Enhance Recipe Resources Using Software

Cooking and Nutrition have been incredibly hot topics over the past couple of years. Other hot topics such as anti aging and fitness exercise are discussed in correlation with cooking and nutrition on a regular basis. At the same time the rise in Cooking Television Shows has been exponential. This craze has resulted in a cooking channel! A channel devoted to a plethora of cooking shows! These television shows often have associated websites where their recipes are cataloged and made available.

Technology has allowed us access to these websites and recipes at a moments notice but in order to organize and keep your favorites on hand it may be necessary to create a file or use a software package. I have researched and will offer a review of a few software products that I recommend. These products will allow you to import, catalog and print your recipes in a variety of convenient formats.

1. MasterCook Deluxe 9.0 by ValuSoft

Product Features
• Meal-planning software with 8,000+ recipes and 100s of international recipes
• Thorough search capabilities; expert nutritional analysis
• Professional tips, cooking for a crowd, and essential cooking techniques
• Enjoy 400 savory baking recipes with step-by-step instructions
• Print shopping lists for single recipes or entire menus, or download to PDA

2. Cook'n for Every Holiday by DVO Enterprises
This instructional computer software includes 582 recipes, recipe manager, menu planner, and more!
Product Features:
• Search thousands of recipes in seconds--just tell it what you have on hand
• Adjust recipe serving sizes automatically
• Demonstrate preparation techniques with video clips
• Display hundreds of full-color food photos
• Organize your own recipes
• Print your recipes on decorative 3x5 cards
• Create weekly menus
• Make grocery shopping lists
• Analyze the nutritional value of your recipes
Recipe Manager:
• Organizing your family recipe collection in the computer is easy with Cook'n. You already know how to put in your recipes, that's because Cook'n's recipe window looks just like a recipe card. And, "Quick-Fill" editing does much of the typing for you.
• Cook'n has simple cookbook-like chapters and categories that make it easy to find your recipes fast.
• Cook'n's Recipe Manager makes entertaining a snap. Simply select the number of guests you will be serving and enter it into your favorite recipe. Cook'n calculates the new ingredient amounts for you.
Menu Planner:
• Build your own weekly and monthly menus
• Drag and drop meals to make your menus
• Combine recipes and food items to make complete meals. Then, drag and drop meals to make your own weekly or monthly menus.
Grocery Shopping Assistant
• Compiles your family's shopping list automatically
• Organizes shopping list items by aisle
• Converts to package sizes (e.g., tablespoon tomato paste to 8 oz. cans)
• Calculates your grocery cost
Personal Home Nutritionist
• Analyze the nutritional elements of recipes and menus (even the ones you add!)
• Choose between brands to satisfy dietary needs
• Cook'n will analyze the nutritional value of any recipe or menu (even the ones you add!). Easy to read…Cook'n nutrition facts window looks just like the label on a can.
• Cook'n has nutrition facts from the labels of 10,000 food products. You can choose between different brands to see what the nutritional effect is.
• Now you can plan menus based on dietary needs and tastes. Prepare one delicious meal for the entire family.

3. Home Cookin: Recipe Software by Mountain Software
Product Features:
• Easy to Use Interface - Home Cooking uses a simple tabbed interface that is easy to operate while providing all the features you use most. You can create as many chapters as you wish. Home Cookin will keep everything sorted alphabetically so you can quickly browse through your collection, and find your favorites easily.
• Easy Recipe Entry
• Import and Export Capabilities - Thousands of free recipes can be found on web pages, newsgroups, and various mailing lists. You can easily add these to your collection by importing them into Home Cookin. Most standard formats are supported.
• Meal Planning - The meal calendar makes it easy to plan your upcoming meals. Locate your desired recipes, then add them to the calendar. Add personal notes if you plan on eating out, want to indicate a holiday, or to reference recipes in other cookbooks. When you are ready to prepare the meal, you can access the recipe quickly from the meal calendar.
• Grocery Management - The Home Cooking grocery manager will make quick work of preparing your grocery shopping lists. Start a new list, select the items you need, and print. A cost estimate is calculated as you select each item, so you'll know ahead of time how much you'll be spending on your groceries. The printed list is compact and sorted by store and location to make your shopping trip as easy as possible.

Websites provide us with recipes at a moments notice but in order to organize and keep them handy and get the most use of them it may be necessary to create a file or use a software package. I have provided a review of a few software products that I found to be of good quality. These products will allow you to import, analyze, catalog and print your recipes in a variety of convenient formats including a grocery list!