| | |  | Jewel Cases | Home » » » » » MasterCook Deluxe 8.0 | | | | | | | Description: | | It's a challenge to find time to create new meals for you and your family. With MasterCook Deluxe 8.0, life in the kitchen just got a whole lot easier. Includes 7,000+ recipes with 400+ new baking recipes, grocery lists, personal nutritionist, and much more! | | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 0.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 0.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.0 inches | | Package Length:
| 7.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.01 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 25 reviews |
| | | System Requirements: | | | Platform:
| Windows 98 / Windows Me / Windows XP | | Media:
| CD-ROM | | Item Quantity:
| 1 |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 25 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
101 of 104 found the following review helpful:
 The best recipe management software out there!Feb 17, 2005
By L'lee
I have used Master Cook for many years now, and I am very impressed with it's capabilities. I mainly use it for managing and nutritionally analyzing my own recipes, but the recipes that come with the program are also useful, and easy to customize to your own needs. There are many yahoo (and other) groups dedicated to sharing Master Cook recipes in a format that is very easy to download, and the recipe import feature makes it easy to copy and paste recipes in text format (or from websites - including pictures!) in just a few seconds. It can take a while to type in a lot of recipes from books, or initially typing in your collection if you choose to do it all at once, but I think it is worth the effort. I have tried a variety of other recipe software programs (Cook'n, ChefTec - EXPENSIVE, Meal Master, Instant Home Cooking, CookWare, among a few!) and I have found Master Cook to be by far the best value with the most customization abilities, ease of use, and user-friendliness.
Master Cook also has the capability to keep track of your pantry, create shopping lists, plan your menus, search for recipes based on very specific criteria (ingredients to avoid or include, single nutritional items, your personal rating or category, time to make, cost - if you use the shopping section, etc., and combinations of any of these things).
One thing that I don't like about Master Cook are that it *doesn't* include SUGAR or TRANS FATS in the nutritional information (or a custom nutrition capability - that would be handy for calculating weight watchers points!) I contacted ValuSoft about the possibility of adding these and was told that they do *not* expect to add these in the near future. I was disappointed by this because I think that sugar and trans fat are pretty basic items to nutrition - I hope they reconsider!
Overall, I highly recommend this product if you are interested in maintaining and sharing recipes and/or having control over your nutrition. I have enjoyed the ability to modify recipes so that they are healthier for me and my family, and have given this software (and my recipes/cookbooks from it!) to several family members as gifts.
47 of 49 found the following review helpful:
A treasury of informationFeb 15, 2005
By Stephanie
"crazygrrl1369"
It's true there are not many pictures, but this software wasn't meant to be eye candy. It was created for functionality and to fill a void in the software market. The program has been around for years, and each edition keeps getting better. In version 8.0, MasterCook includes literally thousands upon thousands of recipes compiled from various cookbooks and textbooks used in home cooking as well as the hospitality industry (such as Food for Fifty, On Cooking, etc). I've found delicious and sometimes difficult to find recipes for petits fours, casseroles, and breads. There are even separate sections for "low carb" and vegetarian recipes. I honestly haven't prepared many of the recipes, but I don't think that could be accomplished in my lifetime!
Each recipe can be customized by adding your own notes, ingredients or modifications on the original recipe. You can choose recipes to compose an entire meal and print out a grocery list of all the ingredients required to make that meal. It makes meal planning on a daily or weekly basis a snap (if you have the time to invest). It also has chapters on preparation methods and definitions of terms used in cooking.
The best part is the nutritional analysis, my main reason for buying this software package. You can enter a recipe from your own archives and receive a fully detailed nutritional analysis of the dish. Despite its overly-complicated interface, it is chocked full of information and retails at an affordable price. This is a fantastic organizational tool for a computer-savvy foodie, a nutritionist, or even a chef. I recommend this software as one of the best recipe organizers and cookbooks available for your PC.
40 of 42 found the following review helpful:
 Good as a cookbook, not as a recipe organizerJun 07, 2005
By Rob
"Rob6610"
I purchased the MasterCook 8 software in part because of the great reviews it received and its PDA support, but it isn't quite as good for me as it seems to be for most others. The overall design is very nice, and it looks better than any other cookbook program that I've tried, and the recipes look delicious. Unfortunately, it's not the program to use if you have a lot of recipes to import. I've tried importing Meal-Master recipes, plain text recipes and even recipes exported then reimported by MasterCook 8, but even though the recipes get imported all of the categories disappear! Not only that, but there doesn't seem to be a standard set of categories for new cookbooks -- you have to make your own category template. Another big issue for me is eliminating duplicate recipes; MasterCook 8 checks for duplicates when you first import recipes, but there's no way to simply check for duplicates in a current cookbook.
All in all, if you don't have many recipes of your own and you aren't inclined to download thousands of new ones from the Internet the way I did then this is a good program. If, however, you have a large collection of recipes or want to build one, this is not the best program with which to organize them. I switched to AccuChef, which isn't as polished in some ways, but is much better at organizing my recipes.
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 It looks like I am going to delete it and reinstall MC3.0Jun 10, 2005
By Penn Name
I finally decided to buy the new edition because of XP and the nutritional information for fats. I love MC 3.0. I hate this one. It would get a 1 star except I like the web feature and the fact I can see the fats otherwise it is a loser in editions.
I have to use two to three steps more for everything and look thru things that I really shouldn't have to do simple chores that I could do in one click with Sierra's version. It also seems buggy. I entered my categories and suddenly when I opened the last time, the template is gone which means I have to redo the entire thing. It is bulky without very good organization. I will say that it is pretty but that is about it. It is coming out a loser and I am starting to look for my 3.0 which is old but fast and more reliable than this.
I use to swear by MC. Course I use to swear by Netscape too. It doesn't mean I can't change my choices. I just wish it was as good as Amazon's service in getting it to me.
Ok I edited this because I had my old MC3 disk shatter. That is another review of a different product. There was no way I wanted MC8 back. I bought MC5. NOT bad at all. It is not as bright an interface. MC8 is much brighter in color causing eye problems The Interface stays very much the same but the Sierra product functions much smoother and with less clicks than the Valuesoft 8.0. MC8 had more problems with crashes and as I said lost all the categories. It also caused major problems importing them. MC5 does the job MC8 claims it does and does fats and imports from the web. The MC5 version does not cause the keyboard/mouse conflict that I had with MC8 and cured by uninstalling. Can I get a -2 for MC8 in stars now?
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
It isn't just software, it is a hobby!Apr 24, 2006
By FNU MNU LNU
I've been using Mastercook software for about six years. This is the 4th version I've purchased. I'm totally pleased with 8.0, and have had no problems upgrading the previous versions and integrating the old cookbook collections into the newer program. What I like best about this program is that I can enter the ingredient "scallops" and pull up dozens of recipes and select one based on what is in my pantry. (I've never had much luck planning meals in advance). I do not find the software buggy or difficult to use at all. I've also used it to load recipes onto my Dell Axim PDA (handy when at the grocery store). I've had no difficulty printing recipes onto paper or index cards. After you try a recipe, you can annotate it with comments. Better yet, I even take digital photos of some dishes (like the Christmas duck I made) and add them to the recipes. To the extent there are recipes in the collection that are not appealing, simply delete them! I like having a growing family cookbook which I can print for my kids someday!
See all 25 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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