I purchased this for the low price ($7 at the time of this writing) and for the fact that it has the ability to allow me to add recipes to menus and then make a shopping list from that. The shopping list is really my primary reason for purchasing it.
Overall, I'm satisfied. It does what I need it to do with little fuss, despite the lists below. I'm always overly nit-picky, so take what I say with a grain of salt. It's more to let potential buyers know the full story. If I really felt angry about it, I wouldn't rate it with so many stars. I
What I Like
* Categories can be used in place of tags. LOVE THEM!
* Easy menu creation.
* Easy shopping list creation.
* Copying/pasting ingredients (via Import Assistant) is easy, so long as you understand that text MUST be highlighted to work. That's not in the instructions and I can't imagine why either.
* If you enter Price information on your groceries, it will give you a price estimate.
Annoyances
* You cannot customize abbreviations. I prefer my own, thanks.
* I don't like the way you cannot add a '2 T + 1 t' ingredient amount. On the other hand, my workaround is to use '7 t' then under 'preparation' I put '(2 T + 1 t). Still, it should allow for that.
* Along the same lines you cannot add 2-3 T. You can choose either '2 T' or '3 T' only. As a workaround for that, and to avoid my shopping list making me short handed, I pick the most amount, just in case. I'd rather have too much than not enough.
* Import Assistant does not recognize '1 (15 oz) can Diced Tomatoes' and reformats it to '1 can Diced Tomatoes (15 oz)'. I have to manually change this each and every time, but thankfully I don't use that many cans anymore.
* I am not happy with the 'Embed Recipe' option. As an example, I do not use cream of X soup but instead I make my own. I can embed a recipe as an 'ingredient' where it will say, '1 cream of X soup recipe'. Sounds good so far because it will even add all of the cream soup ingredients to the shopping list (very helpful feature). The problem is that if I print the recipe, it ONLY says '1 cream of X soup recipe' instead of printing the whole cream soup recipe as well as the recipe it is an ingredient of. I would prefer that it attach the entire text of the embedded recipe.
* The Yields should calculate what I need, for me. After all, computers are designed to do the work for us. Let me give an example. If a recipe calls for '1 c. banana, mashed' and my Yields say '1 med banana = 1/3 c. mashed' then my shopping list should automatically list '3 med bananas'. I shouldn't have to do this manually, but I unfortunately do. (See Tips below).
* It is no longer supported, though for me I could care less. This would be an annoyance for some, so here it is. For me, so long as it works, I'm good. If it doesn't, I only lost $7 and it was worth the gamble.
Downright Frustrating
* While there is one 'category template', you must have it set up perfectly the way you want it - the first time you ever create a cookbook - because if you add a cookbook later, they are not applied to all of your cookbooks. All cookbooks must have the new category added manually. This is a serious waste of my time and I cannot fathom why it was done this way to begin with. I think this is probably the number one thing that annoys me most. (See Tips below).
* I cannot import my own Yields and my own Price list. I have my own already entered in a spreadsheet on Google Docs and had they provided me a way to import them, I could use them. However I have so many entries that there is NO way I'm going to go through and enter each manually, one-by-one, because this would take months. No kidding. Also, if Yields would actually work on my shopping list, then it would be worth my time... perhaps. Since it doesn't, why bother?
* I personally hate Adobe's Acrobat (it's the worst piece of coded software next to Internet Explorer) and it tells you that it won't work if you don't download it, which is absolute nonsense. Users should be able to choose what pdf reader they want to use. I use Foxit Reader and don't appreciate being told I have to download something that I absolutely hate. Besides, it works fine without it altogether.
* The same goes for Quicktime. I use VLC and like that one better, thanks. However in this case, the videos are definitely inaccessible unless I use VLC to navigate to the directory and view them manually, provided I can even figure out the file name.
Tips on Use
* Yields: Because it does not auto-calculate yields, when I enter a recipe like the banana example, I write it, '3 med bananas, mashed (1 c.)'. Now my shopping list will tell me precisely how many I'll need and if I'm not sure if I made a mistake, I have the measurement there for my reference. Note though that '(1 c.) will not print on the shopping list. That's strictly a using-it-during-cooking-the-recipe reference item.
* Categories: Don't make a lot of cookbooks (I learned the hard way), instead make a lot of categories to include cuisines and flavors. I no longer use the cuisine entry as it is too limiting in my opinion. This makes searching much, MUCH faster. Sample categories are: Camping, Garlicky, Spicy (or Hot), Quick, Easy, Finger Foods, Month (for fruits/vegetables in season - I have each month as a category so I can get them cheaper; an example for Asparagus is April and May), 5 Ingredient, Heirloom (old family recipes), Precious, Dry Mixes, Seasonings and so forth. Instead of Holidays be specific, Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th, whatever. You can create and select as many as you want.
* Back up everything frequently AND before importing. I've read the reviews of some naive folks here and feel the need to say that if you lose your information, you only have yourself to blame. The #1 computer cardinal rule is to always, always, ALWAYS back up precious files. If you lose it, then don't blame the software. All software and all computers will crash eventually, cease to work or become outdated and no longer usable. Learn it, live by it. MyDrobox is a free option to keep a backup off your computer so you'll never lose it. If you have trouble, backup, do a scan disk and defrag, uninstall, reinstall. If files become corrupted, then that's that. Keep a text backup (you'll have to export manually) of all precious files as well. I make a category (as noted above) for those special recipes.
* I have nothing at all to do with this, but try Googling 'Mastercook Pam's Tips' and download the 'cookbook' which is loaded with her tips. It's not as outdated as it says it is and is moderately helpful.
Again, it is good for its price. It's not the 'king' as a very old review (over 5 years) claims, but it's a decent piece of software and worth the money.
Overall, I'm satisfied. It does what I need it to do with little fuss, despite the lists below. I'm always overly nit-picky, so take what I say with a grain of salt. It's more to let potential buyers know the full story. If I really felt angry about it, I wouldn't rate it with so many stars. I
What I Like
* Categories can be used in place of tags. LOVE THEM!
* Easy menu creation.
* Easy shopping list creation.
* Copying/pasting ingredients (via Import Assistant) is easy, so long as you understand that text MUST be highlighted to work. That's not in the instructions and I can't imagine why either.
* If you enter Price information on your groceries, it will give you a price estimate.
Annoyances
* You cannot customize abbreviations. I prefer my own, thanks.
* I don't like the way you cannot add a '2 T + 1 t' ingredient amount. On the other hand, my workaround is to use '7 t' then under 'preparation' I put '(2 T + 1 t). Still, it should allow for that.
* Along the same lines you cannot add 2-3 T. You can choose either '2 T' or '3 T' only. As a workaround for that, and to avoid my shopping list making me short handed, I pick the most amount, just in case. I'd rather have too much than not enough.
* Import Assistant does not recognize '1 (15 oz) can Diced Tomatoes' and reformats it to '1 can Diced Tomatoes (15 oz)'. I have to manually change this each and every time, but thankfully I don't use that many cans anymore.
* I am not happy with the 'Embed Recipe' option. As an example, I do not use cream of X soup but instead I make my own. I can embed a recipe as an 'ingredient' where it will say, '1 cream of X soup recipe'. Sounds good so far because it will even add all of the cream soup ingredients to the shopping list (very helpful feature). The problem is that if I print the recipe, it ONLY says '1 cream of X soup recipe' instead of printing the whole cream soup recipe as well as the recipe it is an ingredient of. I would prefer that it attach the entire text of the embedded recipe.
* The Yields should calculate what I need, for me. After all, computers are designed to do the work for us. Let me give an example. If a recipe calls for '1 c. banana, mashed' and my Yields say '1 med banana = 1/3 c. mashed' then my shopping list should automatically list '3 med bananas'. I shouldn't have to do this manually, but I unfortunately do. (See Tips below).
* It is no longer supported, though for me I could care less. This would be an annoyance for some, so here it is. For me, so long as it works, I'm good. If it doesn't, I only lost $7 and it was worth the gamble.
Downright Frustrating
* While there is one 'category template', you must have it set up perfectly the way you want it - the first time you ever create a cookbook - because if you add a cookbook later, they are not applied to all of your cookbooks. All cookbooks must have the new category added manually. This is a serious waste of my time and I cannot fathom why it was done this way to begin with. I think this is probably the number one thing that annoys me most. (See Tips below).
* I cannot import my own Yields and my own Price list. I have my own already entered in a spreadsheet on Google Docs and had they provided me a way to import them, I could use them. However I have so many entries that there is NO way I'm going to go through and enter each manually, one-by-one, because this would take months. No kidding. Also, if Yields would actually work on my shopping list, then it would be worth my time... perhaps. Since it doesn't, why bother?
* I personally hate Adobe's Acrobat (it's the worst piece of coded software next to Internet Explorer) and it tells you that it won't work if you don't download it, which is absolute nonsense. Users should be able to choose what pdf reader they want to use. I use Foxit Reader and don't appreciate being told I have to download something that I absolutely hate. Besides, it works fine without it altogether.
* The same goes for Quicktime. I use VLC and like that one better, thanks. However in this case, the videos are definitely inaccessible unless I use VLC to navigate to the directory and view them manually, provided I can even figure out the file name.
Tips on Use
* Yields: Because it does not auto-calculate yields, when I enter a recipe like the banana example, I write it, '3 med bananas, mashed (1 c.)'. Now my shopping list will tell me precisely how many I'll need and if I'm not sure if I made a mistake, I have the measurement there for my reference. Note though that '(1 c.) will not print on the shopping list. That's strictly a using-it-during-cooking-the-recipe reference item.
* Categories: Don't make a lot of cookbooks (I learned the hard way), instead make a lot of categories to include cuisines and flavors. I no longer use the cuisine entry as it is too limiting in my opinion. This makes searching much, MUCH faster. Sample categories are: Camping, Garlicky, Spicy (or Hot), Quick, Easy, Finger Foods, Month (for fruits/vegetables in season - I have each month as a category so I can get them cheaper; an example for Asparagus is April and May), 5 Ingredient, Heirloom (old family recipes), Precious, Dry Mixes, Seasonings and so forth. Instead of Holidays be specific, Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th, whatever. You can create and select as many as you want.
* Back up everything frequently AND before importing. I've read the reviews of some naive folks here and feel the need to say that if you lose your information, you only have yourself to blame. The #1 computer cardinal rule is to always, always, ALWAYS back up precious files. If you lose it, then don't blame the software. All software and all computers will crash eventually, cease to work or become outdated and no longer usable. Learn it, live by it. MyDrobox is a free option to keep a backup off your computer so you'll never lose it. If you have trouble, backup, do a scan disk and defrag, uninstall, reinstall. If files become corrupted, then that's that. Keep a text backup (you'll have to export manually) of all precious files as well. I make a category (as noted above) for those special recipes.
* I have nothing at all to do with this, but try Googling 'Mastercook Pam's Tips' and download the 'cookbook' which is loaded with her tips. It's not as outdated as it says it is and is moderately helpful.
Again, it is good for its price. It's not the 'king' as a very old review (over 5 years) claims, but it's a decent piece of software and worth the money.
MasterCook 9.1.0.20. Organize your recipes, create cookbooks, and manage diet and nutrition. 4.0 (2 votes) 15.00.21 Mastercook. Review Comments (2) Questions & Answers (1) Update program info. No specific info about version 9.1. Please visit the main page of MasterCook. Manolin Fernandez I installed the software in my laptop that has Windows Vista and it works fine. But in case that you are not aware of this, Vista has a compatibility mode that any previous versions of software can be run with this option. MasterCook Deluxe is a Commercial software in the category Home & Hobby developed by Valusoft. It was checked for updates 31 times by the users of our client application UpdateStar during the last month. The latest version of MasterCook Deluxe is 9.0, released on.
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