Recipe Organization Software


 
C

Chris Derum

TVWBB Member
I was wondering if anyone is using and/or recommend a good recipe organization software. I googled it and came up with a few, but wondered which one is the most user friendly. We have recipes everywhere...multiple binders, cookbook pages flagged, web pages saved in favorites etc. It would be nice to consolidate them all in one place.
 
Chris,

For whatever reason, my computer did not like Master Cook, and I ended up with Living Cookbook. I can not compare the two, but copying a recipe from the internet or inputing a recipe is fairly simple. For organization I would give it an ok rating. It has served my purposes.

Q'n, Golf'n & Grill'n.... too many choices!
Gary
 
Chris, I also have MasterCook and like it. Here is their Help Site. Many people who are interested in MasterCook ask questions there and I think they will lead you to a comparison chart with various cooking programs---if I remember correctly. They are very good about answering questions, newbie and advanced. Most of the questions on the Help site seem to be about using the program rather than something wrong with it.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MastercookDiscussion/

On the other hand, before I began MasterCook, I had a dedicated folder in M/S Word for Recipes and many sub-folders such as Beef, Poultry-Chicken, Poultry-Turkey, Seafood-Finfish, Seafood-Shellfish (so named to keep them in the proper order), etc.

After you get a lot of recipes in the folders, you might want to sub-folder those in the Beef folder to Beef/Braised, Beef/Grilled, etc....Shrimp, Clams, etc.

This way I can copy a recipe from a website, drop it into Notepad to remove formatting, and then paste it into a Recipe Template in Word, and then save it in an appropriate folder.

Going back to MasterCook, one nice thing about it is the ability to scale recipes up or down. And if you are interested in nutrition, you can enter the ingredients in the proper way (so that they conform to M/C's ingredient list), you will have the nutritional information of the recipe. You can also add new ingredients to the list.

Rita
 
Originally posted by Chris Derum:
I was wondering if anyone is using and/or recommend a good recipe organization software. I googled it and came up with a few, but wondered which one is the most user friendly. We have recipes everywhere...multiple binders, cookbook pages flagged, web pages saved in favorites etc. It would be nice to consolidate them all in one place.
Click to expand...

Like others I have Mastercook, and I like it quite a bit. However, you might want to check out Living Cookbook.
http://www.livingcookbook.com/
I like it better. The next version is in final Beta, and the developer runs the forum and keeps the software up to date and answers questions. It has a much easier-to-use printing feature, if your interested in printing cookbooks. It will import almost any cookbook software's recipes, so you can get Mastercook formatted recipes on the web (which are pretty common) and import them.

The thing I don't like about Mastercook is that it's not clear what the company which owns it is planning for development. The last several versions have had very few feature changes, even those that have been requested for quite awhile, like better printing.
 
Of course your choice will be according to how much you want and how you want to use the recipe program. Here is a little more information from someone who knows a lot more about these recipe programs and can explain them better than I can:

“MasterCook already does what most people want and is wonderful in its current state. After all, Microsoft doesn't do a very good job giving a clear indication of what's coming up in its future either, nor does it release a new engine on even a biyearly basis.
icon_wink.gif


Living Cookbook will need to create new updates on a regular basis to catch up to all the functionality that is missing that MasterCook has. Furthermore, Living Cookbook won't print an entire cookbook. It defers you to Word instead. You must have Word to print with that program.

MasterCook printing module is very complex giving the user much flexibility in changing the designs and adding clipart and text boxes, etc. There are many users who have successfully printed many cookbooks with MasterCook, even for charity events! They all have praises for MasterCook.“

Again, Version 9 is the latest. Please DO NOT purchase a download; it is flawed. Here it is on Amazon, with credit to go to TVWB if you choose to buy it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000B7TBNE/thevirtualweberb

Rita
 
I would respectfully disagree about the feature set. But anyone can compare and see which works better for them. Living Cookbook is finishing its Beta release of the next version. It is scheduled for release on August 1. It has the ability to print through its own new and quite powerful printing engine as well as to MS Word.

Originally posted by Rita Y:
Of course your choice will be according to how much you want and how you want to use the recipe program. Here is a little more information from someone who knows a lot more about these recipe programs and can explain them better than I can:

“MasterCook already does what most people want and is wonderful in its current state. After all, Microsoft doesn't do a very good job giving a clear indication of what's coming up in its future either, nor does it release a new engine on even a biyearly basis.
icon_wink.gif


Living Cookbook will need to create new updates on a regular basis to catch up to all the functionality that is missing that MasterCook has. Furthermore, Living Cookbook won't print an entire cookbook. It defers you to Word instead. You must have Word to print with that program.

MasterCook printing module is very complex giving the user much flexibility in changing the designs and adding clipart and text boxes, etc. There are many users who have successfully printed many cookbooks with MasterCook, even for charity events! They all have praises for MasterCook.“

Again, Version 9 is the latest. Please DO NOT purchase a download; it is flawed. Here it is on Amazon, with credit to go to TVWB if you choose to buy it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000B7TBNE/thevirtualweberb

Rita
Click to expand...
 
i *think* what she means scott is order the actual cd with the software; if you by it via download at their site there is a problem.
 
It didn't work as claimed.... It was about a year ago, and I worked with the tech and web support, and could not get it to funtion properly.


Gary
 
Gary, did you work with the ValuSoft tech support? They really don't support MasterCook as well as the Yahoo Help group and often refer people over to them:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MastercookDiscussion/

These people are very good, and they are tenacious about tracking down a problem if you have the patience to stick with it. Won't cost anything to try, if you're curious

Rita
 
I use version 8.0 and have zero problems with it. I opted for 8.0 verses 9.0 because it was about 1/2 price. Been using it for about 2 years and would be lost without it. JM .02
 
Wow, Gary. That's pretty rare that they can't come up with a solution. I suppose you all thought of a damaged CD. I'm no help there. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

Rita
 
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