Food-Related Software

[Andy Lynes]

But nobody takes my brilliant ideas seriously.

I'm just glad that someone took one of my brilliant ideas seriously.

i expertly PM'd jason and steven regarding this very idea long before you even registered.

The reality is that from the word go, from the time when a mysterious gentlemenan with the initials AB was still involved, an eGullet recipe book/archive was on the cards. Yours truely was nominated to capture all the recipes posted to the site and save them on my hard drive for just such a venture.

Well, I'm sure this will not come as a surprise to anyone (God, I hope it doesn't), but the number of posts has made this an impossible task and one that I quietly gave up quite soon after we launched and the traffic started to ramp up. I'm not entirely sure if it was anyone in particular's idea, but I'm fairly sure it could have been mine as I got stuck with the job of collecting the damn things, and I did have quite a few until my computer crashed in the winter of 2001, honest!

[tommy]

oh andy, i was just joshin'. although i'd like to have a source for recipes, i have been against fitting it into the current format of the board for various reasons, most of which i've expressed before. however, i'm looking forward to this project.

[Andy Lynes]

I was just using your post as an excuse to confess. I feel much better now.

[muon]

The scope-creep on this one will be fun to watch.

Yours truely was nominated to capture all the recipes posted to the site and save them on my hard drive for just such a venture.

Suggestion: rather than getting all fancy with new software, why can't we just have Andy enable sharing on his hard drive, over the net, and then we can browse the recipes stored there (along with everything else) at our leisure?

--m.

[guajolote]

The scope-creep on this one will be fun to watch. 

It's already turning into the Pentagon's next tank.

[bigbear]

I suggest using a lower-case "t" to signify teaspoonsful and an upper-case "T" for tablespoonsful. There, I feel that I have contributed.

[vengroff]

The scope-creep on this one will be fun to watch. 

It's already turning into the Pentagon's next tank.

There are many good ideas here, but they are not all going to show up right off the bat. Instead, we're going for something relatively straightforward and as robust as possible.

I actually think we have a pretty good handle on the scope of v1.0 of this project. It's going to allow entry, editing, search, and links to threads, probably some scaling, and perhaps a couple of other features.

Of course, I'm tracking this thread and keeping up with all the great suggestions. I'm just trying not to make a lot of new promises for the first release.

Please continue posting the good ideas. But remember, as I said before, don't think of this as anything but vaporware just yet.

[EJRothman]

Hi,

I recently posted a thread asking about a recipe computer. Thanks to various e-gullet-ers I was able to track it down (the Brother Kitchen Assistant), but aparently it was overpriced and crappy because it has been discontinued.

Undaunted, however, I am still in search of a way to organize the slew of recipes I have stored on my computer. Thus, I am asking for suggestions for quality recipe software programs that will allow me to efficiently catalogue my collection.

Thanks,

-Eric

[Jason Perlow]

http://recipes.egullet.com, soon coming to a browser near you.

[JAZ]

Undaunted, however, I am still in search of a way to organize the slew of recipes I have stored on my computer.  Thus, I am asking for suggestions for quality recipe software programs that will allow me to efficiently catalogue my collection.

Thanks,

-Eric

I have Master Cook, which works pretty well. The printing function in the version I have is cumbersome and not very flexible, but I've heard that the later versions fixed this problem. Master Cook comes in packages, the difference being the recipes included. I got the Food and Wine package (I know there's also a Cooking Light package too). The F&W version includes some basic wine info, and some pretty good sounding recipes from Food and Wine magazine. Although I didn't purchase it for the recipes, it was a nice extra to get some usable ones.

The software gives you the ability to generate shopping lists, create and store menus, create nutritional breakdowns and that sort of thing, but I haven't used those functions much.

[nightscotsman]

MasterCook = Windows only

[babka]

I use my palm pilot as my traveling book o' recipes, transferring anything and everything useful from the web to my Palm's "Memos," which move handily into the kitchen for cooking.

which is to say, I've got a jumbo of too many memos to count on the little doo-dad, and I need organizational help. Has anyone seen a reasonable cookbook utility for the Palms? I want something simple--copy recipe from web, paste into file, and sort by title, dish type, main ingredient--ideally with an option to upload back onto my desktop and then print out requested recipes.

[iain]

I haven't really tested any of these, but there seem to be a lot to choose from. The PalmOne site lists a slew of recipe organizers.

[memesuze]

I have a Sony Clie SJ22- using the Palm OS, with Documents to Go that came free with my first Clie, an SL10. With that software, I can load any of my Word doc files for perusal, searching, and editing on the Clie. It's available from Dataviz [www.dataviz.com] for $30. It also lets me load my excel spreadsheets, one of which is a wine-to-look-for list.

I'm not sure if that would work for you, or how much you want to pay for the software.

[Nancy Berry]

I use a recipe database program published by Valusoft called MasterCook Deluxe 7.0. This latest version of the MasterCook program includes PDA software for both the Palm OS and the Pocket PC. Here's the info taken from the help files of MasterCook:

PDA Software Overview

MasterCook 7 now supports downloading recipes and shopping lists to a PDA. In order to view the MasterCook recipes and shopping lists on your device, you need the MasterCook viewer software installed on your handheld. This software is supplied for Pocket PC and Palm OS devices on the MasterCook 7 installation disk. The PDA software allows you to do the following on your handheld:

· Download & View MasterCook 7 Shopping Lists

· Download & View MasterCook 7 Recipes

· Add New Recipes and Shopping Lists

· Edit Recipes and Shopping Lists

· “Check off” items in your shopping lists as you buy them

· Sort by shopping list items by store location (aisle, department, etc)

· Choose to show all shopping list items, only those you have, or only those you need

Note: At this time you cannot upload the recipes and shopping lists on your PDA back to the MasterCook program.

You can learn more about MasterCook at Valusoft.com

[lorea]

I would heartily recommend SmartShopper. You can customize it for any of the fields you want, and you can use it for many other things (especially for grocery shopping!). Also, there's a desktop version so it's easy to copy and paste recipes into it.

Now, I just my recipes onto an online forum, and I can use my web-enabled palm to access it anytime. (see my post in the Transfering Recipes to Computer, Best way? topic...http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=31630)

[Mayhaw Man]

I have a large project and need some decent recipe/cookbook software. Has there been any improvement on any of the things mentioned in this thread and if not, has anyone come out with anything new that I might consider?

My goals are to have the recipes I am working with in usable, readable, printable, and emailable form both in a group and as individual recipes. Do I ask too much? Am I dreaming? Help me out here. I can't put this off much longer.

Thanks,

Your disorganized pen pal,

Brooks

[fifi]

I need to do the same thing.

I have been keeping my recipes in Word for years just because I am comfortable with it. Now that I have Word 2003 on the new laptop, I am exploring what all you can do with "master documents" and "subdocuments". One of my contractor/consultants really likes it.

At this point, that is about as far as I am willing to go because if I have to completely learn even one new piece of software or company based system I am going to go barking mad.

[rajsuman]

Hi,

I know this topic has been discussed earlier under a different heading, but I'd like to know something specific:

Does any software give you the option of editing the categories/cuisine etc.? For example if I want to add, say, 'Japanese cuisine' or remove 'appetisers', would I be able to do that?

What is the best software on the market?

Thanks,

Suman

[FistFullaRoux]

Funny you should mention that...

I'm in the process of reimmersing myself in Visual Basic, and that was kind of the first thing I wanted to build. I haven't decided if I am going to do it as a standalone program, or as an Access database.

List your dream features here, along with the basics you think it should include, and I may (possibly, perhaps, might) actually get something along those lines done.

But don't hold me to a date on this. It's a spare time only thing, but something I can add to a programming "portfolio" as it were.

[rajsuman]

This is such a coincidence! If I am to be completely honest, I was initially thinking of custom-building a recipe management software myself. I've had a look at a few samples and have been listing what features of those I like the best. I love working with databases, and I was, like you, leaning towards Access and VB. The problem is, I have to brush up a bit on my fundas and right now I have very little time. My priority is to just get a few of my best recipes organised in the shortest possible time. I want to give a set to my mum as a present. However if you want a hand, just PM me and I'll try my best to help.

Suman

[GSBravo]

You should look for Accuchef, which I don't remember who does that one.

I think that it would be suitable, for what you have stated. You can edit the categories however you please and palce different items into multiple categories.

Additionally, PDA Cookbook by Wakefieldsoft will allow you to do the same thing.

[Batuta]

The Living Cookbook also allows you to customize sections very easily.

You can take it out on a "trial run" for free at http://www.livingcookbook.com/

Actually, it's pretty decent software, but like all of them, has a few glitches.

Edited July 14, 2004 by Batuta (log)

[Daddy-A]

I use Easy Recipe Deluxe ... check it out here.

It allows you to categorize by Category, Cuisine style & Main Ingredient.

My only concern with this programme, as it is with all task specific software, what do you do if the company stops supporting it? We've got about 2 years of recipe input into this. Backups won't do you any good unless there's a programme that will accept your data.

DA

[FistFullaRoux]

I use Easy Recipe Deluxe ... check it out here.

It allows you to categorize by Category, Cuisine style & Main Ingredient.

My only concern with this programme, as it is with all task specific software, what do you do if the company stops supporting it? We've got about 2 years of recipe input into this. Backups won't do you any good unless there's a programme that will accept your data.

DA

That's one of the things to look into. The ability to import from other programs would be key, but the other program has to allow you to do backups or export your data. I'm not sure about having the ability to go in and fish it out for itself, though.

What are some of the other progs in use?