Works For Me Wednesday ~ Everyone Else Is Doing It, I Might As Well

I had such big plans today. The kids are at school, Talented Hubby is off on a DDO (Dad's Day Off - I had my MDO yesterday) and even the dog is snoring away next to me. I was going to clean up my corner of cyberspace a little, schedule a few posts, do a little housecleaning. And then I got onto one of my weird Pet Project tangents.

It all started when I went to the supermarket this morning. After I've picked up what's on my list, I like to cruise my favourite two aisles - stationery and homewares. Bearing in mind, this is a small suburban supermarket so there's not much range of either, but I like to poke at glass jars and Tupperware and laundry baskets and brand new pads of paper so I can usually find something useful. This is where I bought my trusty laminator - I paid $24 and use it all the time.

So anyway, I was perusing the stationery section and found the cutest little recipe boxes and pre-printed recipe cards. I've been using a small binder for my keeper recipes but haven't updated it for a long time and hello? This was much prettier, so I bought two. Why two? You'll see. I also bought several refill packs of the cards.


When I got home, I immediately set about hand-copying onto these cards. Then I started to wonder about spills and how I could protect the cardboard. I dragged out my clear contact paper to cover them and after fudging four or five (arrghh! the dreaded wrinkles!) I gave up on that idea. Then I realised the cards were about photo-size, and after a bit of a dig around the pit that is our home office area, I found my 6x4 (standard size photo) laminating sheets. Eureka!

I ran the first card - Fudge Brownies, of course! - through the laminator. Perfect. Much stronger and protected than contact paper would have been. Then I tried to put it back in the recipe box and it wouldn't fit. The box is designed to only just fit the width of the cards and the added few millimetres the laminating added meant they no longer fit. Darn it.


So, new plan. The file box will be kept for a different use, but I was left with nowhere to put these shiny new recipe cards. What to do? I'm frantically scouring the house looking for a suitable container, and then it dawned on me. Didn't I just buy a couple of flat-pack photo storage boxes a couple of weeks ago? Why yes, yes I did. Quick sticks, they were snapped together and the recipe cards (which are photo sized anyway) have found a new home.


Of course, I could have just bought the refil packs (currently propping up the scant finished cards) and saved myself $10 by not having to buy the original boxes which I won't use anyway, but you live and learn, LOL.

The thing I really like about these cards is that they have space for the ingredients on the front, but don't have the directions until you flip them over, so it makes it really, really easy when you're menu planning. You simply copy down everything on the front and ignore the back until cooking day. And I also intend writing out the ingredients lists for my really basic meals (the ones I know by heart) - won't need the directions section of course, but again, when I'm compiling my shopping list, I'll still have a ready-reckoner of what goes into our favourite meals.

The cards are easier to handle than binder sheet protector pages, and easier for little hands to hold. If they get wet, they get wiped off. Simple!

(Aussies, these are Woolworths new "Essentials" range if you want to go see for yourself)

Works for me!