Should I buy MasterCook 5.0 or Complete CL Cookbook

[jliah]

I can't decide which I should buy--The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook or The Cooking Light MasterCook 5.0. The price is fairly similar, so I can't make a decision based on that.

Do they have the same recipes? Is the MasterCook easy to use?

What is your opinion?

[Luv to Cook]

I have MasterCook 4.0 and the Complete Cookbook. I really like the cookbook better. It is so much easier to use while cooking, instead of searching for recipes on MasterCook. As a matter of fact, I think I have used MasterCook only once!

[kentgirl]

Oh gosh....I love Mastercook. And I love the Complete Cooking Light Cookbook too! Mastercook allows me to search for recipes using the ingredients I have on hand, plus I can plan my menus for the week, and make a shopping list with a click of the button. It's great.

I also love cookbooks (including the Complete) - I love to leisurely browse through the pages.

I couldn't do without either cookbooks or my Mastercook software.

OK OK---I can "do" without my computer if I have to... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Curleytop]

Get Mastercook! I have had it for years, since the first version came out, before Sierra bought it!
I have Mastercook Cooking Light(of course) v5
It comes with assorted other cookbooks. I also have the Complete Mastercook v5 and I downloaded all the cookbooks from it.
When you are looking for something, you can go into SEARCH and it will look in all the cookbooks, or selected ones. You can download Mastercook recipes from the web, E-mail them and on and on. You can place your every day recipes in a special folder called
FAVORITES. You can print them out, and get
food all over them in the kitchen, and then throw them away or place them in a notebook.
I recommend you get the software, not the hard cover. When it rains here in CA (not too often) I go thru all my cookbooks and put the recipes that look good into my MC.

[eks]

I have both and prefer the cookbook. The cookbook contains all kinds of great information.

[Linda in MO]

I also have both and love both, but I wouldn't be without my MasterCook! (My MC isn't CL though). I'm dying to get the Cooking Light MC 6.0 to update my 5.0. I use my MC everyday.

jliah, if you do get the MC, I would get the 6.0. It's the latest version and I've heard the search function is much faster than 5.0. It does take a while to learn how to use, but you get the hang of it eventually.

[Beth]

If I could only have one, I'd get MasterCook. Most of the recipes that first caught my eye in the book were ones I already had flagged from the program, had copied from the BB or recognized from my magazines. MasterCook lets you put all the recipes you want together no matter what the source.

[Pat]

If I bought only one, it would be MasterCook. I second all the others who pointed out about searches, meal planning, and the grocery list. When I am planning a large gathering, it is so easy to flag all the different recipes I am planning on preparing and let MasterCook make my grocery list. Another feature that I like is the ability to enter your own recipes and create a cookbook of your favorites. I have created a cookbook and given a copy to each of my children. Now when I visit and need to cook, I can look anything up. I no longer have to travel with my hardcopy recipes.

[sundropdlc]

For those of you that have and use Mastercook, do you have it set up near or in your kitchen? Our computer is upstairs, so to use any of the recipes, I have to print them and take them down to the kitchen. I usually don't use it because I feel like I'm wasting paper.

I'm trying to get my DH to set up a small computer in the kitchen for me! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[valchemist]

I just print the recipes out. I like that I am able to do that, actually. That's one of my favorite things about MasterCook. You don't have to worry about propping open a book and you don't have to worry about slopping up your cookbook. Also, you can take the recipe to the store and use it as a shopping list. If the recipe is "a keeper" you can file the printed version for later use, so you don't waste paper.

I have no room in my kitchen. None whatsoever. I can think of several small kitchen appliances (stand mixer, toaster oven, etc.) that I would put in my kitchen before I would put a computer there. And I would worry about the computer getting dirty. I am a kinda messy cook.

Val

[This message has been edited by valchemist (edited 03-25-2001).]

[Linda in MO]

Yes, my computer is at one end of my kitchen. I used to just run back and forth from the computer when I was making a recipe from MC, but know I just print it off and use the economy setting on my printer so it doesn't use as much ink. You could also print on both sides of the paper, too.