Works for Me Wednesday

It’s another Works for Me Wednesday post!

First, thanks for your grace on these days when I don’t post until late in the evening. With school back in session it is nearly impossible for me to get an early post out if it is not prepared the day before. And since I’ve been encountering some “writer’s block”, prepped posts are hard to come by these days. 🙂

Three Tips for Today:

First, the recipe book:

I used to have a cabinet above my microwave stuffed with magazine clippings and random recipes. It was a mess. A few years back I got this fabulous idea to put all of my random recipes into a 3-ring binder to keep them organized. It’s fabulous! I bought a large binder, some vinyl page protector sleeves, and a set of tabbed dividers.

The categories are: Beverages, Breakfasts, Breads/Muffins/Rolls, Appetizers, Salads/Soups/Sandwiches, Sides and Main Dishes, Desserts, and Kid Stuff (where I stash recipes for things like Peanut Butter play doh. 🙂 )

If a recipe is from a magazine, I typically just tape or paste it to a piece of white printer paper, and slip the page into my vinyl page protector. The page protectors keep the recipe clean and safe from splatters during food prep. I also will print out many recipes now and just slip the paper into the cover. Instant organization. Can’t beat it!

You could go all kinds of crazy with this thing. I opted to tame my OCD and *not* alphabetize the recipes because I knew that this would wreak havoc on my psyche when I went to add recipes later and would then have to move things around. It can make finding a recipe a little slower, but I still manage to find them.

Second, early meal prep:

This is one of those things I sort of *knew* from experience, but was encouraged by a friend to make it a daily habit. And it is fabulous! I don’t know that it will happen every day, but even three times a week could make a radical difference in my afternoon stress levels.

Basically, you have dinner prepped and ready to go by lunch time. It could be a crock pot meal, assembling your casserole and putting it in the fridge for the day, or at the very least prepping all your ingredients for that must-be-made-fresh meal ahead of time.

This is a picture of our dinner which I had assembled and in the fridge by 9:45 this morning.

Third, hang it up!

This is another one of those super-simple things I stumbled across today and will make a new habit. I get tired of having to look over my mixing bowls to see my recipe or constantly moving it out of the way. So, today I taped it to the back splash. Perfect! Eye-level and out of harm’s way!