I have been collecting recipes online since the early to mid 80's, and have purchased every single recipe management program I could find.
Some have complex features that I find difficult to use, and don't really need.
Some are only databases which you use to simply store and retrieve your recipes.
I always return to MasterCook. In my opinion it is the very best software for those of us who are home cooks.
It is very easy to use, and comes complete with thousands of recipes already entered in the program. In addition, you can enter your own recipes by typing them in.
There are hundreds of thousands of recipes available on the internet which you can import. It is able to import recipes which are formatted for other recipe management programs as well as those already formatted for MasterCook.
It is unique in that it is able to import recipes directly from any web page using a special web tool. You will not have to type them into the program, For example, if you find a coconut cake recipe on the Betty Crocker site, just import it into your program and it is yours, picture and all!
You can enter the number of servings you wish to prepare and the recipe is scaled to the correct amount of each ingredient. You can scale it down to a single serving or up to very many.
The feature I use most is nutrition calculation. Every recipe displays the amount of calories, Protein, fat, carbs, vitamins, and minerals in each serving. It also displays the %of daily nutrition provided, according to the daily calorie limit you set, (for example, you can chose 2000 calories per day, or 1800 cal etc)
Great for people on special diets such as low sodium, diabetic, low carb, or low calorie.
You can add pictures to each recipe if you choose.
Another great feature is the ability to publish your own cookbook, and print recipe cards. You can also print any recipe on a single sheet of paper or several recipes over many sheets.
I always print my recipe and take it to the kitchen with me.
There are dozens of different formats and designs which you can select to print your recipes. They really look great!
You can e-mail a recipe or group of recipes directly from within the program.
You can create a shopping list using your chosen recipes. It is arranged in order of the departments of your favorite store. (I do not use this feature, most recipe programs have it, and this is as good as the others but still too much trouble to use.)
There is a menu planner, and you can save menus for future reference.
It has a simple backup function so you will never loose your valuable recipe collection.
Using a "cookbook" format you can arrange your recipes into any collection. You can have as many "Cookbooks" as you wish. (I have several hundred - Some of my cookbooks: Chinese, Rachael Ray's Recipes, Bread Machine Recipes, Barbecue, Asparagus, Pork, My Family Recipes)
Each cookbook can hold 12,000 recipes.
It has a search function that can search a single "cookbook" file or every cookbook in your collection. You can search for recipes by title, or ingredient, or category, or source, or just about anything. It will immediately scan all your recipes and display a list of the recipes you chose.
You can save the source and author of your recipes Such as Rachael Ray March 2007, My Mother, Aunt Grace, Lady's Home Journal etc)
You can indicate categories for each recipe, and by selecting the category in a cookbook, only display those in that category. Favorite recipes from any group can be added to a list so you can access them frequently without scanning the entire cookbook collection.
It is a tremendous value and provides the most in features and ease of use.
If you are looking to organize your recipes or begin a collection I highly recommend MasterCook. You will love it!
I recommend that you buy version 9. Most earlier versions do not have the web tool, and you will find that most useful.
MasterCook Deluxe 9.0