So, if you have many awesome cookbooks like me (i.e. too many, but you use them all, so there!), you need to keep things organized. There’s nothing worse than having the perfect soup recipe for an occasion and not knowing which cookbook it’s in! And then having to waste your time Googling for 30 minutes…
And yes, to make this work you need to invest in tabs. For the best prices check Amazon. I know, I buy a plethora of tabs because I love them and they don’t re-stick that well.
So, I started doing this organizational hack for cookbooks and realized it may help others.
1) “MUST KEEP THIS AND MAKE AGAIN” TABS: The large top tabs are made of 3×3″ post-it notes cut in half. I make sure to put them on the right side page of the cookbook so you can see the labeled tabs from the front.
2) “RECIPE TO TRY IMMEDIATELY” TABS: The tab sticking out at the top right of the cookbook, diagonally, is only for recipes I plan to make very soon. For instance, I will go to the grocery store, come back, and lose my recipe unless I do this! It saves time! You could even Sharpie label this tab with the recipe name, if you had multiple “recipes to try immediately” tabs.
3) “NEED TO TRY LATER” TABS: The tabs sticking out on the right side are tabs labeling recipes I want to make in the future.
So, if a side tab becomes a “must make again” recipe (because I made the recipe and it is a knockout!), then I take the time to make a labeled TOP tab with the name of the recipe for easy access.
Hopefully this helps someone in internet land who loves to cook…
I love this idea. I always have too many tabs sticking out of my cookbooks. It’s very unorganized and confusing. I plan to try this one. Thanks for the tips.
Thank you! I like to stay organized. I still use this idea today!