Save Money on Eating Out by Preparing More Meals at Home with my Family Recipe Binder Printable Pack
Hi, I’m Dawn, and I have struggled with meal planning for a long time. Having and using a family recipe binder is the only thing that has consistently helped me plan meals so I am not scrambling to throw something together at dinner time.
Many of us like the idea of preparing more meals at home to save money on eating out, but making that happen regularly is not so easy. Life gets busy and we simply don’t know where to start.
Maybe you have good intentions, but then a slow internet connection or a website being down keeps you from finding the online recipe you wanted to make for dinner.
Maybe you have picky eaters who complain about the meals you prepare.
But what if you had a family recipe binder filled with recipes your family loves to eat?
Why I like this method:
I like this particular method because I can hand this binder off to my kids and ask them to pick a few meals to have over the next week or month. It’s no longer completely up to me to decide what we all eat. My kids love having input in our meals. My husband likes that I am not fixing the same meals every single week because I have a binder filled with recipes we enjoy.
Meal planning becomes so much easier when you have all your family’s favorite recipes easily accessible right in your kitchen. Using a family recipe binder could even help you cook more meals at home and spend less money eating out.
This family recipe binder printable pack includes all of the organizing sheets I use to create and update my own family recipe binder to get you started right away. These pages include lists of my family’s favorite recipes and links to online recipe where possible so you don’t feel like you are completely starting your family recipe binder from scratch. In addition, I include blank, fillable pages so you can organize your own favorite recipes if you already have some favorites to start with.
Save your ink or toner by only printing the pages you need from the 31 included pages. Plus, these printables do not include extra design elements that use up a lot of ink.
You will have immediate access to this digital product immediately after checkout
How I use my family recipe binder:
- I put all of my recipes and organizing pages into clear page protectors in my binder.
- For the list pages, I will write the last date I made that recipe using a dry erase marker on the clear page protector.
- For different months, I will use different colored dry erase markers so I can easily see what recipes I have and haven’t made recently.
- Once a week I will pick dinner recipes for main dishes and side dishes and add them to my planner based on what is going on that week. I might also ask my family for their input. I am currently using the Living Well Planner.
- I determine if I need to add items to my weekly grocery shopping list based on the recipes chosen for the week.
- Most of my recipes are printed in this binder, but some are included in a recipe list with the actual recipe being in one of my cookbooks.
Common Questions
What’s included in this printable pack?
31 printable pages to help you customize a recipe binder to meet your family’s needs, including:
- 9 section dividers including:
- Cover page
- Breakfasts
- Lunches
- Main Dishes
- Side Dishes
- Desserts
- Appetizers & Snacks
- Holiday Recipes
- Kitchen Tips
- Printable tabs to cut out and add to section dividers (1 tab for each of the 8 sections above plus 4 blank tabs)
- Blank, fillable sheets for listing your own recipes in each section so you can start organizing your favorite family recipes.
- Family Breakfast Ideas
- Family Lunch Ideas
- Family Dinner Ideas (2 pages – 1 with section dividers *this is what I use* and 1 without)
- Family Side Dish Ideas (2 pages – 1 with section dividers *this is what I use* and 1 without)
- Family Dessert Ideas
- Appetizer & Snack Ideas
- Holiday Recipe Ideas
- My personal lists of the regular family recipes for each section, with links where possible, so you can use my favorite recipes as a starting point. (7 pages)
- Family Breakfast Ideas
- Family Lunch Ideas
- Family Dinner Ideas (2 pages, each with section dividers; 50+ dinner ideas!)
- Family Side Dish Ideas (2 pages, each with section dividers; 30+ side dish ideas!)
- Family Dessert Ideas
- Appetizer & Snack Ideas
- Holiday Recipe Ideas
- Kitchen measurement conversion chart
- Blank weekly planner page with space for meal plans
- Blank monthly calendar to plan meals for the whole month
What do I need to create my own family recipe binder?
- This printable bundle
- Binder (mine is a 1-inch binder and it is packed full)
- Clear page protectors (super helpful, but you could also print and hole-punch pages to get you started)
- Paper to print these printables and your favorite recipes – Only print the pages you need. You can choose to print my personal family recipe binder lists or the blank lists or a combination of both to get you started.
- Cardstock or thicker paper to print the 1 page of tab dividers to separate each section.
Why do I need a recipe binder when I have Pinterest (or another online recipe option)?
Pinterest is great. I use Pinterest often to find new recipes and save recipes I want to try. In fact, I even have a Pinterest board that includes many of the recipes from my personal recipe lists in this printable pack.
But have you ever tried to look for a recipe at dinner time only to have the internet or a website be down or you couldn’t find the recipe you were looking for? This doesn’t happen when you have a recipe binder with your family’s favorite recipes already printed out.
How will this printable pack benefit me?
-
- Prepare more meals at home and spend less money eating out by using a family recipe binder with your family’s favorite recipes.
- Find the recipe you want for dinner without worrying about a slow internet connection or a website being down.
- Save your ink or toner by only printing the pages you need. Plus, these printables don’t include extra design elements that use up a lot of ink.
- Get help with meal planning by handing your recipe binder off to family members to let them have a say in what you prepare for dinner this week.
- Use my favorite family recipes to get started, including links to online recipes where possible. You don’t have to have your own collection of recipes. Start with my:
- 50+ dinner ideas (most with links to online recipes)
- 30+ side dish ideas (most with links to online recipes)
- 10+ breakfast ideas (most with links to online recipes)
- Plus lunch ideas, dessert ideas, appetizer and snack ideas, holiday recipe ideas
It is only $17!
You will have immediate access to this digital product immediately after checkout
