Free Printable Recipe Cards

On Christmas Eve I had a really bad day. I had been to the emergency vet not once, twice, but three times in less than 24 hours. And as I was in there having a terrible day, their staff was being really awesome. And when I received a card from them a few days later I realized just how truly awesome these people really were. Wanting to do something nice for them I had planned to bake up a whole mess of my very best recipes of cookies.

Anytime I’ve ever brought a recipe, whether my own creation or borrowed from a book or magazine, I like to bring copies of the recipe for anyone who wants to make it themselves. And so, next to the plate of cookies or bowl of fruit salad I’ll leave a little stack of recipe cards for anybody who decides they want one.

I didn’t want to write out the recipes on 4×6 index cards because that just looks kind of blah.

And though you can purchase recipe cards ready to go, they can be kind of expensive. Which lead me to designing my very own printable recipe cards. But as I sat there writing and re-writing the same words over and over and over again my hand started to really hurt. And my penmanship got sloppy and I was generally unhappy with what I had created when I was done.

But then I remembered I made a living as a graphic freaking designer for many years and that I could make my own printable and editable PDF recipe card template. Duh! :) So I created a PDF so that I can just print and reprint my recipes instead of hand writing them all.

Today I’m sharing these free printable recipe cards with you.

I get that sometimes you just have a quick little recipe to jot down and for those we’ve got cards that are lined or unlined that you can hand write your recipes on. But if you’ve got a whole stack of the same recipe to make, just don’t like writing things out by hand, or want cards that are all uniform, we’ve got an editable PDF that you’re going to wig out over. And easy to follow directions to rock these babies out. First, let’s talk about what you’re going to need…

Supplies Needed for these DIY Free Recipe Cards:

• White Cardstock, Letter-Sized
• Printer
• Ruler
• Craft Knife with a Sharp Blade
• Cut Resistant Protective Gloves (optional but great if you’re clumsy and like your fingers)
• Recipe Card Box
• Free Printable Cards (download below)

How to Use Your Free Printable Recipe Cards :

Because these recipe cards are PDF documents you’ll need Adobe Reader to edit and print them. Luckily it’s a free program and if you need it, you can download it free from Adobe here.

First let’s talk about how to print your recipe cards:

After a lot of trial and effort I found that a double-sided recipe card worked best for me. Even though these are 4×6″ recipe cards, I still had trouble squeezing all of the text on a single side. And so, on the front we have ingredients and the back directions. I’ve found this to be much easier. However, printing them can take a little extra effort.

If you try to print your recipe cards double-sided straight from your printer, you might cut them to find that the front and backs do not match up. Here are the 4 steps you need to take to print your cards and spot on as possible.

1. Print only one side at a time, do not use the print double-sided option. Above you can see that under “Pages to Print” I selected “Pages” and entered 1.
2. Under “Page Sizing and Handling” Click the button for “Actual Size”.
3. Print the single page, let the ink dry, and then reload the paper as needed for the machine to print on the other side. Take note of how the paper comes out of the printer and flip it to print on the other side. There might be a bit of trial and effort so limit prints to 1 at a time until you’ve got the process worked out.
4. With the printed fronts loaded in the printer, under “Pages to Print” select “Pages” and enter 2. Run the cards through to print the backside.

Typing Your Recipe Cards to Print:

Typing up your recipe cards is so easy. Before printing you’ll just click your mouse cursor into each section to add the recipe name, ingredients, author, and directions. *Pro tip – you can hit the tab button to move to the next field to enter information quickly.

Once the cards have been typed up you can save them so that if you need to print again you won’t have to retype them. This is a fairly small file and saving your recipes shouldn’t take up tons of room on your computer.

When you’re ready to print, follow the same steps as above for recipe cards where the fronts and backs match up well.

Cutting out Your DIY Printable Recipe Cards

You have several options when it comes to cutting your recipe cards accurately. The first is using items you probably already have on hand… a craft knife and a ruler.

On the front side of each printed recipe sheet you’ll notice 6 faint, grey plus signs. You’ll use these to place your ruler for nice, clean cuts.

Take your ruler and match it up to the grey marks on one of the long edges of your printed recipe cards. Carefully slice the page and remove  the cut piece.

Continue cutting the cards out using the faint gray marks to guide your ruler placement.

Don’t worry if your cuts are absolutely perfect. If there is a little bit of grey left behind, it’s so faint it’s hardly noticeable. With the lines running off of the edge of the cards don’t these look totally professional!?!

Other Ways to Cut Out Your Cards

A guillotine paper cutter is the fastest and easiest way to cut out pretty much anything but they will cost between $30-40. If you craft with paper a lot this might be a good option for you. You can also use a sliding paper cutter which you might already have but it is the most difficult (though not impossible) way of cutting paper without cutting yourself. These run anywhere from $6-30 and can be purchased in craft stores or places like Target and Walmart. Feel free to experiment and use what you have. As long as you’re happy with the cuts you get, that’s all that really matters.

Whether you use our free lined, unlined, or typeable printable recipe cards, you’re sure to have the neatest recipe box around!