Baking Binder

I keep 2 A5 Kendal Filofax organisers in my kitchen. For the sake of alliteration I will call them my ‘baking binder’ and my ‘food folder’. I am not suggesting that this binder is the most practical one to use in the kitchen and it is certainly not the most economical but I love using them. I have previously used a plastic ring binder which could be wiped clean easily if anything was spilt and could be replaced at much lower cost. However, it didn’t appeal to my romantic notion of passing on a beat up but still beautiful book of family favourites to my daughter who loves to cook.

This post is about the baking binder which actually contains recipes and tips for all types of puddings, bread, breakfast foods and preserves.

Recipes have been organised using the A-Z dividers. Only recipes I have used and  liked (obviously) go in these sections. 

Other recipes I have yet to try go behind these sections, roughly divided into cakes, biscuits, bread etc. I didn’t want to file them all under A-Z  as I want to build this into a family book rather than a generic recipe book. This way the recipes at the back get used and filed, used and thrown away, or occasionally I decide I’m never going to make something and it also gets thrown away.

As well as recipes, I stick or write tips that I have read or found out for myself. I make notes of how things worked and ideas for how I could change it next time or settings that work best (tailored to my oven). I also include notes on who particularly liked them and if I made different versions for different  family members.

If the recipe is out of a book I reference it so that I can get it out of storage if I need to. (I always store the book as I feel like if I am still using the recipe I should keep the book).

That's just about it. A good looking binder with recipes in. Nothing radical but it makes me happy when I use it.

If you use a binder for favourite recipes what do you do to organise and personalise it? Any tips would be gratefully received. 

Notebooks and letting go

Returning to a Filofax as my planner seems increasingly unlikely. For my planning I am continuing to use my notebook method (I feel that it is now so far removed from the original that I can’t even call it a bullet journal tribute anymore). I have not only remembered people’s birthdays, but I have also written and sent the cards! Projects that have been sitting stagnant for months have moved on and in some cases been completed. There is nothing magic about this way of planning and for some it would be worse than useless, it would be an active waste of time. However, the notebook and my brain have been getting along famously.

Having said that I still own a number of Filofax organisers. Several of them even have a use. Others I am considering letting go of, most likely starting with the personal size that I have never really got along with despite really, really wanting to.

Before I do anything too hasty I thought I would dedicate a post to each of my ‘in use’ binders and open the floor to anyone who could suggest a use for the remaining ones. They are after all really rather lovely.