Mastercook
 

I have been thinking about getting a Mastercook cd off of ebay...do any of you use the cd....and do you find it beneficial? Is it worth having?

I am following the ww plan and have a really hard time figuring out what my recipe point values are.....do you think this mastercook thing would help me?

I don't know anything about it, so if you have any info I would really appreciate it!

I posted here because this seems to be the place that gets the most action....while I know it is about food I hope you all don't mind! ANyway, please give me your opinions!

Thank you!

Angie.

I LOVE Mastercook! I use it for all of our site recipes. I'm still using version 5, but plan to order version 6 soon. I may look for it locally, as the new manufacturer (ValueSoft) say they sell at Target, Kmart, BestBuy, etc.

The BestBuy site has a better buy than eBay though.

The regular Mastercook 6.2 retails for only 9.95, which is lower than wat they are selling it on eBay for. I think the ebay sellers are cashing in on that most people are not aware Mastercook is being redistributed. Mastercook was discontinued by Sierra, and people were frantic to get copies. Copies (many counterfeit) were showing up on ebay, and they were getting as much as $100. Recently, however, ValueSoft purchased Mastercook from Sierra and are distributing it as a "value" software title. They have produced two versions... the regular Deluxe 6.2 http://www.valuesoft.com/products/mastercook.html for 9.95, and the Mastercook 6.2 Betty Crocker for 19.95 http://www.valuesoft.com/products/bettycrocker.html The betty crocker version includes 9 cookbooks: Best Christmas Cookbook, Best of Baking, Great Grilling, Best of Healthy and Hearty Cooking,
Best-Loved Recipes, Cookie Book, Cooking Basics, Good & Easy Cookbook, and Healthy New Choices.

I just checked the BestBuy site and it looks like they are out of the regular Mastercook Deluxe 6.2 (the one on ebay) but they have the Betty Crocker version for 19.95 http://www.bestbuy.com/software/Deta...023&e=11170875 Shipping is free.

Btw.. the way Mastercook works, is you enter a recipe and it will give you the full nutrition data per serving. It doesn't count points, but you can use the calores, fat and fiber from Mastercook to do that. It makes it very easy. You can store unlimited recipes in it, creating "cookbooks" for different types of recipes if you wish.

Wow, thank you for all this information. It sounds like it would definatly be worth getting. I have the worst time trying to figure out my home recipes. Of the two Mastercooks...which do you think is the best? Which would you reccomend?

Thank you!!!!

Angie

An additional question for you...

When you enter the ingredients into the program do you just say 1 cup of oil......or do you have to list the nutritional information for every ingredient. I am totally lost with the program, but I would love to learn how to use it. Is it easy....or does it take a lot of time to figure out what the nutritional info is for each ingredient. I hope this didn't sound too confusing.

Thanks again!

Mastercook integrates the USDA Nutrition database which contains over 6,000 foods, as well as many additional ingredients. So when you enter 1 cup of oil, the program already knows the nutrition data for the oil. You can also specify which type of oil you are using (canola, olive, etc) if you want more precise data for mono/poly/saturated fats. The program can be very detailed. The only tricky thing I've noticed is that some terms are not always interchangible, such as "fat free" "fat-free" "fatfree" or "low-fat" variations. For example, I can enter lowfat mayonnaise or low-fat mayonnaise but not low fat mayonnaise. They program attempts to complete the words for you, with what is in the database, so you can easily see what they have a match for. Once you have entered your recipe, you can click a button which provides the nutrition data.

If you are entering a recipe and the ingredient is not in their database, you can put it in. It's very easy, and you just need to have the food label handy to copy the information from. Once you enter it into the Mastercook database, it's there forever. This is particularly helpful for new or specialty products.

Regarding which version to get... If you want Mastercook primarily for your own recipes, then the standard Deluxe version is more than sufficient. It does come with a large collection of recipes built in, but they are not necessarily healthy. The Betty Crocker edition has more recipes, and some are from low-fat cookbooks.

Hope this helps!

Suzanne, thank you for taking the time to type all that out for me. It sounds like it is a great program, and because I have such a hard time figuring out how many points my own recipes are I really think Iwould use it. I am going to save a bit of money and buy this. Again, I really appreciate the time you took to answer this for me!! :)

Hey Suzanne,

I tried to order thru the site that you gave me....but because I live in Canada I couldn't do it. They don't ship internationally. I ended up back on ebay and won the mastercook 6.2 edition. It was $15.00 plus 9.00 for shipping. A little more then I wanted to spend...but I am sure in the end will be worth it.

THanks again, you were a HUGE help!!

:wave: