Home Cookin Recipe Software

An easy to use recipe database, grocery manager, and meal planning calendar.

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Recipes: View a recipe Add a new recipe Add informational text Edit a recipe Check Spelling Delete recipes Find recipes Print recipes Move or copy recipes Import recipes Export recipes Locate duplicate recipes Chapters: Select a chapter Add a new chapter Edit an existing chapter Delete a chapter Purge empty chapters Find chapters

Grocery Lists: Start a new shopping list Find a grocery item Select an item for your shopping list Add an item to the grocery database Edit a grocery item Delete a grocery item Print your shopping list Meal Planning: Navigating the Meals screen Start a new meal list Add meals to the meal list Move or copy meals Remove meals from the meal list Print the meal list Print selected recipes Customer Support: How to Order Home Cookin Get Help With Home Cookin Tips and Notes

Purchase Home Cookin Deluxe for $44.95 and receive the latest version on a CD-ROM with over 12,000 sample recipes.

1. Order online with your credit card at: www.mountain-software.com/homecook.htm

2. Or, send a check or money order for $44.95 (US Funds Only) payable to:

If you purchase online, and do not need the CD or sample recipes, you can select email delivery for only $34.95

The trial version of Home Cookin is fully operational for 15 days. After that time, most functions will be disabled. Registration provides you with the following benefits:

• Unlimited use of the program
• No trial version "Nag" screens
• FREE unlimited support by email
• FREE upgrades for two years

Visit our web site at www.mountain-software.com to learn more about Home Cookin and our other products.

You can check for updates and see the program's revision history at www.mountain-software.com/hc_upgrade.htm.

The Home Cookin FAQ Page has answers to frequently asked questions. Solutions to many common problems are available for immediate access.

Email us at: support@mountain-software.com if you can't can't find the answers you need on the FAQ page. Please include the Home Cookin version number, and the version of Windows you are using. Any additional information you can provide, such as the steps you are taking, or the hardware you are using, will help us diagnose the problem and offer a solution.

As always, if you have a comment or suggestion for future updates, we would love to hear from you!

The Home Cookin program and documentation are Copyright 1996-2010 by Anthony Watson, all rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication of the program or documentation is a violation of federal copyright laws. The trial version of Home Cookin may be distributed freely, provided all original and unmodified files are included.

This product has been tested extensively and to the best of my knowledge will not cause problems of any kind. However, neither Mountain Software nor the author (Anthony Watson), will be held responsible for any damage occurring to your system or other software. I also make no guarantee as to compatibility with other software or hardware configurations.

Home Cookin was written by Anthony Watson using Power BASIC for Windows. This document was written using CSE HTML Validator.

The first screen you see when you open Home Cookin is the Index screen. A list of chapters will be displayed on the left side of the screen, and a list of recipes on the right. To view a recipe, first select a chapter, then click twice on the desired recipe to view it on the Recipe screen (or select the recipe and click the Recipe tab). You can also select recipes from the Meals screen to view them on the Recipe screen.

Scroll through longer recipes - using the slider on the right side of the recipe screen, or rotate the scroll wheel on your mouse (if available). You can also use the up/down cursor keys, Page Up/Down, Home, and End, to navigate long recipes.

Flip through recipes - by clicking the Left or Right arrow buttons, or by using your left and right cursor keys. To view recipes in another chapter, you must return to the Index screen and select your desired chapter. (Hint: You can select the "All Recipes" chapter if you want to flip through all recipes in your entire collection.)

Return to the Index screen - by clicking the Index tab or press the Enter key. You can toggle between the Index and Recipe screens using the Enter key.

Make changes to the current recipe - by clicking the Edit button. When the recipe editor appears, make the desired changes then click the Save button to return to the Recipe screen.

Find text in the current recipe - by clicking the Find button on the recipe screen. Enter the text you want to search for, then click OK. All text that matches your search will be highlighted (this is a simple search that matches any string you type in).

Resize the current recipe - by clicking the Resize button on the recipe screen. Enter a new serving size then click OK. You may print or export the recipe in it's resized form, but it will return to the original measurements the next time you view the recipe. To permanently resize a recipe, you must Edit the recipe and click the resize button on the editor screen.

Delete the current recipe - by clicking the Delete button on the recipe screen, or press the delete key on your keyboard.

Add the recipe to the meal calendar - by clicking the New Meal button. Change the date and meal time, if desired, then click OK.

Email a recipe or save it to a text file - by clicking the Export button. Select the format you want to use, then click the Email or File button.

Print the current recipe - by clicking the Print button. Select the print layout you want to use, then select your printer and a font. Adjust the position and card spacings, if needed, then click OK.

Select Grocery Items Quickly - by hovering the mouse pointer over any word in the ingredients. Click on the highlighted word to quickly search for that item in the grocery list. For example, if a recipe asks for "1/2 cup corn" you can click the word "corn" to search the grocery list.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Select a chapter to save the recipe in.
3. Click the Add Recipe button.
4. Type in the recipe Title, Ingredients, and Directions.
5. Click the Serves button to enter the number of servings it makes.
6. If you wish, load or paste in a photo.
7. If you wish, click the Spell Check button to check spelling.
8. Click the Save button in the text editor.

If you have informational text such as food glossaries, measurement equivalents, family stories, etc. you may want to use the Add Text function.

The text editors support many commands common to Windows applications:

Cursor Movements:

Next Word............... Control/Right Cursor
Previous Word........... Control/Left Cursor
Beginning of Line....... Home
End of Line............. End
Start of text........... Control/Home
End of text............. Control/End
Page Up................. Page Up
Page Down............... Page Down

Text Block Operations:

Mark Block.............. Hold Shift and Use Cursor Keys, or mark with mouse
Delete Block............ Mark block, then Delete key or RIGHT click mouse
Copy to Clipboard....... Mark block, then Control/C or RIGHT click mouse
Cut to Clipboard........ Mark block, then Control/X or RIGHT click mouse
Paste from Clipboard.... Control/V, or RIGHT click text
Convert to upper case... Mark block, then Control/U
Convert to lower case... Mark block, then Control/L
Strip carriage returns.. Control/Return

TIPS:

• Press the Tab key to cycle through the editor fields.
• Set the Servings to zero if you do not want to see a servings display. This is useful for things like loaves of bread, sauces, and other items that aren't always served individually.
• Once you have entered the number of servings for the recipe, you can click the Resize button to permanently resize the ingredients.
• Home Cookin supports JPG, GIF, BMP, and PNG image formats. If you load or paste an image larger than 600x400 pixels, it will be resized to approximately 400x300 pixels before being added to your recipe. To save an image larger than 400x300, you must resize it with a graphics program before adding it to Home Cookin.
• Home Cookin only allows one photo for each recipe. However, you can join multiple images in a graphics program and save the montage to a single image. Then load that image to your recipe.

From time to time, you may find information you want to store in Home Cookin that does not fit well in a standard recipe record. These may include food glossaries, measurement equivalents, family stories, etc. To better accomodate this type of information, Home Cookin includes a special text record.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Select a chapter to save the recipe in.
3. Click the Add Text button.
4. Type in the recipe Title, then enter your text into the main text field.
5. If you wish, load or paste in a photo.
6. If you wish, click the Spell Check button to check spelling.
7. Click the Save button in the text editor.

Tips:

• See Add a recipe for information on the various keyboard commands.
• Information text does not include a serving size, and therefore cannot be resized. Recipes should be stored using the Add Recipe function.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Select the recipe you want to edit.
3. Click the Edit button.
4. Edit the recipe as you wish (change the text, import a photo, resize the ingredients, check spelling, etc.).
5. Click the Save button.

Tips:

• See Add a recipe for information on the various keyboard commands.
• You can also Right click a recipe on the Index screen to edit it.
• Click the Edit button while viewing a recipe on the Recipe screen.

Home Cookin includes a built-in spell checker which can be accessed by clicking the Spell Check button when you Add a recipe, Add information text, or Edit a recipe. You also have the option to spell check recipes during importing.

1. The spell checker will show the first misspelled word when it opens. If no words are misspelled in the current recipe, it will show No more misspelled words.
2. When a misspelled word is found, locate the correct spelling in the dictionary (usually close to the word Home Cookin highlights). Then click the Replace button, or click twice on the correct word.
3. If the correct spelling is not in the dictionary, click the Add button to add the word to the dictionary. Enter the correct spelling in the Watch For field and leave the Replace With field blank. Then click Save. Remember to Replace the misspelled word in your text after adding it to your dictionary.
4. Click the Next button to locate the next misspelled word.
5. If you want to abort the spell checker, or no more words are misspelled, click the Quit button to return to the editor.

Tips:

• If you want to ignore a misspelled word, simply click the Next button to move on to the next word.
• You can correct a word without adding it to the dictionary, by clicking the misspelled word at the top of the spell checker. Make the desired changes, and click OK.
• You can add additional dictionary words at any time.
• If a word in your dictionary is spelled incorrectly, select that word and click the Edit button. Make the desired changes, and click the Save button.
• If you want to remove a word from the dictionary, select the desired word and click the Delete button.
• If you frequently need to replace a commonly misspelled word, you can use the auto-replace feature of the spell checker (For example, to automatically change recipie to recipe, or tbsp to tablespoon). Add a dictionary word, with the incorrect spelling in the Watch For field, and put the correct spelling in the Replace With field. Click Save when you are finished.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to delete.
   (Press Control+A to select all recipes in the current chapter).
3. Click the Delete button, or press the Delete key on your keyboard.
4. Click OK to verify the delete operation.

Tips:

• You can also Right click a recipe on the Index screen to delete it.
• Delete a recipe from the Recipe screen by clicking the Delete button.

While you can find a recipe by browsing through the main Index lists, it is often easier to use the Find function:

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Click the Find button.
3. Enter the text you are looking for (See below)
4. Check the fields you want to search (Default is title only)
5. Check the All Chapters option to search all chapters, or uncheck it to search the current chapter.
6. Click the OK button.

Tips:

• Searches are not case sensitive.
• The search terms can be in any order (i.e. butter sugar will find the same recipes as sugar butter).
• To match a phrase, enclose the terms in quotes (i.e. "peanut butter").
• To exclude a search term, precede it with a dash (i.e. -butter).
• To match any of a list of words, precede each term with a slash (i.e. /butter /margarine).

Examples:

• Do I have a recipe for Curried Chicken?
  1. Enter curried chicken
  2. Click the OK button (Defaults to Title search only)

• What can I make with potatoes, corn, and ground beef?
  1. Enter potato corn "ground beef"
  2. Uncheck the Title search field
  3. Check the Ingredients search field
  4. Click the OK button

• What kind of salads can I make with walnuts or pecans?
  1. Enter salad /walnut /pecan
  2. Check the Ingredients search field
  3. Click the OK button

• Do I have any clam chowder recipes that aren't New England style?
  1. Enter "clam chowder" -"new england"
  2. Click the OK button (Defaults to Title search only)

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to print.
   (Press Control+A to select all recipes in the current chapter.)
3. Click the Print button.
4. Click the Layout field to select a print layout.
5. Click the Printer field to select your desired printer.
6. Click the Font field to select a font for printing.
7. Click the OK button to print your recipe(s)

Tips:

• All print layouts assume your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper, regardless of what paper you are actually feeding. Make sure letter size paper is selected in the printer properties when you choose your printer.
• You can adjust the location of the cards on the page, by dragging the card in the preview window (top-left card with multi-card layouts), or by pressing the keyboard cursor keys (Up, Down, Left, Right). Most printers cannot print within 1/4 inch of the papers edge, so keep this in mind as you adjust the card positions.
• With multiple card layouts, you can adjust the space between cards by dragging the right-hand or lower cards. Or, hold down the Control key and use the keyboard cursor keys (Up, Down, Left, Right).
• Not all printers feed paper the same way, especially when manually feeding index cards. You may have to change the margin settings to align the printouts with your cards.
• If you are printing one of the multiple card layouts on plain card stock, click the Print Card Outlines option to provide lines for cutting the cards out.
• Click the One Recipe Per Card option if you want to limit the number of recipes printed on a card.
• Click the Print Photos option if you want to print attached photos with the recipes. Obviously, the photo will only be printed if one is attached to the recipe. Because of the limited space on index cards, this option is best restricted to full page layouts.
• You can also print a recipe by clicking the Print button on the Recipe screen.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to move or copy.
   (Press Control+A to select all recipes in the current chapter.)
3. Click the Move or Copy button.
4. Select the chapter where you want the recipes to be moved/copied.

Many recipes can be found on web sites, newsgroups, mailing lists, or even other recipe applications. Home Cookin lets you import these easily, saving the work of retyping every recipe. You may import recipes from text files, or copy them to the clipboard in other applications (i.e. web browsers, email clients, or newsreaders) and import from the clipboard.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Select the chapter you want to save the recipe(s) in.
3. Click the Import button.
4. Select the file you want to import, or click the Clipboard button to import a recipe that has been copied to the clipboard.
5. Select your desired import method:
   • The Automatic import method supports recipes exported from Mastercook, Meal-Master, Big-Oven, Cookbook Wizard, From Scratch, From My Kitchen, Living Cookbook, Now You're Cooking, Recipe Processor, or Computer Chef.
   • The Manual import method will let you save recipes that do not adhere to any of the supported formats.
   • The Information Record method will save the recipe as generic text.
   Normally you should leave the method set to Automatic. If the recipe format cannot be determined, Home Cookin will fall back to the Manual import method. The only time you may need to purposely select the Manual method is if the Automatic method is not importing a recipe properly.
6. Check the sort by category option if you want the recipes to be sorted by their defined categories. If the category does not exist as a Home Cookin chapter, a new chapter will be created automatically. If the recipe does not specify a category, the recipe will be placed in a chapter called Undefined Chapter.
7. Check the Spell Check option if you want to check spelling before saving the recipe. (Spell checking during importing will significantly slow down large import sessions.)
8. Click OK to import the recipe(s).

Manual Importing:

The manual import is used when Home Cookin cannot detect a recipe automatically, or when you specifically choose the manual import method. This allows you to select the various recipe segments yourself, and save the recipe in Home Cookin.

1. Select the recipe title by clicking on the line of text that contains the recipe title. Then click the Title button.
2. Optional: Select the line that specifies the number of servings for the recipe. Then click the Yield button.
3. Select the ingredients lines by clicking on the first ingredient and dragging down to the last ingredient. Then click the Ingredients button.
4. Select the directions lines by clicking on the first line of the directions and dragging down to the last line of the directions. Then click the Directions button.
5. Click the Save button.

If the text contains additional recipes, you can repeat the process with those. Click the Done button to return to the Index screen.

Tips:

• If you do not select a yield for the recipe, Home Cookin will default to four servings.
• After you select a recipe segment, you can Right click and select the segment type, instead of clicking the button at the bottom of the screen.
• Many documents like Word Documents (.doc) or web pages (.htm) include special formatting and control characters. Trying to import these directly into Home Cookin will likely result in garbled text with lots of strange characters. Instead, you should load the file into the application that created it, and Copy the text to the clipboard. You can then import the recipe into Home Cookin.

NOTE: Recipe importing is not an exact process. There are many items that can cause the import functions to work improperly, or not at all. These include inadvertant editing to the original text files, reformatting by various network processes, file corruption, embedded control codes, etc. Home Cookin has been designed to accomodate many of the problems you are likely to encounter, but you may need to edit the recipe after importing.

If you are having difficulties importing a recipe, you can always Add a new recipe, then copy and paste text between your application (i.e. a web browser) and the recipe editor. In a few situations, this may provide better results than importing.

To make it easier to exchange recipes with other users, Home Cookin allows you to export recipes from your collection.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to export.
3. Click the Export button.
4. Select your desired export format:
   • Home Cookin with photos - Use this format anytime you exchange recipes with other Home Cookin users. The photo will be encoded as text characters along with the recipe text.
   • Home Cookin, text only - This format is fairly generic which may be preferable if the recipient does not use recipe software.
   • Meal Master - A very common recipe format supported by most recipe applications.
   • Mastercook - A newer, but also common, recipe format that is supported by many applications.
   • XML - This format can be processed by other applications to perform various tasks. Experienced webmasters can also use this format to display recipes on their web sites.
5. Select your desired destination:
   • Click the File button to export the recipe to a file. When the file selector appears, navigate to your desired folder, then type in a filename for your recipe (i.e. Recipe01.txt).
   • Click the Clipboard button to export the recipe to Windows clipboard. You can then Paste the recipe into any other application (Notepad, Word, Newsreaders, etc.).
   • Click the Email button to send a recipe by email. Your default email client will open with the recipe in the message body. Address the message, change the subject line if you wish, and add any additional text. Then send your message.

Tips:

• The Email option requires a properly configured MAPI compliant email client. If you are having trouble with this function, you can always export to the clipboard then paste the recipe into your email message manually.
• If you are posting recipes to a newsgroup or public forum, the Meal-Master or Mastercook formats will provide the greatest compatibility for other users.
• You can also export a recipe by clicking the Export button on the Recipe screen.

As your recipe collection grows, you may end up with many similar recipes. This frequently occurs when you import recipes from public sources. Recipes may be renamed, ingredients reorganized, or the directions edited for clarity. But the recipes may otherwise be very similar.

The duplicate locator performs a statistical analysis of each recipe, then compares statistics to locate those that are similar. This allows Home Cookin to identify similar recipes even when some words are mispelled, ingredients or directions are in different orders, or the titles are different. You are then given the opportunity to compare the matches and delete the ones you no longer want.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Click the Locate Duplicates button.
3. Compare the two recipes (You may keep both recipes, delete one, or delete both).
   • If you want to delete the recipe on the left, click the Mark Recipe 1 button. Click the button a second time to unmark the recipe.
   • If you want to delete the recipe on the right, click the Mark Recipe 2 button. Click the button a second time to unmark the recipe.
4. Click the Right arrow button or press the right cursor key to compare the next pair of duplicates.
5. When you are finished comparing the duplicates, click the Delete Marked Recipes button. Marked recipes will be deleted, and you will be returned to the Index screen.

Tips:

• No recipes will be deleted unless you mark them for deletion!
• The statistical analysis is usually very accurate, but you may encounter a few "false" matches from time to time. This is a normal side effect of the analysis process.
• When two recipes match Exactly, the newest recipe is automatically selected for deletion. You can still unmark exact matches if you want to keep them, or click the Unmark All button to clear all of the duplicate marks.

Home Cookin organizes recipes into a series of chapters. Every recipe is assigned to one (and only one) of these chapters to allow for easy organization. When you want to browse for recipes, you begin by selecting the desired chapter, then scrolling through the list of recipes in that chapter.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Scroll through the list of chapters using the on-screen slider, or place the mouse pointer over the chapter list and rotate the scroll wheel on your mouse.
3. Click on the desired chapter. All recipes in that chapter will be listed on the right side of the Index screen.

In addition to the regular chapters, there are four reserved items at the top of the chapter list:

• All Recipes - This item will show ALL recipes in your collection, regardless of which chapter they may be in. This is an easy way to determine how many recipes you have, by looking at the recipe count at the bottom of the Index screen.
• Search Results - This item will show the recipes that were found in the last Find operation.
• Recipes Selected For Meals - This item will show the recipes you have selected on the Meals screen. Recipes must be in Home Cookin's database to appear in this list.
• Recipes With Photos - This item will show the recipes that have attached photo's. This can be handy when you aren't sure what you feel like making and just want to look at some pictures for ideas.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Click the Chapter button.
3. Select Add New Chapter from the popup list.
4. Type in a title for the new chapter.
5. Click the OK button to save your new chapter.

You can also access the popup list by Right clicking anywhere in the chapter list.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Select the chapter in the chapter list.
3. Click the Chapter button.
4. Select Edit Current Chapter from the popup list.
5. Edit the chapter title as you wish.
6. Click the OK button to save the chapter.

You can also edit a chapter by Right clicking the desired chapter in the chapter list.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Select the desired chapter from the chapter list.
3. Click the Chapter button.
4. Select Delete Current Chapter from the popup list.
5. Click OK when asked to verify the delete operation.

You can also delete a chapter by Right clicking the desired chapter in the chapter list.

NOTE: When you delete a chapter, ALL recipes in that chapter will also be deleted!

Occasionally, when you delete recipes from your collection, you may be left with chapters that do not contain any recipes. This may also occur if you have added extra chapters in preparation for other operations such as importing. In either case, you can delete the empty chapters individually, or you can use the Purge Empty Chapters function to perform this task automatically.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Click the Chapter button.
3. Select Purge Empty Chapters from the popup list.
4. Click OK when asked to verify the purge operation.

You can also access the popup list by Right clicking anywhere in the chapter list.

The Find Chapters feature lets you locate recipes that exist in multiple chapters that share a similar name. For example, searching chapters for cake will display recipes from both the Cake and Cheesecake chapters.

1. Click the Index tab.
2. Click the Chapter button.
3. Select Find Chapters from the popup list.
4. Enter the text you want to search for.
5. Click OK.

You can also access the popup list by Right clicking anywhere in the chapter list.

The grocery screen lets you maintain a list of grocery items. When you're ready to go shopping, use the New List function to reset the item quantities and erase the selections from your last shopping list. Then prepare your list by setting the quantities of the items you need.

1. Click the Grocery tab.
2. Click the New List button.
3. Choose how you would like to reset the item quantities:
   • Defaults: Set items to the default quantity defined for that item. For most items, this will be zero, and the item will not be selected when you start a new list. However, you can edit the items you purchase frequently (such as bread and milk), and enter a default quantity. These items will then be selected automatically each time you start a new list with the Defaults option.
   • Zero: Set all item quantities to zero, ignoring default quantities.
   • One: Set all item quantities to one. This is typically used when you want to print a master list of all grocery items. One reason you may want to do this is to record the costs of your favorite items when you go shopping.

Tip: Press the Enter key after clicking New List to select the Defaults list option.

You will most likely end up with several hundred items in your grocery database. While you can scroll through these one by one to find the items you are seeking, this would be very time consuming. It is much faster and easier to use the Find function:

1. Click the Grocery tab.
2. Click the Find button.
3. Enter the item you are looking for.
4. Click the Item button.

Tips:

• You can click on an ingredient name on the Recipe screen, to quickly search for that item in the grocery database.
• Finding an item DOES NOT select that item for your shopping list.
• You can enter partial phrases to locate items (i.e. Type green to find green pepper, green onions, etc.. Or type, root to find root beer or arrowroot powder).
• Press the Enter key after typing your search phrase to perform an item search.
• You can also click the Store or Location buttons after entering a search phrase to locate items by those fields.

Once you locate an item in the grocery list, you must select a quantity for that item so it will be printed with your shopping list.

1. Click the Grocery tab.
2. Find the item you need, then Left click the item to highlight it. You can also use the keyboard cursor keys to highlight items.
3. To increment the quantity (add one), click the Up button next to the quantity, or hold down the Control key and press your Up cursor key. You can also increment the quantity by pressing the Enter key.
4. To decrement the quantity (subtract one), click the Down button next to the quantity, or hold down the Control Key and press your Down cursor key. You can also decrement the quantity by pressing the Delete key.

Notes:

• Reduce the quantity of an item to zero to remove it from your shopping list. The item will remain in the grocery database for later selection.
• See Deleting Grocery Items if you want to permanently remove the item from your database.

If an item is already in the grocery database, simply select the quantity you need for your shopping list.

If you cannot find the item you need in the database, you can add a new item. You will then need to select that item to have it added to your shopping list.

1. Click the Grocery tab.
2. Click the Add button.
3. Enter the item name, a location, and the cost of that item.
4. Click the Save button.

Tips:

• Leave the store field blank unless you only purchase that item at a specific store.
• Use generic descriptions for the location field (i.e. produce, meats, dairy, etc.). This works better with a variety of stores, and doesn't require changing as stores reorganize.
• Round all costs up to the next 25 cents. This provides a bit of a buffer for price differences between stores, or price fluctuations at your usual store. It also minimizes the amount of maintenance you need to do on your item prices.
• When the cost of your actual shopping trips start to vary significantly from the estimate in Home Cookin, you should update the prices in your database. Compare your grocery receipt with the prices in Home Cookin and change them accordingly.
• If you frequently select this item for your grocery lists, you can enter a default quantity. The item will then be selected automatically each time you start a new grocery list.
• To make item selection easier at the store, you may want to provide more details about the items you add to your database. For instance, instead of entering "Corn", you might enter "Corn, Whole Kernal, 14 ounce".

NOTE: Adding a new item to the database does not select that item for your shopping list. Set the quantity as desired after adding a new item.

If you need to change the description, cost, default quantity, or other information for an item, you can edit that item:

1. Click the Grocery tab.
2. Highlight the item you want to edit.
3. Click the Edit button.
4. Change the various item fields as you need to.
5. Click the Save button.

Tips:

• You can also edit a grocery item by Right clicking the desired item.
• Editing an item will not change the selected quantity. You can update prices, change locations, etc. without affecting your shopping list.
• See Adding Grocery Items for more tips on editing your grocery items.

To remove an item from your shopping list, simply reduce the quantity of that item to zero. Items should only be deleted when you are sure you will never select them again.

To permanently delete an item from your grocery database:

1. Click the Grocery tab.
2. Highlight the item you want to delete.
3. Click the Delete button.
4. Click the OK button to verify the deletion.

Tips:

• You can also delete an item by Editing the item and clicking the Delete button.

1. Click the Grocery tab.
2. Set the item quantities as desired for your shopping list.
3. Click the Print button.
4. Click the Printer field to select your desired printer.
5. Click the Font field to select a font for printing.
6. Drag the on-screen preview, or use the cursor keys to adjust the printing position.
7. Click the OK button to print your shopping list.

Tips:

• The printed list will be sorted by store and location to make your shopping trips easier.
• The print function assumes your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper. Check your paper size in the printer properties dialog after you select your printer.

The Meals screen displays a daily meal listing on the left side of the screen, and a monthly calendar on the right. The calendar will open to the first meal or the current date (if no meals are defined) when you first open the Meals screen. After that, the meal calendar will always return to the last date you accessed.

• Use the wheel on your mouse or the up/down cursor keys to move forward and backward through the meal list. You can also use the Page Up/Page Down keys, or the on screen slider to navigate the list.
• Click the Left Arrow and Right Arrow buttons to change months quickly. You can also use the left/right cursor keys to change months.
• Click the Today button to jump to the current calendar date.
• Click the First Meal button to jump to the first meal in your meal plan. This is a quick way to jump back in time if you keep old meals for a long time.
• Click the Last Meal button to jump to the last meal you have planned. This is convenient when you are planning meals weeks or months in advance.

The Meals screen lets you plan meals as far ahead as you wish, and keep old meal plans until you remove them. In most cases, you will probably delete meals from the Meal calendar after you prepare them, or drag them to new days on the meal calendar. However, you can delete all meals at once if you want to wipe the entire meal list.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Click the check box at the top of the Meal list, or press Control+A to select all meals.
3. Click the Delete button, then click OK to verify.

You can attach any recipe in Home Cookin to a date on the meal calendar. This lets you plan your meals in advance, and quickly access them later when you are ready to prepare them.

1. Locate a recipe on the Index or Recipe screen.
2. Click the New Meal button. By default, the selected meal(s) will be attached to the current calendar date. If you are selecting a single recipe from the Recipe screen, you can change the date and meal time before submitting. New meals will default to whatever default time (breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc.) you have selected on the Options screen.
3. When you are finished adding recipes to the meal calendar, click the Meals tab and move or copy the meals to your desired dates.

You can also add notes to any calendar date. These can be used to indicate birthdays, special holidays, dining at a restaurant, or to reference pages in printed cookbooks (i.e. "Chicken Soup - Easy Cooking, page 40").

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Click twice on the desired calendar date.
3. Type in your note.
4. Click the OK button or press the Enter key.

Tips:

• You can place as many recipes or notes on a calendar date as you wish.

When you add meals to the meal list, they are placed on the current date by default.

• Move the meal by clicking with the Left mouse button and dragging to the desired date. This is useful when you are initially organizing your meal plan, or if you do not prepare a meal as planned and need to reorganize.
• Copy the meal to another date by clicking with the Right mouse button and dragging to the desired date. Copying meals is useful when you plan to have the same meal on additional days (leftovers), or if you plan to make the meal again the following week.

You may keep old meal plans as long as you wish. However, the meal calendar will be easier to navigate and organize if you remove meals after you prepare them. This keeps the database size to a minimum, and allows you to better see which meals you still have not prepared.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the meals you wish to remove. Click the check box at the top of the meals screen or press Control+A to select all meals on your calendar.
3. Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
4. Click the OK button to verify the deletion.

Tips:

• Removing a meal from the meal list does not delete the recipe from the recipe database.
• If you did not prepare every meal on an earlier meal plan, it is often easier to remove the meals you prepared, then move the remaining meals to new dates. If you clear the meal list, you will be forced to find the remaining recipes and add them to your meal list again.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the meals you wish to include in the meal list. Press Control+A, or click the check box at the top of the meals screen to select all meals in your meal plan.
3. Click the Print Meal List button.
4. Click the Printer field to select your desired printer.
5. Click the Font field to select a font for printing.
6. Drag the on-screen preview, or use the cursor keys to adjust the print position.
7. Click the OK button to print your meal list.

Tips:

• If you do not select any meals, Home Cookin will print your entire meal plan.
• The print function assumes your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper. Be sure that paper size is selected when you choose your printer.

Once you have arranged your meal plan, you can print your recipes directly from the Meals screen. This is helpful for printing the recipes you are making for dinner, or if you want to print the recipes you'll be preparing that week.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the meals you want to print. Press Control+A, or click the check box at the top of the meals screen to select all meals in your meal plan.
3. Click the Print Selected Recipes button.
4. Click the Printer field to select your desired printer.
5. Click the Font field to select a font for printing.
6. Drag the on-screen preview, or use the cursor keys to adjust the print position.
7. Click the OK button to print your selected recipes.

Tips:

• Selected notes will not be printed when you print selected recipes. Print the meal list if you need a printout of your notes.
• The print function assumes your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper. Be sure that paper size is selected when you choose your printer.

1. This documentation may be accessed at any time by pressing function key F1, or by clicking the Help button in the upper right corner of the Home Cookin window.
2. When you are ready to quit Home Cookin, click the Quit button in the upper right corner of the window title bar. Home Cookin is designed to save all changes as soon as possible, but if you quit while editing a recipe, grocery item, etc. your changes may be lost.
3. Most buttons have keyboard equivalents (underlined letter on button), and the main tabs can also be activated by pressing the first letter of the tab name.
4. The Home Cookin window is automatically sized to fit screens 1100x850 or lower. For higher resolutions the window size will be fixed at 1100x850 and centered on your screen. If you move the window while the program is running, you can Right click the title bar to re center the window on the screen.
5. When you edit or delete a recipe, the record is simply flagged as deleted in the data file. This allows faster program operation, but the deleted recipes still take up space on the drive. When the size of all deleted records exceeds 50,000 characters, Home Cookin will automatically rebuild the file when you quit the program. This eliminates wasted space, checks for corrupted records, and sorts the file for easier access. If you wish, you can also clean the database manually by clicking the Clean Up button on the Options screen.
6. Home Cookin was designed primarily as a recipe database. However, some users have found it useful for a variety of alternative tasks such as poetry/song collections, home inventories, or a flexible personal information manager (PIM). Any task requiring a compilation of many small text files could be well served by Home Cookin.
7. Home Cookin has been refined over many years of daily use and is the latest in a long line of recipe programs:
   • 1990 - "The Atari Cookbook" was created on an 8-bit Atari 600XL.
   • 1991 - "The Antic Cookbook" was published in the January 1991 issue of START magazine.
   • 1991 - "The Recipe Box" was released for the Atari ST computer line.
   • 1993 - "The Mac Recipe Box" was released for the Apple Macintosh.
   • 1993 - "The Amiga Recipe Box" was released for the Commodore Amiga.
   • 1996 - "Home Cookin 1.0" was released for Windows on the PC.
   • 2002 - "Instant Home Cooking" (a four disk bundle including Home Cookin) was released in retail stores.
   • 2002 - "Snap 12,000 Recipes" (AKA Home Cookin Light) was released in retail stores.
   • 2005 - "Home Cookin 5" was the first fully 32-bit Windows version.
   • 2010 - "Home Cookin 6" is released with new editors, better screen displays, and a new meal manager.