Customer Reviews

Instant Home Cooking

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I bought this product because I wanted a storage system for my recipes. I bought this at "Best Buy." After installing this program into my computer, I learned that it is NOT a storage system but a glorified cookbook w/ a shopping list. It can however be a storage system for YOUR RECIPES if you are willing (according to the writer of this CD) to kick in an additional $[]. The author is very apologitic about the "Mislabeling" and even refers you to the publisher to place a complaint, however is not willing to give any kind of a discount for your troubles.... In a nutshell, think twice before purchasing this item!!!!

I bought this set at a local store and since it was inexpensive I thought what the heck. Well you get what you pay for and while this has 4 CDs they aren't worth much. I assumed, wrongly I might add, that the 4 CDs with the different programs were somehow integrated. That's slap one because they aren't and while each individual title sounds nice they don't have enough meat in any one to be of much value. I got the cooking software MasterCook as part of the setup when I bought a computer 5 years ago. I had hoped this software with it's slick packaging and claims of superiority would give me something better. I have already uninstalled this waste of space. By the way did I mention the navigation didn't have a lot to offer as well.

ChicagoJess is right - the 4 CDs are not integrated. The Recipe Center Software, 1 of the 4 CDs, is available as a free trial download from RecipeCenter.com. Check it out before you buy it. I wish I had known that was an option. If you do buy it, save yourself some grief and download the upgrade to the newest version before you start using it.

The Recipe Center recipe storage, search, sizing, recipe card printing, and download features seem OK. User interface is OK. The ingredients can be added to a shopping list with a click. However - the ingredients are not grouped by category and they do not reliably consolidate if you add more than one recipe to the shopping list. I got sugar listed 3 times on one list. There's a column for price, but if you price milk on one shopping list, the price is not saved. You have to re-price it on the next list.

The nutrition analysis is incredibly labor intensive and a bit flaky. You have to link each individual ingredient to the USDA database. I got some strange results, too, and can't figure out what I did wrong.

With Recipe Center, you cannot do meal planning. You have to use the Home Cooking software (2nd of 4 CDs) for that. The 2 sets of software do not access the same recipe database and the Home Cooking recipes do not have nutrition analysis.

User interface on Home Cooking is crude by today's standards. You can associate categories and prices with the shopping list, and add non-food items, which is nice.

I did not check out the other 2 CDs in the package - Food Lover's Encyclopedia and BarBack.

I'm looking for an integrated cookbook, meal planner, and nutrition analysis. This software is not it.