School is either back, or almost back in full swing and things around your house have probably gotten a lot busier! This is no reason to put healthy weeknight dinners on hold. Follow these steps right now, to build your unique easily accessible, recipe book filled with your favourite healthy meals.
If you only want the highlights, listen to this short video outlining how to build your own recipe book:
3 Tips to Building Your Recipe Book
- Make your recipes easily accessible. Yes, we live in a digital age where we can quickly type in ‘chicken stirfry‘ and 500 recipes pop-up. But if you have a favourite version of a meal, print it off as soon as you find it. I’ve lost a few of my preferred recipes when sites have gone under or refreshed their content and erased a lot of their libraries. Don’t learn this lesson the hard way like I have.
- Go old school and print your recipes. I know from experience that a printed recipe is so much easier to refer to when your hands are covered in whatever you’re cooking (think raw chicken parts – ewww!), and you don’t want to touch your phone to refresh the recipe. It’s also much quicker to build your grocery list from glancing through physical recipes. We all like to make our own tweaks to a recipe. When it’s printed, you can jot down any changes you make to the original right there, so you don’t forget exactly how to re-create your masterpiece the next time.
- Be organized. I put all of my favourite recipes in a folder in the kitchen for convenience and quick use. As you build up your recipe book, save even more time by keeping your recipes in a folders organized by category. I break mine out into side dishes, slow cooker meals, mains, desserts, etc.
- Remember to use it. This sounds obvious, but it’s sometimes not. I’ve known people to spend the time building their books, only to have them collect dust in a drawer. Once you’ve built your recipe book, refer to it weekly when you’re planning out your upcoming menu. It can be very overwhelming to continuously search for, and attempt to create five new dinners throughout the week. You’ve spent the time building your recipe tool, so use it! Try limiting yourself to one or two new recipes weekly, and rely on old standbys that you already know you like, for the rest of the week.
To Sum it up…Healthy Weeknight Dinners
Take a few minutes today, to create a list of your top ten favourite healthy meals. Make your printed recipe book easily accessible, keep it organized and remember to use it! Try rotating one or two of these meals into your regular weekly dinners to speed up and simplify things for yourself. This habit will ensure that you and your family get some healthy variety into your busy weeknights. Back-to-school craziness is no reason to fall out of your healthy living routine!