Now You're Cooking! Reviewer's Comments

Now You're Cooking! has many practical features to help you organize your recipes and plan your meals. Just a few of these features allow you to categorize, modify and search your recipes.Though this software only comes with 16 recipes, you'll have access to their website recipe database and thousands of recipe downloads. 

Ease of Use:  

This is not a get-on-and-go kind of program. Use the tutorials listed under the help menu and plan to refer to them frequently. A lot of programming is evident that should be behind the scenes to make Now You’re Cooking! more friendly. 

Tip: If you have the recipe window open, close it before doing any other task like importing, menu planning or generating a grocery list so all functions are available on the drop down menus. 

Recipe Manager:  

Now You’re Cooking! makes it easy to add recipes with as much detail as you’d like. Tabs guide you from ingredients to directions, categories (think keywords: this is a lengthy checklist), rating, image, time-yield, and info where you may type up to 55 characters to specify contributor, source or miscellaneous notes.Now You're Cooking! comes with a nutrition database where you can see the nutritional values of each ingredient. However, when you're looking at the recipe, this information is not displayed. 

Menu Planner:  

The menu planner is good, but you can only plan one day at a time instead of by the week. Within the planner, you can add recipes to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Adjust the recipes for the number of servings you need. Activate the cost analysis and get an estimate for your grocery bill. 

Feature Set:  

16 recipes are included. Go directly to the tutorial and your total will increase to 153. Only six have photographs.

Now You're Cooking! grants instant access to thousands of recipes from their website. The recipes are divided into cookbooks—pick and choose the ones you want. Click and your recipes are downloaded into your software-fast, easy and convenient.

Bonus Features

• A coupon editor so you can add your coupons and expiration dates.
• User rating criteria: cheap, easy, fun, pretty and tasty are standard. Add your own by clicking criteria on the recipe’s rating window.
• Change the background color for your recipes, useless but fun.

 

Ease of Installation:  

No problems installing Now You’re Cooking! 

Help/Support:  

Now You're Cooking! comes with a manual including how-to’s, FAQs and tips. If you need further help, you can contact customer support through email and phone. 

Summary:  

Now You’re Cookin! Is an adequate program, but expect the learning curve to be steep. TopTenREVIEWS’ top three products offer easier-to-use alternatives with more features.