Cookbook Software

[MsAnya]

I'm thinking about putting together a book of recipes I love the most. Just a copy for me and my mother but I want it to look really nice. Does anyone know of any software that would help with that? Other then Word.

 

[Andy M.]

Check out this earlier thread

 

[sattie]

A co worker of mine just turned me on to Master Cook today... have not had a chance to load it yet, but I'm hearing that it's the BOMB!!!!

 

[MsAnya]

Check out this earlier thread

Thanks so much for the link! I should have just searched to begin with. Tsk tsk. Lazy me!

 

[vyapti]

I use Diet Pro and love it. It does a great job with recipes, nutritional information, etc and also tracks exercise, nutrition intake, etc. It will also let you copy and paste recipes from the internet into its system.

The same company has Living Cookbook which was the best recipe software that I found when I looked a couple years ago. It also will publish your recipes as a cookbook in Word.

Both have free trials that you can download.

 

[cheftom]

I use Living Cookbook and Big Oven

 

[Sage]

BigOven Deluxe Inspired Cooking

I use Living Cookbook and Big Oven

I am very interested in this program.
I have a few question maybe you can help me with...
Can I download it on my PC as well as my laptop for the same price?
Can I add my recipes I have posted in another website?
Can I add my own pictures to my recipes?
Can I email recipes to friends?
Can I print out recipes?
Thanks; I had MasterCook for years but Was never really happy with it
This program sound wonderful.
Sage

 

[cheftom]

I am very interested in this program.
I have a few question maybe you can help me with...
Can I download it on my PC as well as my laptop for the same price?
Can I add my recipes I have posted in another website?
Can I add my own pictures to my recipes?
Can I email recipes to friends?
Can I print out recipes?
Thanks; I had MasterCook for years but Was never really happy with it
This program sound wonderful.
Sage

I think you can only run the program on one computer at a time unless you buy a second license.
Yes you can add pictures.
Yes you can email recipes right from the software.
Yes you can print
And you can import MasterCook recipes into the software.

I also use BigOven which I got for free by being a member of SendMeRecipes: www. sendmerecipes.com/1ndex.html

Any other questions ?

 

[Sage]

Thank you.

Thanks so much for all the information.
I really would love to be able to access it at both places.
I would perfect;and you got it for free.Wow!

 

[jefdav86]

I use Living Cookbook also. I have used this program for about 5 years now. It is the best program out there. I tried them all before purchasing LC.

 

[ejay79]

While we're talking about software packages, I'll toss my hat into the ring - I'm the author of Chef (url in signature), software for managing recipes. It's relatively new (April of this year) and actively being worked on.

Feel free to download it and give it a whirl - the free version allows up to 20 recipes so you can get a feel for the application. The base version is $35 and allows you to run it on as many computers as you'd like - with free minor version upgrades. $55 gets you free upgrades for the life of the product.

 

[Dodi]

Is Living Cookbook better than Mastercook deluxe?

 

[lornaf]

Hello,
I'm new to this board, my name is Lorna. Does anyone know if there is any software that one can enter all the inventory of their pantry and then do a recipe search based on that data for recipes with ingredients that they have on hand?

 

[Maverick2272]

The problem with having software on more than one computer is you constantly have to sync them. Sometimes you can do this by moving the data file back and forth, sometimes more advanced software will sync for you, but most times it means entering the same recipe onto each computer.
I think I said this before, but I use an Access Database as my recipe and pantry software. Since the database is contained on the network drive, all you need to access it is a computer hooked to the network with MS Access installed. No sync needed.
I had a pantry inventory option, but never had the time to keep it up to date, way too much maintenance there. Now I just use the search feature to search for recipes based on up to 10 ingredients. Recipe matches are listed in order of how many ingredients they use, the one with the most at the top and the one with the least at the bottom. I can then build my grocery list from there if I want to.

 

[Ask-A-Butcher]

While we're talking about software packages, I'll toss my hat into the ring - I'm the author of Chef (url in signature), software for managing recipes. It's relatively new (April of this year) and actively being worked on.

Feel free to download it and give it a whirl - the free version allows up to 20 recipes so you can get a feel for the application. The base version is $35 and allows you to run it on as many computers as you'd like - with free minor version upgrades. $55 gets you free upgrades for the life of the product.

Looks interesting, Eric, and I have just one question. If one were writing a cookbook, can the recipes be written on your software and then printed in book form?

 

[ejay79]

The problem with having software on more than one computer is you constantly have to sync them. Sometimes you can do this by moving the data file back and forth, sometimes more advanced software will sync for you, but most times it means entering the same recipe onto each computer.

With my software, there is a shared database and you can install Chef on any number of computers and all point them to the same database - no syncing required either!

 

[ejay79]

Looks interesting, Eric, and I have just one question. If one were writing a cookbook, can the recipes be written on your software and then printed in book form?

No I do not have this feature right now but it is something that I'm hearing more and more people asking for. Would you be willing to let me quiz you via email about how you'd like it to work?

 

[ejay79]

Hello,
I'm new to this board, my name is Lorna. Does anyone know if there is any software that one can enter all the inventory of their pantry and then do a recipe search based on that data for recipes with ingredients that they have on hand?

Lorna, in a previous version of Chef (the software I have written), I had an inventory piece and it allowed you to do exactly what you are wanting. When I rewrote it, I decided to leave this out for the time being because it just ended up not being very practical. Simply put, it was a royal pain in the butt to keep things up-to-date to the point where you could just trust what the software said (I had a web-frontend to it so I could do the searches you're wanting from a store with a mobile phone).

 

[Maverick2272]

With my software, there is a shared database and you can install Chef on any number of computers and all point them to the same database - no syncing required either!

So a person could place the database on a network drive and each computer installed with the software will look to the network drive for the database?

But how will that work for someone that wants it on two computers but has no network at home? Can you sync it like you would Outlook between two computers not connected? IE flashdrive or USB drive?

That would be cool...

 

[ejay79]

So a person could place the database on a network drive and each computer installed with the software will look to the network drive for the database?

The database isn't a file-based db like MS Access. Rather, it's a piece of server software (Microsoft SQL Server Express) that gets installed on whichever PC you declare as being the Chef Database Server. Then any clients just point to that running computer and they can get to all the recipes.

You're right that this requires a network however.

In the case when you have two disconnected computers, you can create a Chef Recipe Package (export) containing any number of recipes in your collection and import it on the other PC. Back to the ol' Syncing problem