recipe Binder

When I first realized that I needed to be better prepared when meal planning, I knew that I needed a way to have easy access to my recipes.  Flipping through my recipe box was too much work at the time and I knew that there were recipes that I made frequently enough that I didn't even use the recipe anymore when preparing them.  All of these recipes needed to be in a convenient place so that I could refer to them quickly when planning meals for the week.  

The solution was simple, I created a budget friendly recipe binder.  

My recipe binder is a 1 inch binder that I have it laid out similarly to my recipe box. There are individual sections for breads/rolls, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  I also have a section that includes a list of all of the regular meals that I prepare in our house that I no longer need a recipe for.  

When meal planning for the week, I simply pull out my binder and flip through it, looking for ideas.  

Many of these meals have less than 10 ingredients and they are easy enough to prepare in 30 minutes or less!  Additionally, many of these meals include ingredients that I regularly keep on hand.  

Some steps to take when creating your own binder:

1.) Make a list of the recipes that you make consistently in your house.  Recipes on this list should be things that your family eats all of the time.  In my house, Little Meatloaves and Chicken with Wild Rice Soup were the top two meals on the list.  I make them all of the time, but I no longer need a recipe for them.  
2.) Choose easy recipes with 10 ingredients or less.  This will help keep your grocery cost down and the fewer the ingredients usually means the easier the meal will be to prepare.  
3.) Add and Delete meals based on your families individual tastes.  I am constantly changing the recipes in my binder, I change them when the seasons change as well as when we find that we are getting tired of a meal.  

Having this binder available when I am meal planning helps me focus and prepare a meal plan that I know my family enjoys, it is there to give me inspiration when I can't come up with meal ideas from the top of my head, and  it also shows me all of the ingredients I need in one convenient location.  

A meal binder is an inexpensive way to organize yourself so meal planning can be done quickly and effortlessly.  

Blessings to All!