By Nanci Dixon
I am packing up for six months on the road and I’ve decided I need to bring along a cookbook of my favorite RVing recipes so I have them all in one place. Last year I overpacked and weighed down an upper cabinet with way too many of my favorite cookbooks. It wasn’t a disaster—a finishing nail or two fixed it; but I don’t want to do that again. Instead, I gathered my favorite recipes and made my own traveling cookbook!
First: Purchases
I bought a one-and-a-half-inch binder, clear sleeves, and dividers. See more on that below.
Label dividers
I labeled the plastic divider categories: Appetizers, Breakfasts, Meats, Poultry, Soups, Veggies and Sides, Desserts and Instant Pot. The yellow divider below isn’t wide enough so I am going back for more of the tabbed, clear sheet protectors.
RVing recipe categories
I created and printed category pages with titles and photos. I did it simply in the “Pages” program on my Mac computer. Pages is not really for creating anything artsy, but I could add a title and a photo. There are numerous programs and apps available in app stores, too.
The category pages were purely for fun and weren’t necessary, but I liked going through old photos and finding the ones I liked. I do have a bit of an advantage in that I was a food photographer, so I had many to choose from. Some are from cookbooks I shot and some are from a favorite meal I’ve had. The veggies and sides photo below are the veggies from my garden!
Select RVing recipes
Then I selected existing printed recipes and put them into plastic sleeves. I often used recipes in cookbooks I copied on my printer. Some are even handwritten by my mom and grandma.
Binder
It would have been better to assemble the recipes and sleeves, then measure depth and buy the binder. At 1 1/2 inches it is packed already. A two-inch binder would have been better once I decided to put all my favorite recipes in, not just the ones we use RVing. Many different binders in a multitude of colors can be found on Amazon.
The binder has a place to put pamphlets in the front and back, so I used it to make a cookbook cover and store my Instant Pot user manual and paperwork.
I am really pleased with the outcome and even happier that I was able to eliminate all my hardbound cookbooks from the RV. It will be handy to have this at the house, too. Besides, if I don’t have the recipe in the binder there are thousands online to choose from!
Bon Appétit!
Here are some of Nanci’s favorite recipes:
- Easy ‘cheater’ homemade chicken noodle soup recipe perfect for RVing
- Recipe: Instant Pot Spicy Chicken Curry Soup (Warning: This WILL make you hungry)
- Instant Pot Cookin’: A fresh taste on a Southern dish
I have my favorite recipes on OneNote. When I am at home or near wifi, I can update it. But it is available on my phone even without online access. This is my file structure:
Appetizers
Breads
Desserts
Drinks
Main Dishes
Misc
Salads
Side Dishes
Snacks
Soups
Vegetables
We use Mealboard. No added weight or RV storage, plus it generates shopping checklists that can be easily modified to account for what you already have, or to add extras. Everything is shared between my wife’s and my phone, so either of us can shop.
I created one of these binder recipe books for my sticks and bricks. For a while I was making food for my in-laws who live next door. MIL has a lot of food restrictions and having recipes that are quick to access was a real help.
Others have suggested online storage (Mealboard, OneNote, etc) but I prefer a paper copy of the recipes.
I keep all my favs in Pinterest.. if I have cell service I have internet and this takes up zero room in my rv.
Thank you, Nanci! What a great idea, and an excellent way to preserve family recipes without wearing out the original! Thanks again, and safe travels! 🙂
I have an old-fashioned recipe box with note cards. It’s divided into all categories and on the back of each card is the date last cooked. If being out of RV for repairs or visiting family just grab and go! Probably weighs less than a binder and we all know how important weight is
We have been using this binder system for our favourite recipes when we are home, then just taking the binder when we go away for the winter. Brilliant idea if I say so myself! lol
My wife uses perforated metal magazine holders, 2, for the bulk of her recipes. They fit in the cabinet upright easily and can be carried into another location when we are going to be staying away from the coach for any length of time.
Great ideas! Over a 50 year period I have collected well over 75 cookbooks but find I rarely use them! My favorites and special holiday recipes are the ones copied from friends, torn out of magazines or jotted on a recipe card by someone more organized than I. All of these have made their way into 4×6 small photo albums. These are what I carry in our MH. If I need something new…like the Satay I recently had…there’s the internet! At 77 most of my cooking is by habit or memory.
I quit taking physical books and have my favorite recipes archived as PDF files saved on a USB stick I can load to my laptop, tablet or smartphone . I also look up new recipes online. Less stuff to haul and store.
I love cooking and graduated to an e-recipe app a few years back. All in my phone and tablet, no paper involved. Plus I can create shopping lists and menus to reference while shopping – a TOTAL game changer! And so now my binder of fav printed recipes stays at home. 😊