Recipe software: Frugal?

Quoted message said:

Problem:

Bachelor living alone who hates to grocery shop and not
so good cook. Waits until very last minute to go to
grocery store. Waits to NOTHING left to eat or cook.
Doesn't "plan" the meals out so constantly wasting time
and effort trying to decide "what" to eat.

Possible solution?

Buy and install recipe software in hopes that it will
help with me planning and grocery shopping list. Hoping
such software will adjust recipes for a single person
so that there are NO leftovers to store or use up.

Does anyone above have advice on above strategy? ever
use recipe software at home? If yes which one?

Do you have a PC in the kitchen for just such use?
Maybe a laptop with wireless connection?

Recipe software won't really help. You need an inventory of what's on
hand, and perhaps a cookbook that has lots of recipes that are made
mostly with staple items (like _Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook_, with
the red plaid cover.) And a running plan for what you'll be eating for
the next few days and what few items you need to buy in addition to your
staples.

If you want to never have any leftovers, you are setting yourself up for
failure. Leftovers are a good thing. Just don't cook anything else
that will generate leftovers until the previous 2 leftovers are used up.

Best regards,
Bob

wrote on 20 May 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Problem:

Bachelor living alone who hates to grocery shop and not
so good cook. Waits until very last minute to go to
grocery store. Waits to NOTHING left to eat or cook.
Doesn't "plan" the meals out so constantly wasting time
and effort trying to decide "what" to eat.

Possible solution?

Buy and install recipe software in hopes that it will
help with me planning and grocery shopping list. Hoping
such software will adjust recipes for a single person
so that there are NO leftovers to store or use up.

Does anyone above have advice on above strategy? ever
use recipe software at home? If yes which one?

Do you have a PC in the kitchen for just such use?
Maybe a laptop with wireless connection?

I use MasterCook 8 and Now Your Cooking.
I prefer NYC.
Both have shopping list generation possibly down to which store and
aisle where stuff is and a price range plus possibly a cupon
storage/reminder.
Both have meal menu planning capabilities.
Both have pantry inventory.
Both have changing serving size options (not really useful).
I just prefer NYC (I feel it's more for the Manly Man). That and it
will allow me to easily webpage my recipes.

I don't believe the software will make you organize your whole kitchen
and change your life-style. Both can handle it if you are the organized
type though. Cause you have to enter and update all this stuff...it
doesn't magically occur.

I do think you can generate a shopping list for say 2 or 3 meals at a
time and shop several times a week or possibly working out several
bi-weekly meal plans. I also think seeing/reading a bunch of recipes
might aid in the what to eat tonight scenerio.

My solution like others is to cook on weekends. Make multiple serving
meals and freezing in correct serving sizes. After several weekends you
build up a varity of meal choices. I rely on my cooking software mostly
to store the recipes and any notes I've added to them concerning
additions, changes and cautions. I also make references to recipes in
cookbooks like: BlueBerry [censored] in Pepin's CookBook page 27 use the wild
(smaller) frozen berries.

Also consider investing in one or more crockpots. (You too can come
home to a hot meal, cooked while you were at work.) With a appliance
timer crockpots are very handy.

--
No Bread Crumbs were hurt in the making of this Meal.
Type 2 Diabetic Since Aug 2004
1AC- 7.2, 7.3, 5.5, 5.6 mmol
Weight from 265 down to 219 lbs. and dropping.
Continuing to be Manitoban

Quoted message said:

Problem:

Bachelor living alone who hates to grocery shop and not
so good cook. Waits until very last minute to go to
grocery store. Waits to NOTHING left to eat or cook.
Doesn't "plan" the meals out so constantly wasting time
and effort trying to decide "what" to eat.

Possible solution?

Buy and install recipe software in hopes that it will
help with me planning and grocery shopping list. Hoping
such software will adjust recipes for a single person
so that there are NO leftovers to store or use up.

Better solution: Cookbooks intended for one person, which assume that the
person doesn't know much about cooking.

A high percentage of cookbooks for students fit this description. They
don't go to the extent of detailed instructions on how to use a teabag, but
sometimes come close.

Cookbooks for children have better (more useful) pictures. However, they
assume a higher level of knowledge. (Yes, I'm serious and I mean that
sentence exactly as it's written.) And I don't think the recipes are
likely to be for only one person.

One thing I recommend: emergency meals; TV dinners or whatever.
Something to eat when you've run out of food. Stored away so you're less
likely to eat them when you _do_ have something else on hand.

Also, stuff for making sandwiches.

On grocery shopping: One thing which makes it more interesting and less
tedious for me is looking for "Why would anyone buy _that_!" stuff. Is
Hispanic spaghetti (imported from Texas) really that different, or are
people paying more for part of the label being in Spanish? Does anyone
really need special salt for margaritas?

--
Dan Goodman
Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/dsgood/
Clutterers Anonymous unofficial community
http://www.livejournal.com/community/clutterers_anon/
Decluttering http://decluttering.blogspot.com
Predictions and Politics http://dsgood.blogspot.com
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.

Quoted message said:

Problem:

Bachelor living alone who hates to grocery shop and not
so good cook. Waits until very last minute to go to
grocery store. Waits to NOTHING left to eat or cook.
Doesn't "plan" the meals out so constantly wasting time
and effort trying to decide "what" to eat.

Possible solution?

Does anyone above have advice on above strategy?

Order take out immediately after your stomach rumbles.

Monsur Fromage du Pollet said:

wrote on 20 May 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Problem:

Bachelor living alone who hates to grocery shop and not
so good cook. Waits until very last minute to go to
grocery store. Waits to NOTHING left to eat or cook.
Doesn't "plan" the meals out so constantly wasting time
and effort trying to decide "what" to eat.

Possible solution?

Buy and install recipe software in hopes that it will
help with me planning and grocery shopping list. Hoping
such software will adjust recipes for a single person
so that there are NO leftovers to store or use up.

Does anyone above have advice on above strategy? ever
use recipe software at home? If yes which one?

Do you have a PC in the kitchen for just such use?
Maybe a laptop with wireless connection?

I use MasterCook 8 and Now Your Cooking.
I prefer NYC.
Both have shopping list generation possibly down to which store and
aisle where stuff is and a price range plus possibly a cupon
storage/reminder.
Both have meal menu planning capabilities.
Both have pantry inventory.
Both have changing serving size options (not really useful).
I just prefer NYC (I feel it's more for the Manly Man). That and it
will allow me to easily webpage my recipes.

I don't believe the software will make you organize your whole kitchen
and change your life-style. Both can handle it if you are the organized
type though. Cause you have to enter and update all this stuff...it
doesn't magically occur.

I do think you can generate a shopping list for say 2 or 3 meals at a
time and shop several times a week or possibly working out several
bi-weekly meal plans. I also think seeing/reading a bunch of recipes
might aid in the what to eat tonight scenerio.

For a shopping list, I keep a post-it note in the kitchen and add items
to it as I get close to running out. When the post-it not gets full I
transfer it to a program called Rat Shopper on my PDA. From there, I
have an instant check list of what I need when I go shopping.

Quoted message said:

My solution like others is to cook on weekends. Make multiple serving
meals and freezing in correct serving sizes. After several weekends you
build up a varity of meal choices. I rely on my cooking software mostly
to store the recipes and any notes I've added to them concerning
additions, changes and cautions. I also make references to recipes in
cookbooks like: BlueBerry [censored] in Pepin's CookBook page 27 use the wild
(smaller) frozen berries.

Also consider investing in one or more crockpots. (You too can come
home to a hot meal, cooked while you were at work.) With a appliance
timer crockpots are very handy.

Crockpots simply aren't my style likely because I've never taken the
time to learn how to use one effectively. The only things I cook in
mine are stew, shredded beef, and occasionally a sauce. I would
recommend a pressure cooker for reasonably quick meals.

Quoted message said:

Continuing the humorous vein -- get married (to a girl/boy who can
cook!!) Or a non-cook/newbie, and go to some cooking classes together).

Serendipity said:

For a shopping list, I keep a post-it note in the kitchen and add items
to it as I get close to running out. When the post-it not gets full I
transfer it to a program called Rat Shopper on my PDA. From there, I
have an instant check list of what I need when I go shopping.

I've been looking for an excuse to buy one of those things... they're
so darned cute! Did that software come with it? Someone I met had
recipes on hers - do you do that too?

sf said:

Serendipity said:

For a shopping list, I keep a post-it note in the kitchen and add items
to it as I get close to running out. When the post-it not gets full I
transfer it to a program called Rat Shopper on my PDA. From there, I
have an instant check list of what I need when I go shopping.

I've been looking for an excuse to buy one of those things... they're
so darned cute! Did that software come with it? Someone I met had
recipes on hers - do you do that too?

They really are handy. My main purpose for using one is my day planner.
DH thought carrying around a briefcase style day planner and a purse
was a little overkill. My second purpose is for genealogy. I have a
folding keyboard so the PDS and keyboard fit right into my purse. My
PDA came with pre-installed software such as date book, memo pad, and
etc. Rat Shopper is available online free as are other software for
PDAs. You do need to know the operating system but other than that
there are a lot of freebies for PDAs. I do my weekly planning on the
laptop then Hot Sync to my PDA. I do the same for genealogy data. That
way if either goes down, I always have a back up. I have a few recipes
but not many on the PDA. I have a lot of ebooks though as I hate
waiting anywhere with nothing to read. You can get a lot of free ebooks
at http://www.memoware.com I have a couple of games for something
different but I'm not much of a gamer.

Quoted message said:

They really are handy. My main purpose for using one is my day planner.

What brand/model PDA do you have?

Is it PPC based.... or Palm based?

Quoted message said:

Better solution: Cookbooks intended for one person, which assume that the
person doesn't know much about cooking.

Good idea! I will check them out!

Quoted message said:

One thing I recommend: emergency meals; TV dinners or whatever.
Something to eat when you've run out of food. Stored away so you're less
likely to eat them when you _do_ have something else on hand.

Good idea as well!!! I will get some TV dinners to
keep as "backups" in case I do run out of stuff to cook

Quoted message said:

Better solution: Cookbooks intended for one person, which assume that the
person doesn't know much about cooking.

Still tho I'm "wondering" if using a PC cant help in
some fashion that maybe be better than just "cookbooks"

Quoted message said:

Or a non-cook/newbie, and go to some cooking classes together).

Will do that eventually

Quoted message said:

I think the creators/authors of cookbooks are all senior-citizenish wimmen who
haven't noticed that there's very few large families anymore and that
most wives are in the workplace all day.

BINGO!!

My feelings exactly!

And why I've never found traditional recipe books to be
very helpful to me.

hence the desire for a "smart" meal planning
application.

I don't need an app to manage my inventory of food.
Heck I can do that by just looking at the cupboard.

But what I do need is an app that will design a weekly
monthly menu for me.... a single person..... who wants
to cook only enough for THAT meal..... no leftovers to
store.

If the app will plan the meals..... it can then produce
a shopping list that I can use to go buy the groceries
say on weekly basis.