“What am I having for dinner tonight?” That dreaded question you have to ask yourself at the end of each day. When takeout for a third night in a row seems excessive, your brain is devoid of new meal ideas, and you wish you just had a menu to choose from, the answer might be simpler than you think: check your recipe book.
This isn’t exactly an original experience, but I constantly forget what I enjoy cooking and eating — all the time. I’ll have three solid recipes bobbing around in my head, and as soon as a new one shows up on the scene, one of the originals gets pushed out.
Eventually, I found a solution. I started my own recipe book — and you can too.
My recipe book is a collection of my favorite recipes with my own personalized instructions and notes. It allows me to go back and find meal inspiration that I already know I can make and enjoy. It’s unbelievably useful and unbelievably easy to make. Just grab a journal and start writing!
starting the cookbook
I started mine back in October, the first recipe I added was Tini’s mac and cheese, and after about four attempts, my entry now has a million little tips and clarifications for future me. I’m able to improve on each iteration, and my culinary skills improve too.
The great thing about a DIY recipe book is that you can entirely customize it to fit your needs and organize it in a way that makes sense to you. In my own, I use symbols to quickly and easily categorize my recipes. Abbreviations for breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, and desserts, little shapes to differentiate the type of protein, and even some little symbols to let me know if it’s a quick meal or a time commitment. These are all drawn in the top right corner for the easiest perusal.Â
For the crafty girls out there, it’s fun to decorate. For my nostalgic girls out there, not only is it useful, but it’s also a cute little memento to have from your time in college.Â
a unique momento
It’s a scrapbook of sorts that covers another part of the college experience, nourishing yourself, completely by yourself, for the first time. It’s another keepsake you can look back on to reminisce. Make all the little notes in the margins so one day you can remake that recipe and let your senses transport you to undergrad. Whether you start a new one post-grad or keep it going until the pages run out, it’s fun to look back and see all the go-to meals you had once upon a time.Â
This project motivates experimentation but also holds your tried-and-true recipes for when you can’t be bothered to think of something new.Â
Bonus: Combine this with an ongoing grocery list, and it’s smooth sailing. My grocery list has all the basics written down and divided into categories. Whenever it comes time to shop, I take inventory and then pick and choose what I need from a smaller list.
Don’t wait for the perfect journal or a sudden burst of culinary genius. Grab that unused notebook sitting on your shelf and write down that one meal you know by heart. Whether it becomes a meticulously organized guide or a haphazard collection, your future hungry self will thank you.
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