My Recipe Book

I have a collection of recipes handwritten on lined index cards that I keep in a wooden box. Many of my recipe cards are stained with food and are starting to look horrible. I am emberassed to take them out when someone wants to copy my recipe. I also have a bad habit of printing off recipes from websites or e-mail and then they get messy and I throw them away only to reprint the same recipe the next time I need it. If I happen to keep the printed off recipe it ends up in my recipe area all smashed and ripped because I didn't have a safe place to keep it.

So I came up with a solution to my recipe dilemma, a binder with page protectors for my recipes. I purchased a binder along with some sheet protectors and divider tabs for around $8.00 total. I bought a simple white binder but when I got home I just cut some leftover scrapbook paper I had and placed it in the front, side and back of the binder to give it some color. I am using just one binder for now but eventually I may start another binder that is for desserts. I have included these photos of my new binder.

 

Another idea would be to use a photo book and place index cards in the slots to keep them free from mess. I have one that my friend made for me so you can see that as well.

Do you have another idea for keeping your recipes clean and safe?