I had 10 years of Cooking Light's and many magazines that were given to me by friends after they read it. I had recipes flagged and page corners folded down, but I rarely looked in them when it came time to meal planning or when I needed some menu inspiration. I went, instead, to my cookbooks and my recipe binder if I was getting in a rut or needing something new.
Enter some minimalism blogs, which I started reading about a year or two ago, and a new mission took root. A mission to reduce the amount of stuff we have. We have too. much. stuff. Not hoarder-type quantity by any means, but the normal we-have-2-kids-and-they've-had-lots-of-birthdays type stuff. And the while-the-kids-were-not-sleeping-we-were-zombies-and-we-were-just-trying-to-keep-our-heads-above-water type stuff.
It got to the point where enough was enough. I don't want my stuff to own me and I don't want to spend my time cleaning around all this stuff OR looking for things when I need them because I can't find which room/bin they are in. The solution was clear. I needed to reduce the amount of stuff we have. So little by little and, literally, one item at a time, I began to get rid of what no longer served me. There's such a sense of relief that comes when ridding your space of things you don't love, use, want, or need anymore.
After being on the get-rid-of-one-thing-a-day routine for maybe about a year, I began going through all of my Cooking Light magazines. I had since stopped my subscription but still had about 10 years of magazines in all sitting on my shelves. I gave myself a wide window of time in which to go through them, and it probably took 3-4 weeks of slowly going through each issue. I tore out the recipes that looked interesting and tried to be honest about only taking ones that I could and would actually make for my family. It ended up being a LOT of pages but I was able to recycle so much more than I kept. The upside is that I now have lots of room on my bookshelf. That breathing space just makes me feel so much better.
That part of the project was a few months ago and the torn-out pages have been stacked in my closet ever since.
I was starting to get annoyed every time I went into my closet (which is every day!) because I would constantly run into "the stack" so I started thinking about why they were still there. I mean I KNOW why they were still there: I had put them there and then not done anything else. But *why* had I left them there? What was stopping me from continuing?
It turns out that the project stalled because I didn't have 3-ring binders (lame) and never wrote them on my shopping list (double lame) and I knew my current category system wasn't going to work because I had changed the way I thought about my whole system since it was created back when I ate meat and therefore had different classifications and processes for how I prepared meals. The 3-ring binders would be easy to acquire but I knew I'd need to give more thought to the actual system and I didn't want to tackle that at the time.
Last week I saw a few large 3-ring binders that had been tossed in the recycling bin and just the sight of them re-ignited my energy for this step of the project, I grabbed those binders, and I plowed through to the finish, putting the binders to good use!
There were some things I had to compromise in the process if I was to continue. Up until now, each of my recipes were kept in clear page protectors, which are perfect for the inevitable splatters and spills that happen during the natural course of cooking. I didn't have enough page protectors at home, nor did I want to buy new ones. So what did I do? I was fierce and did without them. Yep, I punched holes in the magazine pages, and put them in their proper section sans the plastic protector. Most, if not all, of these magazine recipes are ones that I haven't ever cooked before and I made a deal with myself that the ones that I end up loving will graduate to page-protector-housing and ones that I don't love will go straight to the recycling bin. Good stuff!
I currently have the following sections spread over 4 binders (though one of the binders is a super small one, so it will likely be down to 3 in the near future):
- Breakfast/Brunch
- Appetizers, Dips, & Snacks
- Sauces/Rubs/Marinades
- Salads
- Soups
- Grains
- Pasta
- Pizza
- Sandwiches
- Veggies
- Beans/Lentils
- Eggs/Dairy
- Tofu/Tempeh
- Bread
- Dessert
- Smoothies/Beverages
- Energy bars, gels, bites/Granola Bars (yes, strange but true. I have a section for pre-, mid-, and post-workout foods from when I was making my own grub for distance cycling)
- Holiday - a place I can go for when I need to find my favorite recipes that I make once or twice a year when the holiday rolls on by
- Menu Inspiration - articles and notes that are menu driven or where a specific menu is suggested; this helps me when it comes time for entertaining and I completely blank out
- and then there's a special tab for Mike that, for now, I have labeled "Meat for Mike" which makes me laugh... This is my go-to tab for his specific meat-centric favorites (ex. Filet Mignon with Merlot Sauce)
I feel so much better now that all my recipes are in one place, can easily be found, and that I can walk into my closet again without coming face-to-face with an unfinished project!
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