Recipe management software

[jonnyjonny_uk]

Does anybody know if there are any good recipe management software programs worth having?

Thanks

Jonny

 

[Silver]

This thread discusses the various options pretty well.

We use BigOven and use it, to an extent. I'd love it if I could have all of my cook books in there and cross referenced recipes (ie my 'wine chicken' would show up in a "chicken" recipe box as well 'created by me' or something along those lines). I don't actually know if it can do that...haven't tried.

 

[thymeless]

I gave up on specialized software a few years ago. I'm happiest with text/wordprocessor file(s) so I can sync them to my pda or even my phone and have the recipes with me when I'm cooking no matter where I'm cooking.

thymeless

 

[candelbc]

Well.. I too have been pondering a good recipe software for quite some time. My dreams are to write a Freeware application that rivals the expensive versions and is extremely simple to use..

My wife and I had our first child this Monday, but the little guy isn't breathing too well on his own. So, we're going to be in the hospital for AT LEAST another couple of days.. While I am Internet'less, I am starting to work on a Recipe Management Program that will rival all others..

What I need is some suggestion. I would like a system that allows easy sharing, easy storage and categorization, and above all, easy to use.. I have read the other post, but I am going to use all of this free time to make something that I will use to manage ALL of my recipes.

I would really like all kinds of ideas for features. I'd even like to gear it for the users at DiscussCooking if at all possible. Similar interface, comfortable to use..

Let me know... It'd be a good chance for people to sound off what they want in a program. Especially a free one..

-Brad

 

[ncage1974]

Well.. I too have been pondering a good recipe software for quite some time. My dreams are to write a Freeware application that rivals the expensive versions and is extremely simple to use..

My wife and I had our first child this Monday, but the little guy isn't breathing too well on his own. So, we're going to be in the hospital for AT LEAST another couple of days.. While I am Internet'less, I am starting to work on a Recipe Management Program that will rival all others..

What I need is some suggestion. I would like a system that allows easy sharing, easy storage and categorization, and above all, easy to use.. I have read the other post, but I am going to use all of this free time to make something that I will use to manage ALL of my recipes.

I would really like all kinds of ideas for features. I'd even like to gear it for the users at DiscussCooking if at all possible. Similar interface, comfortable to use..

Let me know... It'd be a good chance for people to sound off what they want in a program. Especially a free one..

-Brad

What are you going to be developing it in? What is your development experience? I would consider myself as pretty much a veteran right now. Maybe a C# project and using WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) would be interesting. That way all your recipes would be stored on the web and you would hopefully never loose them with a computer disaster. If you want to get really interesting you could use XAML to display some really cool effect (of course this would take some time). Let me know i might be interested in something like this. Recipes would maybe be in XML format so anything could read them and format them however they wanted with XSLT.

Anyways congradulations are your first little one and i sure hope he gets well soon.

Ok on the question. I use mastercook. Any flaws? Yes you still have to enter the recipes. That is the biggest downfall. Data entry is not much fun. Epecially if the recipe is not on the web. In mastercook it allows you to create new cookbooks and i though it was cook if i could take some of my favorite cookbooks and transfer all the recipes to mastercook. Way to time consuming unless you got a lot of extra time to burn. I still use it for recipes i create (if i don't i will forget them) and recipes on the web that i try and love. There is one feature i hope they add to it in future. Recipes allow you to add one picture per recipe. Would be cook if you could add a picture for each step of the directions.

Ncage

 

[candelbc]

What are you going to be developing it in? What is your development experience? I would consider myself as pretty much a veteran right now. Maybe a C# project and using WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) would be interesting. That way all your recipes would be stored on the web and you would hopefully never loose them with a computer disaster. If you want to get really interesting you could use XAML to display some really cool effect (of course this would take some time). Let me know i might be interested in something like this. Recipes would maybe be in XML format so anything could read them and format them however they wanted with XSLT.
Ncage

I am definitely planning on using C#. I have been developing applications for about 15 years, and web applications for around 9.

I really want to keep the system free, so I am looking at what technilogical constraints that would make. I have funding and time, but I don't want to make it a year long project either.

One of my specialties is product usability. I am hoping that whatever I can come up with is easy to use, and easy on the eyes. It's crazy how much those two go hand in hand.

While I have limited access at the Hospital, I will put together my notes and keep a list of suggestions people on this board have. I think it would be really cool if DiscussCooking.com members really had a say in the system and it's functionality. We could even develop a group of end users who test small parts of the software and give ideas.. A steering committee if you will.. As long as we don't bore people with technical jargon..

Thanks for the wishes as well.. Now I just have lots and lots of time ahead of me..

-Brad

 

[mad_evo99]

**** - sign me up as a beta user! PM or send an e-mail. Currently all my recipes are either bookmarked with mental notes, or printed notepad files with written notes. In either case, I'd sure love an app to get everything organized...

 

[candelbc]

Sounds awesome.. I will keep you posted when I know more.. The application needs to be planned first.. I think it would be cool if DC members could be part of the planning process so people could be involved in the "process"

-Brad

 

[jesse_cool5]

Yeah sounds like a great idea, expecially if you make it really easy to export and import peoples recipes maybe like creating a digital cookbook in which you could customize and add pictures, the readers of the e-books could search and save the recipes they liked. I'll join in helping create a site where the users could create an archive of there recipes, i can't code (yet currently doing a web development degree) but im sure there is a paid/free script which would suit our needs.

 

[bjcotton]

I have been using MasterCook for several years. I was contemplating switching until I got a copy of MasterCook 9. I love it, I can copy recipes from websites directly into MC, I can copy from a word processor, it has shopping lists, it exports easily, I can change a recipe from one form of measurement into another (for instance some recipes come with measurements in weights...300mg or liters). The program came with I think 13 cookbooks in it and I have put 4 of my own into it. On my laptop I deleted all of their cookbooks and just have my own in it. It's versatile, useful and easy to use.

 

[Andy M.]

I have been using MasterCook for several years. I was contemplating switching until I got a copy of MasterCook 9. I love it, I can copy recipes from websites directly into MC, I can copy from a word processor, it has shopping lists, it exports easily, I can change a recipe from one form of measurement into another (for instance some recipes come with measurements in weights...300mg or liters). The program came with I think 13 cookbooks in it and I have put 4 of my own into it. On my laptop I deleted all of their cookbooks and just have my own in it. It's versatile, useful and easy to use.

BJ:

Can you print a recipe with the ingredients listed in two columns and the instructions in one column?

 

[opqdan]

What are you going to be developing it in? What is your development experience? I would consider myself as pretty much a veteran right now. Maybe a C# project and using WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) would be interesting. That way all your recipes would be stored on the web and you would hopefully never loose them with a computer disaster. If you want to get really interesting you could use XAML to display some really cool effect (of course this would take some time). Let me know i might be interested in something like this. Recipes would maybe be in XML format so anything could read them and format them however they wanted with XSLT.

Anyways congradulations are your first little one and i sure hope he gets well soon.

Ok on the question. I use mastercook. Any flaws? Yes you still have to enter the recipes. That is the biggest downfall. Data entry is not much fun. Epecially if the recipe is not on the web. In mastercook it allows you to create new cookbooks and i though it was cook if i could take some of my favorite cookbooks and transfer all the recipes to mastercook. Way to time consuming unless you got a lot of extra time to burn. I still use it for recipes i create (if i don't i will forget them) and recipes on the web that i try and love. There is one feature i hope they add to it in future. Recipes allow you to add one picture per recipe. Would be cook if you could add a picture for each step of the directions.

Ncage

It's really funny to see programming and cooking hobbies go hand in hand. I can't think of any engineer that I know that loves to cook that hasn't at some point said "hey, I could build a pretty good cookbook applications". It's something about our need for order and logic. I hate having my recipes scrawled on pieces of paper and in books all over the apartment, and would LOVE an option where I could have a thin client in the kitchen that I could use to bring up recipes from a centralized server on my network. Somebody else pointed to the other thread on this topic, and I pointed out in there that I was in the process of designing a neat application also. I would rather use my handmade application than any out there anyways, even if they are better (Big Over recently caught my eye as some great looking recipe management software and even allows for the distributed scenario like I mentioned).

So far, my development has been going rather slow. Since I recently graduated, got married, got a job, and moved across the country (for said job), my time has been limited, but during the last few weeks I really dove in a started building the framework. Right now, I've got the database structure set up, and a un-user-friendly frontend using Ruby on Rails. This allows it to be cross platform. Once the rails interface is completer (and when is any project ever really complete?) I will also be building a client applications using WPF/Avalon so that I can do some cool things that just can't be done with a web application (plus it gives me a good opportunity to learn something new that may be usefull for me down the road).

This will be free, and probably open source. Eventually I'll get everything posted somewhere where people can play around with it, but right now it is in the pre-alpha stages, so it will be a while.

Is this a lot of work for recipe software? Sure.
Will this end up costing FAR more (in time) than it would cost to buy something like BigOven? Sure

But isn't that half the fun?

 

[desertland]

I use meanmeals.com to store my recipes (as you can see from my signature). I find it's the easiest way to share things with friends. When people ask me for a recipe, rather than telling them or copying it out for them, I just point them to the recipe on the website.

Entering recipes does take some time, and if I want a picture, I have to remember to take a picture, but it saves time in the long run I think