Home Cookin Recipe Software

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

Purchase Home Cookin Deluxe for $39.95 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 $39.95 (US Funds Only) payable to:

Mountain Software
6911 NE Livingston Road
Camas, WA 98607

• 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 download the most recent version, and see the programs revision history at www.mountain-software.com/hc_down.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 1996-2006 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. All documentation was written with Pen Pal, a freeware text editor from Mountain Software.

When you first open Home Cookin, the Index screen will display a list of chapter titles on the left, and a list of recipes on the right. Choose your desired chapter first, then click twice on the recipe you want to view.

To return to the Index screen, click the Index tab or press the Enter key.


The Recipe Screen:

If a recipe is too long to fit on the screen, you can use the on-screen slider, the scroll wheel on your mouse, or the keyboard controls (Up, Down, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down) to scroll through the recipe.

Click the Left Arrow button, or press the left cursor key, to move to the previous recipe in the current chapter.

Click the Right Arrow button, or press the right cursor key, to move to the next recipe in the current chapter.

Click the Edit Recipe button to edit the current recipe. Once the text editor appears, make the changes you desire and click the Save button to save your changes.

Click the Find button to locate a phrase in the current recipe. Enter the text you want to search for, and click OK. All text that matches your search will be highlighted (this is a simple search that matches any string you type in).

Click the Resize button to temporarily resize a recipe. Enter a new serving size and 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.

Click the Delete button, or press the delete key on your keyboard, to delete the recipe you are viewing.

Click the New Meal button to add the current recipe to the meal calendar.

Click the Export button to export the current recipe.

Click the Print button to print the current recipe.


Tips:

• Press the Enter key on your keyboard to toggle between the Index and Recipe screens.
• Recipes can be viewed from the Meal screen by clicking twice on the desired recipe in your meal list.
• To quickly find an ingredient for your grocery list, hold down the Control key and click on the desired ingredient in your recipe text.

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.

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

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
Center text on line..... Control/Space
Strip carriage returns.. Control/Return

TIPS:

• Press the Tab key to cycle through the editor fields.
• Once you have entered the number of servings for the recipe, you can click the Resize button to permanently resize the ingredients.
• Photo's must be in Windows BMP bitmap format, and be 640x480 in size or smaller. To minimize the size of the database, the image should also be reduced to 256 colors or less. Most any graphics application can perform these tasks.
  

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.

• 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.

• 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 mispelled word when it opens. If no words are mispelled in the current recipe, it will show No more mispelled words.
2. When a mispelled 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 mispelled word in your text after adding it to your dictionary.
4. Click the Next button to locate the next mispelled word.
5. If you want to abort the spell checker, or no more words are mispelled, click the Cancel button to return to the editor.

• If you want to ignore a mispelled 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 mispelled 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 mispelled 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. Select the recipe(s) you want to delete.
   (Hold down Control key to select multiple recipes. Control/A selects 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.

• 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.

• 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).

• 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. Select the recipe(s) you want to print.
   (Hold Control to select multiple recipes, or 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)

• All print layouts assume your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper. 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. Select the recipe(s) you want to move or copy.
   (Hold Control to select multiple recipes, or 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).

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 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.

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. Select 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 included 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• You can search for grocery items while viewing a recipe on the Recipe screen. Just hold down the Control key and click on the ingredient you need in the recipe.
• 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, and 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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.

• 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.

• 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 print margins.
7. Click the OK button to print your shopping list.

• 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 lets you plan your meals up to two years in advance. The first step in this process is starting a new meal list:

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Click the Clear button.
3. Click the OK button to verify the clear operation.

• If you did not prepare every meal on an earlier meal plan, it is often easier to move meals you didn't make to new dates on the calendar. Then delete the ones you did prepare. This saves you from having to locate the recipes again and adding them to the meal calendar.

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. The meal will be attached to the current calendar date.
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.

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

• You can place as many recipes or notes on a calendar date as you wish.
• You can also add a recipe to the meal calendar by selecting a recipe, clicking the Meal tab, clicking twice on the desired date, and clicking the Recipe button.
• You can return to the current date at any time by clicking the Today button.

When you add meals to the meal list, they are placed on the current date by default. You can then move them to your desired date.

1. Click the Meal tab.
2. Click on the desired meal in the meal list, and drag it to the desired date on the calendar.

• Dragging a meal with the Left mouse button will Move it to the desired date.
• Dragging a meal with the Right mouse button will Copy it to the desired date. This is helpful when you plan to have the same meal on additional days (Leftovers).
• To change the order of meals on a single date, select a meal, then hold down the Control key and press the up or down cursor key on your keyboard.
• Dragging a meal to the date it is already on will move that meal to the bottom of that day's meals.

After you prepare a meal, you should remove it from the meal list.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Highlight the desired meal in the meal list.
3. Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
4. Click the OK button to verify the deletion.

• The meal calendar is limited to a 100 week sliding window, starting with the current date or the oldest meal. If you do not remove old meals, the calendar will not advance, and you will eventually be unable to add more meals.
• Removing a meal from the meal list does not delete the recipe from the recipe database.
• You can also delete a meal by Right clicking the desired meal.
• If you did not prepare every meal on an earlier meal plan, it is often easier to remove the meals you prepared, and 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. Click the Print button.
3. Click the Printer field to select your desired printer.
4. Click the Font field to select a font for printing.
5. Drag the on-screen preview, or use the cursor keys to adjust the print margins.
6. Click the OK button to print your meal list.

• 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 in the program by pressing function key F1. Home Cookin uses HTML documentation which requires a valid web browser to be installed on your system. Home Cookin will attempt to locate your default browser automatically when you press F1, or you can load the file into your browser manually.
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 set to 800x600, or 1024x768 with higher screen resolutions. The window will be centered automatically, and will appear full screen at lower resolutions. If you move the window while the program is running, you can Right click the title bar to recenter 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 Help 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.