Mastercook 2020

We've been using older versions of MasterCook for many years and liked it as a way to organize our recipes. More recently, we wanted to try to keep better track of what we were eating and the nutrients/calorie content. There are a lot of apps out there to do this but what we found was that to get access to more than just basic nutrients, we would have to get a subscription. Even more of a deal breaker for us was that we found that it was too much work to figure out the nutrient content of what we were eating - we mostly cook from scratch and we found that most of the apps are really quick and easy if you are eating store bought products but more time consuming if you need to enter a lot of recipes. So I loaded my old MasterCook 14 on my Windows 10 laptop and revived and updated one of my old cookbook collections.The old version worked just fine on my laptop but I found that we were still wanting more information about nutrients so I looked to see what updates there had been. The 2020 version said it did exactly what we were looking for so we bought it hoping to get the information we wanted without a ton of work on our end.I put the new version on my laptop, brought over my old cookbook and pressed the nutritional analysis button and all the new nutrient values were comng up as zero. I was frustrated and sent an email to support for the software, honestly not expecting very much help. I couldn't have been more wrong!Technical support responded so quickly with detailed steps to work through with them to figure out what happened (it was totally user error because I didn't bother to read any of the helpful articles they had on the site before trying to bring in my old recipes). Before long the 2020 version was working seamlessly and we were able to see exactly every possible vitamin, mineral, etc that we are eating. We are very happy!As for the program itself, it is great if you cook from scratch and want to have a better grasp on how balanced your diet is. You can create meal plans and menus to help keep you organized as well. All around, it is a great program for helping us eat a balanced diet with food we like.Lastly, for the reviewer who had trouble with this version, it may be worthwhile contacting support to see if they can help you. The support was outstanding and I am confident that they will be able to help fix the issues you faced.

I'm not certain why I'm giving it two stars instead of one. It installed okay. I tried to import recipes from a prior version using the directions from the publisher. That didn't work. But whatever. I just wanted to make a cookbook with it using a few family recipes. I wasn't interested in sending it in for publication: I just wanted to print and spiral bind a cookbook. The formatting tools are VERY limited: there is no way to make it look nice. I finally gave up and used a free Microsoft recipe template. That wasn't easy, but at least I could format things. Perhaps I'm just inept. If you are just looking for a place to store recipes digitally, it might be okay. If you are looking to publish them, you may want to look elsewhere.

Using for catering business. User friendly app.

There is no ability to divide a cookbook into chapters.

I've used this product in earlier versions for years, and have been able to import files from previous versions with only a small amount of difficulty. THIS version will only allow me to import the one "cookbook" I've created, not any of those that came with previous versions, and does not seem to come with any of its own versions. Very disappointment. Am thinking of returning this and going back to my previous version. This is a waste of money.

Storing recipes. Love the calories, details, etc.

I have been using MasterCook since the first version was released in the 1990's and swapping recipes and cookbooks with my MasterCook and Living Cookbook friends for over 25 years. I use MasterCook to organize my recipes into cookbooks and use its tools to drag/drop recipes into menus and shopping lists. I can print my menus and shopping lists to PDF files instead of printing directly to my printer. I frequently use this tool to help with my camping meal planning. I even have a separate Pantry List for items I want to track in my camper that are not recipes or food items. If you want to use the online features at MasterCook.com and the mobile apps, you can purchase an online subscription separately. Then you can sync with your online account to access and even edit your recipes and shopping lists when you are away from home and your computer. Then sync those changes with the program on the computer when you return home.You can even use this program with your hobbies that are not even related to recipes. I know people who have used it for years to organize their art projects, including crocheting and adding photos and directions for their patterns. You can insert multiple photos into one recipe too. They have "cookbooks" of different types of art projects and add multiple photos to one of their "recipe" art projects.MasterCook 2020 is the first version that has an updated nutrient and ingredient database. All previous versions are using the USDA database from the 1990's. Many customers have been asking for an updated ingredient & nutrient database for many years. It is great the latest company that owns MasterCook delivered that request with version 2020. There are more than 3x's the number of nutrients in version 2020 compared to all previous versions.Additionally, you are NOT REQUIRED to have an online subscription with this MasterCook 2020 Windows product. MasterCook 2020 is sold INDEPENDENTLY, so those who do NOT want an online subscription are not forced to have one. Many competitors of MasterCook have quit selling their Windows product independently over the past few years and only have an online subscription model today. Many software products have moved to the subscription model only. Additionally, although Living Cookbook (LC) did not have a subscription model, they went out of business several years ago. Their product requires an activation code to install when you get a new computer, so my friends were locked out of their recipes when they got a new computer and have switched to MasterCook instead. A fellow LC user created a tool that extracts your recipes and their photos from the .lcb database file and converts them into MasterCook cookbook files. Look for the Living Cookbook Rescue app in the Microsoft Store.The best part about MasterCook is the customer service. If you need help or have a problem with your software not working like it does for others, you can contact MasterCook Support, and they always help you within a day. If you are unhappy about something and can't get something to work right, don't worry. Just send an email to support@mastercook.com and you will get a reply and help likely within a few hours. I hope you enjoy MasterCook as much as I have for over 25 years!