For as long as I can remember, my nana was always cooking and baking. And she was the BEST cook ever. She also collected recipes. They came from newspapers, magazines, handwritten notes, and whatever scrap of paper happened to be nearby at the time. Some were neatly cut out, others were quickly torn and saved with the intention of using them later. Over the years, all of those pieces ended up in a box. I’m sharing how I transformed her boxes of recipes into a Junk Journal Recipe Book, so let’s get started!
How I Turned a Box of Recipes Into a Junk Journal Recipe Book
Nana’s recipe box was passed on to my mom, and eventually it made its way to me. It wasn’t organized, and it definitely wasn’t labeled, but it held decades of memories. I knew I wanted to do something with it, but I also knew I didn’t want to strip away what made it special.
At first, I thought I would organize everything the “right” way. I pictured neat sections, labeled categories, and everything in its place. Desserts here, main dishes there, maybe even tabs to make it easy to flip through. I tried to start that way, but it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t going to work for me. It felt forced, like I was trying to take something that had grown naturally over time and make it fit into a system it didn’t belong in. It took the personality out of it, and honestly, it made me not want to work on it at all.
So I stopped trying to organize it and went in a completely different direction.
Instead of focusing on categories, I started putting pages together based on how things looked and felt together. I didn’t follow any rules. I just worked with what I had and built each page in a way that felt right. It ended up looking more like a junk journal than a traditional recipe book, and that’s exactly why it works. Some pages are layered and full, while others are simple. Some recipes are front and center, and others are tucked into pockets or layered behind other pieces. There’s no strict order to it, but I still know where everything is. It reminds me of a workspace that might look messy to someone else, but you know exactly where to find what you need.
As I went through everything, one of the things I loved most was seeing which recipes had clearly been used over and over again. You can tell just by looking at them. Some of the cards have naturally aged from being handled so many times—probably a little butter here, a little flour there. Nothing over the top, but enough to show they were part of everyday life. They didn’t stay perfect, and I love that because it tells you which recipes really mattered.
There were also so many little details I wasn’t expecting to find. Some of the recipes have old newspaper ads printed on the back, the kind people try to recreate now for junk journals, except these are the originals. I also came across things I had completely forgotten about, like a lunch menu from when I was a kid with what I wanted circled back in 1983. Another one was from when my mom was young, with meals that cost around 20 cents. Those are the kinds of things you just can’t recreate. You could rewrite the recipe itself, but you can’t replace that history.
At one point, I considered scanning everything and reprinting it so it would all look clean and uniform, but that didn’t feel right either. Instead, I chose to laminate the pieces I didn’t want to lose. Not to make them perfect, but to protect them so they’ll last. That way I can still use them without worrying about them falling apart, and they still look and feel like the originals.
Something else I noticed while putting this together is that most of the actual written recipes are baked goods. That makes sense because baking usually requires measurements. Cooking, at least in my family, was completely different. My nana never measured anything. She cooked by memory and by feel, just eyeballing ingredients and adjusting as she went. That’s how she taught me, and it’s how my mom and I still cook now. Even today, when someone asks me for a recipe, I usually don’t have one to give because it was never written down that way. It’s just something I know how to make.
Some of the pieces in this book make me smile because they aren’t really recipes at all. They’re just lists of ingredients with no measurements or instructions, written down so she wouldn’t forget something. And honestly, that says more about how those recipes were used than a perfectly written version ever could.
Even though the book is finished, I didn’t want it to feel completely closed off. I left space so I can go back and add more over time. I’d like to include photos of my nana and my mom from back in the day, and even things like my nana’s funeral program. Not to make it sad, but to keep everything connected in one place. This isn’t just a recipe book. It’s a collection of memories that all tie back to the same people and moments.
If I had forced this into a perfectly organized system, I probably wouldn’t have finished it, and even if I had, it wouldn’t feel like this. Letting it be what it naturally wanted to be made the process more enjoyable and the end result more meaningful. Now it’s something I’ll actually reach for and use, not just something that looks good sitting on a shelf.
I share a detailed look of the finished recipe book on my YouTube Channel, see it below. I also linked some of the tools used to make it, so be sure to check it out!
If you have a box of recipes or something similar tucked away somewhere, waiting for the “right” time to organize it, this is your reminder that it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be categorized or follow any kind of system. It just has to feel right to you. I’d love to know how you would approach something like this, would you organize it, or lean into something more like a memory book?
Other Recipe related crafts:
How to Make A Recipe Keepsake with Sublimation and Dollar Tree
How to Make a Handwritten Recipe Tea Towel
Happy Crafting!
- Unlocking Sublimation: A Guide to Sublimation
- Sublimation Oven or Cricut Mug Press – Which is Best?
- HTVRONT Auto Heat Press Product Review
- Cricut Maker VS Cricut Maker 3 – Which Cricut Machine is Right for you?
- Cricut Glue Gun Product Review
- How to Sublimate Frosted Glass Can Tumblers with the Cricut Mug Press
- How to Sublimate Tumblers with the Cricut Mug Press
- How to Sublimate on Wood With or Without a Sublimation Printer