Recipe Software

[marytexas]

I've been checking out new recipe software. I've had
Mastercook but it doesnt have ability to print category page or listings of recipes within a category. I've been trying Cookn but having trouble backing up. Did backup but then couldnt open file to see if everything is ok.
Does anyone have any ideas? Do you have any software that you really like to use to put your recipes in cookbook fashion?
Thanks.

 

[pdswife]

I just put all mine on WORD. Not a very good system at all.

I have mastercook too but, have never liked it.

 

[Raine]

How about Now Your Cooking(NYC)

 

[RPCookin]

I just use Word too, which works ok, but you can't do any cross referencing of food types or ingredients. I do have the recipes broken down into separate folders (beef, chicken, veggies, etc.), but some things cross over category lines and can still get lost. I wish I was good enough with MS Access to set up recipe database, as that would be a great way to go. You could then set up tables for various ingredients, ethnic food types, cooking methods, etc and then query to get a list that fit your needs of the moment. Unfortunately, I don't know the program well enough, so I didn't pay for the full-blown MS Office suite that includes Access. It would be a very basic exercise for somebody who knows how to do it though. My wife could probably whip up a recipe database in about 10 minutes if I had the program.

NYC looks interesting

 

[Michael in FtW]

I started looking at recipe software and something came up and I quit before I tried all that I could. Guess some day I'll have to start downloading and testing again.

For those who use MS Word or WordPerfect .... you CAN create an INDEX with Main, Sub-categories, and CROSS-REFERENCES. You can even create a master document with sub-documents to hold different types of recipes and index and cross-reference the whole mess! You end up with something like a cookbook with an index ... scroll thru the index - find what you want - and use the "goto page" function to jump there. It's way to complex to try to explain here - it's easier to do than to try to explain - but if you get a good book on your word processor software it will explain everything for you.

I keep mine in WordPerfect files ... but I'm looking for a good database program.

 

[Consul]

Okay, the IT guy to the rescue, or not.

I have MS Access, I know how to program it (for the most part), and I've been thinking about making myself a recipe database for some time. If several other people are interested in using such a project, it may persuade me to get off my rear end and get going.

As a start, what kind of features would you like?

Here's what I'm thinking:

• Easily categorizable
• Search by recipe name, ingredient, style, or category
• Prepare formatted print-outs for book making (I like keeping recipes in a binder in the kitchen)
• Menu preparation up to a week ahead, with shopping list generation

It would be some work, but it could be a lot of fun, too. I wouldn't mind gaining more experience with Access, either.

Also, if many of you don't have MS Access, there are other options I can use that are freely available (I'm an Open Source kind of guy).

Thoughts and opinions?

 

[Caine]

I use Accuchef!

It does everything I want a recipe software to do, and it is quite easy to learn and master, but, most importantly, it is shareware, and I have no conscience!

 

[Michael in FtW]

Well, Consul ... how much hair do you have to pull out playing with this idea? This is a relational database problem if I ever saw one!

You need fields for recipe name, category, sub-categories, and an index for each - not to mention if you want to search/index by ingredient.

Each ingredient needs 5 fields ... sequence number, quantity numeric, unit, ingredient, and method - as in [ingredient number] [8] [oz] [Chicken] [chopped, breasts, or etc.]. And an index ... for the ingredients. These will have to be expandable "on the fly" (transparent to the user) if there are more ingredients than fields currently in the database - that presents a problem unless the databases are relational - and have a key field pointing to the recipe. And - there is also the need to add an ingredient anywhere in the list .. and the abilty to rearrange ingredients, and delete ingredients.

Of course - the database should be relational ... with drop-down picks for the first 3 fields ... no need to type in "chicken" when a pick-list will insert a numeric (and just display the text) which will be quicker to locate than "text", and take less disk space - and space for text for the 4th field. So, for our 8 oz Chicken breast - the 4 data fields might be something like [8] [12] [27] [text field].

Now we have a search for recipe [#x] and listing ingredients in assending order from the database ..... plus the preparation text.

Oh yeah - increasing and decreaing recipe quantity ... ie the recipe serves 6 and you want to decrease it to serve 2 - or increase it to serve 24. A recipe that calls for [1] [cup] will be [1/3] [cup] for 2 - [4] [cups] for 24.

I've been thinking about something like this using Visual FoxPro ... but just haven't had the money to buy the software, or the spare time, to play around with it. MS Access seems too convoluted to be worth the time ... but, I might be wrong - maybe I need to buy a book?

 

[Consul]

It is a more convoluted database than I've built in Access before, but I have built much more complicated databases than this using server-based engines.

My problem is, my experience with databases is DB-driven applications on the web. I'm not used to making local apps. I made a decent local app using Access recently, but it was a case of knowing the customer has Access installed on the needed machines already. If you want to take your Access app and roll it up into a spiffy executable, you need to pay something like $3000 for Microsoft Office Developer Edition.

I looked into using Perl with a GUI toolkit (I've done it before) to make something using an embedded database. With that, I could wrap it all up into a compiled Perl application, which would install and run like any other. The issue I run into there is document formatting for printing, which is pretty complicated to do within Perl.

Basically, in order for me to do it with Access, whoever wants to run the program would also need to have Access already, unless there is a workaround that I'm not familiar with.

Nevertheless, it's an interesting problem, and one I will continue to think about. I like finding solutions to problems. It keeps the world interesting.

 

[marytexas]

recipe software

When I asked the question about recipe software, I wasnt sure I was in the right place or if anyone would answer.
Thanks for all of your time and answers. Since I asked that question I have tried Cookn, Living Cookbook, Mealmaster, Accuchef.
Living Cookbook has the best support of any of them. Ask a question and within a few hours or sooner you have an answer. But the program itself is slower. And I cant seem
to find out how to change the font.
Accuchef has a lot of good features. I really like how to put in recipes, but if you want to print out a chapter with index and recipes it seems difficult. I love the way the recipe looks printed as an individual recipe. Emailing a recipe is not as attractive when its received as it should be. Columns are wrapped.
I saw the Accuchef has a group forum but it seems to be just recipe exchanges.
Does anyone have any info on Accuchef or living cookbook that would help?
Thanks

 

[college_cook]

Consul and FtW, are you guys decent at coding? I've been thinking about writing my own little app in Java, but the problem I run into is that I HATE coding. The idea I had was to have a window sort of like the iTunes window, but instead of Song names/Genre etc. you would have Recipe name and category (chicken, beef, veggies, etc.) and when the user selects a recipe, the Title, ingredients, etc. are all displayed in that same window. As for referencing, i know a lot of music apps use .xml files to keep track of the music library, I imagine it would be much the same with recipe indexing. The only problem I could forsee with this is the filetype of the recipes, if you use .doc or .rtf or .txt you might have issues keeping your recipe files separate from your work or personal files. I'm tempted to say you may not even need files, and you could just display it sort of like an Address Book app, but then I don't know how printing etc. would work, and if you wanted to easily share your recipes, having a file makes it easier. I don't know much about Perl, but I suppose if you're interested in this idea you can have it; I just don't have the programming know-how, and even less the time to tackle a project like this.

 

[RPCookin]

When I asked the question about recipe software, I wasnt sure I was in the right place or if anyone would answer.
Thanks for all of your time and answers. Since I asked that question I have tried Cookn, Living Cookbook, Mealmaster, Accuchef.
Living Cookbook has the best support of any of them. Ask a question and within a few hours or sooner you have an answer. But the program itself is slower. And I cant seem
to find out how to change the font.
Accuchef has a lot of good features. I really like how to put in recipes, but if you want to print out a chapter with index and recipes it seems difficult. I love the way the recipe looks printed as an individual recipe. Emailing a recipe is not as attractive when its received as it should be. Columns are wrapped.
I saw the Accuchef has a group forum but it seems to be just recipe exchanges.
Does anyone have any info on Accuchef or living cookbook that would help?
Thanks

Problems with lists and columns losing tabulation and wrapping is generally a shortcoming of the email software more than it is with the database application. You will often see the same difficulties in trying to post those lists in a forum too. For whatever reason the the tab and column spaces aren't seen the same way, so they are mostly ignored when displaying them. I wouldn't reject the recipe software based on that, as it is likely be a problem with any of them.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

As I write and sell cookbooks on CD ROM, I like "The Living Cookbook" as it has the ability to take a recipe and tell you the nutritional values of it. I use it to enhance the value of my cookbooks, and to give the purchaser another tool in the quest for good nutrition. It's a valuable tool for me.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[AdobeFX]

What I've found...

I actually found these forums a couple weeks ago while searching for some software.

I've tried four of them and the one I like most is Big Oven at http://www.bigoven.com , each program has the pro's and con's, there's just seemed to be a good fit for me and is probaly why it's not free after 30 days.

Things about it I like:
1. Entering a recipe. It's just easier compared to some of the other programs I've tried.
2. Emailing recipes. There sent HTML style and also sent as an attachment.
3. Nutritional Facts. They put some time into this. I don't know how exact it really is but it anilyzes your ingrediant list calculates everything for you.
4. Calender Menu and shopping list. Just click and drag the recipe into either area and it automatically adds all the ingredients you'll need.

There is alot more stuff... I suggest giving it a try... I don't want to try and sell anyone on this, I just want people to know what I've found and like.

Hope you enjoy.

 

[theislandgirl]

I've been checking out new recipe software. I've had
Mastercook but it doesnt have ability to print category page or listings of recipes within a category. I've been trying Cookn but having trouble backing up. Did backup but then couldnt open file to see if everything is ok.
Does anyone have any ideas? Do you have any software that you really like to use to put your recipes in cookbook fashion?
Thanks.

I've been using MasterCook for years, from version 3 through 7. There's usually a good workaround solution for almost any known "problem" available on THIS webpage -- http://mastercook_cupboard.tripod.com/ -- usually somebody else has wanted to do whatever it is... and if that fails to provide answers, there's an excellent group of experienced MC users with most answers to most questions at Yahoo Groups, the MasterCookDiscussion @ yahoogroups.com (free sign-up for a Yahoo id required)...

Hope this helps!

 

[amcardon]

So, FWT, Consul, College Cook - any updates on building DC's e-Cookbook? I just found this thread and was so hoping to read on of the more recent posts to say, "here's a link to the Access db that I just finished..." or something along those lines. I wish I could code, and have tried and failed miserably, and envy those who can...

 

[Constance]

I bought "Now You're Cooking" software several years ago, but I found it to be a pain in the neck.
So I simply created a folder in my temporary files called "Recipe Files", which stores everything in alphabetical order. That way, I can either right-click a page and click "Save As", or I can highlight the text I desire to save, then copy and paste into Word, then "Save As" into the Recipe files.
It's a lot easier, I think.

 

[mudbug]

I have way too many cookbooks, newspaper recipes, and scraps of paper with stuff written on them to be fooling around with computer stuff.

If you guys figure out how to put all the DC recipes in something, though, I will definitely try it!

Right now I just keep all the DC recipes I want to try on my hard drive in a folder called "Eat This." And someday I will have tried every recipe. But don't hold your breath!

 

[Andy M.]

I have way too many cookbooks, newspaper recipes, and scraps of paper with stuff written on them to be fooling around with computer stuff.

If you guys figure out how to put all the DC recipes in something, though, I will definitely try it!

Right now I just keep all the DC recipes I want to try on my hard drive in a folder called "Eat This." And someday I will have tried every recipe. But don't hold your breath!

If by 'something' you mean a software program, it's a multi-step program where possible.

I put any downloaded recipes into MS Word for storage. All my own cookbook recipes are in MS Word as well.

Using MasterCook, you can import recipes from MS Word but it's a tedious process.

 

[chefhelper]

Okay, a little shamless promotion here, but I'm a personal chef and was very frustrated with menu/recipe/planning software out there. My husband is an IT guy/programmer and together, we created Chefhelper.com - originally it was just for my personal use, but we figured other chefs may like it....
We designed it for personal chefs, but it really can be used by anyone planning meals, etc. (small caterers, heads-of-households)

It's an ASP - meaning it's online (yes, it's a secure site) and there are no downloads that sit on your hard drive. Upgrades and changes are immediate, you can access your information anywhere you can get internet, and it works on PC's and Mac (I have a mac, so this was very important to me).