Do you organize your recipes on your computer?

[Donnaluv2cruise]

I've always printed my recipes that I find on line and kept them in a binder. Recently my husband got me my own lap top for my birthday. How many keep their recipes filed on their computer? What program do you use? When you want a recipe, do you use your lap top or print it out? I don't want to mess up my key board, (I'm not a neat cook.)

[testkitchen45]

Welcome to the boards! :) You can search for threads on MasterCook and Living Cookbook; there are lots. I love MasterCook, but you must back up any program any time you use it, just to protect all your precious recipes and hard work. My laptop is on the kitchen desk, which is a no-liquids zone in my kitchen, so I just use recipes right off the laptop. I've moved my laptop to the island b4 when cooking, just using the battery instead of the power cord, but it was a pain for the (messy) reason you cited, so I don't do that any more. Love the flexibility of having my faves on the PC, so that I can tweak as needed, or scale amounts up or down to suit the # of diners. Have fun!

[SheRa]

i have a mac and i use MacGourmet to organize my recipes. i love it! i print out the ones i want to make for the week and then go back in and rate them after i've made them.

[IndyKF]

Living Cookbook fan checking in! I do both: print from LC or reference an existing hard copy from my collection. I am FAR from entering my whole collection in Living Cookbook, but I'm slowly adding more and more. You can get a free trial version of LC to use up to 30 times...it's at their website www.livingcookbook.com. MasterCook is also good software...I just prefer LC. One thing you might want to check before investing in either one of these is their compatibility with your operating system. Since you have a new computer, you might be running Vista and I'm not sure of the compatibility of either one of these with Vista.

[Miss Giggles]

I print them, I don't have room.. plus my laptop would be dead if I did put it in my kitchen...while I was cooking.. I am the messiest cook ever.

I have Mastercook but I tried the LivingCookbook software and I like it better because I can customize it more.

[Donnaluv2cruise]

So, does the Living Cookbood have recipes already on it? Are they any good? Is it easy to keep your recipes seperated from theirs? I'm not very good with the computer, how easy is it to use and is it difficult to figutre out nutritional info?

Thanks for all your quick responses! :)

[spudugan]

I've had the software for a few years. And i access it several times a week. Adding recipes is super quick...nutritional into all spot-on accurate when you link the ingredients of a recipe..well you'll read about on their website and our threads here...but i am VERY VERY happy with it.

[IndyKF]

So, does the Living Cookbood have recipes already on it? Are they any good? Is it easy to keep your recipes seperated from theirs? I'm not very good with the computer, how easy is it to use and is it difficult to figutre out nutritional info?

Thanks for all your quick responses! :)

Yes, LC has their own recipes, but I can't say I've used any of them, so can't comment if otherwise. Yes, it's very easy to keep your recipes separated. I will say the same for MasterCook too. Nutritional info is also easy. In LC, you just have to "link" all your ingredients to their database (which is pretty extensive, but it is easy to add or modify ingredients if needed).

[Smylietron]

Man, I feel downright primitive here...aside from "recipe box" services organized by the likes of Epicurous and Recipe4Living I just add recipe web pages to my bookmarks. Don't even organize them beyond that. :eek:

[ljt2r]

I tried Mastercook.. but honestly I don't give a hoot about the nutritional stats and all of that extra work was annoying (entering the recipe). Instead I just have a VERY large Microsoft Word folder--and it is broken down into other folders (which I am updating and adding to every now and then). Right now, for example, I have a dessert folder, and a month or so ago I created inside of that the "Cookies, Bars & Brownies" folder... This allows me to just copy and paste recipes. I seem to be the only person I know who stores recipes this way though. My latest goal, when I have time, is to split my bread folder into yeast and quick.....

Laura

[LakeMartinGal]

Living Cookbook is my organizer of choice, too! Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my recipes when my computer crashed in the spring, and I didn't have a backup...:o :mad: Now, LC has a feature that automatically backs up when you turn it off! Cool!!!:cool: Fortunately, I had lots of recipes printed on cards, which I keep in the kitchen -- but not all of them, so I'm still in the gathering stage.:rolleyes:

I had Master Cook, but found it cumbersome to use -- it's just personal preference!

[Donnaluv2cruise]

Thanks for all of your responses. I have been playing with The Living Cookbood for quite while today. Once you get the hang of it, it looks super easy. Thanks Again!

[TravelingJ]

I demo'ed LC and fell in love with it. I played with MasterCook for 3 days before I deleted it. I could never the the grocery list to work to my satisfaction, and I could never get rid of all of their recipes that they loaded into it. With LivingCook you have free tech support from the guy that wrote the program, and he is very quick to respond.

[sharon775]

I'm like Laura- I just copy and paste from the internet into word files. I have tons of files- breads, breakfast, chicken, chocolate, desserts, entertaining, muffins, soups, crockpot..... I try to pick the most appropriate category, or just copy into multiple categories if all apply. I cook from the laptop, we just renovated our kitchen and left room for my laptop on the counter. I rarely use cookbooks or print things off, this way really works for me.

[kathyann]

I tried Mastercook.. but honestly I don't give a hoot about the nutritional stats and all of that extra work was annoying (entering the recipe). Instead I just have a VERY large Microsoft Word folder--and it is broken down into other folders (which I am updating and adding to every now and then). Right now, for example, I have a dessert folder, and a month or so ago I created inside of that the "Cookies, Bars & Brownies" folder... This allows me to just copy and paste recipes. I seem to be the only person I know who stores recipes this way though. My latest goal, when I have time, is to split my bread folder into yeast and quick.....

Laura

Nope.... you're not the only person, because I do essentially the same thing. I find it is a good balance of being organized, without fussing too much with things.
I have my master folder divided into "to try" and "keepers" with sub categories (apps, salad etc.) in each one. When I try a recipe, it goes into the "keepers" if I want to make it again. That's when I add all of my notes etc. to the word document.
I also keep a binder in the kitchen with print-outs of all of my "keepers" in plastic sleeves so they are handy for easy access (my computer isn't in my kitchen)

[ljt2r]

Nope.... you're not the only person, because I do essentially the same thing. I find it is a good balance of being organized, without fussing too much with things.
I have my master folder divided into "to try" and "keepers" with sub categories (apps, salad etc.) in each one. When I try a recipe, it goes into the "keepers" if I want to make it again. That's when I add all of my notes etc. to the word document.
I also keep a binder in the kitchen with print-outs of all of my "keepers" in plastic sleeves so they are handy for easy access (my computer isn't in my kitchen)

Ooooh, I kind of like the whole keeper/to try thing.... but boy I am overwhelmed by how big of a task it would be to change now!

Your comment re: organization without too much fuss is dead on.

[gperls]

I use Mastercook. I have over 200 MC cookbooks and 100,000 recipes in there. I like to be able to do a search by using the ingredients I'm in the mood for.

[TitlePending]

I tried Mastercook.. but honestly I don't give a hoot about the nutritional stats and all of that extra work was annoying (entering the recipe). Instead I just have a VERY large Microsoft Word folder--and it is broken down into other folders (which I am updating and adding to every now and then). Right now, for example, I have a dessert folder, and a month or so ago I created inside of that the "Cookies, Bars & Brownies" folder... This allows me to just copy and paste recipes. I seem to be the only person I know who stores recipes this way though. My latest goal, when I have time, is to split my bread folder into yeast and quick.....

Laura

Laura ~ You're not the only one just using Word and setting categories and I love the simplicity, too. My 'main dishes' are broken into beef, chicken, pork. 'Seafood' breaks out shellfish and salmon. Plus more than you probably want to know, but I have to tell . . . recently I have started ingredient files for things that are typically leftover from what is called for in a recipe, i.e., basil, chipotle, cilantro, etc. Heck, I've even broken out Zucchini for the season. I think opening a file and being able to search for an ingredient in all the recipes is a snap. When I post a recipe on the BB it's always just a Word document that I've copied and pasted and like you I love the ease. PS: My breads are already separated and I did a sourdough and rolls in addition to the yeast and quick. Linda ~