Scan & Fix 100 registry errors free
CNET Editors' review
Except for a few annoyances, BigOven works well as a recipe database. The interface includes views for recipe details, shopping lists, meal planning, and nutritional values. As we would expect with this type of application, you can schedule dishes for different days of the week and have it automatically compile a shopping list. To avoid duplicate entries, you have to click a button to combine them, and even then it can't tell the difference between single and plural items, so you may end up with "1 egg" and "2 eggs" as separate items on the list. However, the program will automatically combine items on the printed list.
The recipe-details view comes with a number of ways to sort, filter, and search. Each recipe is displayed with ingredients, instructions, servings, and a picture, if one is available. The edit screen lets you modify recipes or add new ones. We found the nutrition function difficult to use, as it requires you to manually link each ingredient to a separate database entry. We like the way Big Oven handles shopping lists, letting you drag-and-drop a recipe name to automatically generate a list of the appropriate ingredients. We also like the Web function, which lets you browse the BigOven database and seamlessly import new recipes, but only after you register the program. BigOven includes all the functions we find necessary in a recipe database and wraps them in a useful interface, but minor problems may frustrate users.
Publisher's Description
From Lakefront Software:
BigOven recipe software is an easy new way for you to discover great recipes, organize your collection, and share your recipes online with others. Only BigOven gives you one-click, instant access to more than 160,000 recipes via our searchable online recipe archive. Just choose your recipes, import them with a single click, drag and drop them onto a shopping list, and get a printed grocery list in seconds. Drag recipe cards onto a meal calendar to plan your coming days, weeks, or months. Capture recipes from other text files and Web sites with point-and-click functionality. Get nutritional values such as calories, carbohydrates, or fats, from any recipe. An unlimited number of keywords makes organization and quick access easy. Add photos to any recipe. Import files in MMF, MXP, MX2, Cook'n, and other recipe formats. Free Palm OS and Windows Mobile companions let you bring your recipes and shopping lists with you.
Version 1.8.977 contains several enhancements to make it easier to use and search the 160,000+ recipe archive.
What's new in this version: Version 1.8.977 contains several enhancements to make it easier to use and search the 160,000+ recipe archive.
More Popular Recipe Software downloads
- WW Points Calc
243 downloads
- Recipe Cards for Word
175 downloads
- Living Cookbook 2011
142 downloads
- Cook'n Recipe Organizer
84 downloads
- The Recipe Processor 2000 VR
70 downloads
-
All versions:
4.2 starsout of 29 votes
-
Current version:
3.6 starsout of 14 votes
-
My rating:
Write review
-
"Not bad but still room for improvement"
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
- clean interface
- good feature set
- easy to write up your recipes
- connection with internet community
- had a smartphone app that includes my recipes and grocery listCons
- some things are not intuitive
- buggy even after all the years it has been aroundSummary
I was looking for a free, simple but still powerful recipe software program to digitize all of my mother's recipes from when I was a child. This was the best of the ones I could find; even better than many programs that charge a fee. There are a few quirks that irritate me, however. There is no save button - it saves it as you go but I feel the need to push something when I am done with a particular recipe. Also, when I start a new recipe, some of the instructions from the old recipe get filled in - could make a really bad recipe. I noticed a recipe for coconut cake had some instructions for meatloaf mixed in - now that would be a culinary disaster. For some reason, I want to always add the measure (such as cup) with the amount (such as 1) when I am typing, causing me to have to correct my errors constantly, but that is my problem, not the software's. Finally, until I read the beginner's guide (which I had to go to the website and find; should be included in the help section), I did not realize what the headline button was for (very useful, separates the recipe into parts, like cake and icing). Overall, I like it alot.
-
"great for quick meals"
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
free and fairly straight forward
Cons
some rough spot with misfiled recipes
Summary
it's cool and getting better as time goes by
-
"Pretty good, but not quite up to cloud functionality."
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
Allows you to upload recipes you already have in a recipe database. Works okay if you only use it to sync to a windows mobile or palm device.
Cons
There is no way to copy the shopping list from your PC software to your web account. There is no way to keep your online recipes private if you want to. Does not allow you to store your recipes on an external storage card.
Summary
This is good software for keeping track of recipes and for sharing with others. Being able to import recipes into the PC version from older recipe databases in a really nice feature, but it does not yet allow enough integration with the online program to allow me to reasonably use the android or iphone versions. There is no way that I can find, after asking the devloper, to get the shopping list I created on my pc to my web account. Since the Android and iphone apps only allow me access to the web account this is a problem. Also, I may want use recipes on one of those devices that I don't want to share with the whole community, but this is not possible. This is probably the best recipe software for those devices out there, but is not as good as even its own version for windows mobile or palm.
-
"Poor support for imported MealMaster recipes"
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
Very comprehensive and reasonably intuitive. Plenty of features and the on-line community is a plus. Adding new recipes singly was easy and straightforward. Has comprehensive search.
Cons
Poor support for recipes migrated from MealMaster. Support advice via email is limited. It was not clear how ingredients were handled when found in an imported recipe.
It took a relatively long time to import 14 recipes and add them to 200 or so.Summary
BigOven was a candidate for my project to migrate many recipes from MealMaster. Unfortunately, BigOven did not properly parse recipes exported from MealMaster in any of the forms available. There were duplications in the ingredient details and section divisions in the ingredients section were lost. Instructions for each recipe were imported as one paragraph, losing all formatting and white space. This is so bad that the claim that they import MealMaster files may be misleading.
The advice I received from the support section via email suggests that they know these limitations and have no plans to fix, but without being straightforward about it. They also closed the support ticket with that advice, without asking me. -
"Customer help a joke."
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
Liked access to over 160,00 recipes
Cons
Security poor
Summary
Serial Num requires manual entry. Three mistakes..license goes void. They don't say anything about that up front....except after you've paid. Seem to have forgotten if they put security concerns before customer concerns...no customer. Read forums first. If you can't get in...well that should tell you something. If you can, hold on to your socks. A program with minimal support is a minimal program.
-
"Wonderful! Easy to use"
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
Hundreds of recipes available
Cons
nothing. it's a great program
-
"Heavy emphasis on community, member recipes, database."
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
The "try soon" feature is great for people like myself who have so many recipes they want to try but forget. You can create categories, great if you like to categorize by nationality - include obscure ones programs like this do not include by default
Cons
Emphasis on "community" is too heavy. As soon as you open the program "member" recipes are put in front of you on the screen. The emphasis in the program is on member-submissions and their own database. Many less common ingredients not recognized.
Summary
If your purpose in buying recipe software is to gain a big database of recipes, including a lot of member recipes from amateur cooks, this program is great. But if you aren't interested in said recipes and want a program that emphasises your own entries this program is not as good. The menus in the program heavily emphasize the database. It's hard to import recipes from the web (I could never import recipies from the Food Network website - had to manually type them in). A lot of ingredients are not recognized, especially international or more obscure ones (you can add them to the database). I got tired of wading through all the recipes the program was trying to push on me to get to my own, and tired of being greeted first thing upon launching the program with community member (amateur cook) recipes. One thing I did like about this program is you can add pictures to go with your recipes.
I should have mentioned that it's impossible to copy and paste recipes from internet sites into Big Oven. You have to re-type everything. If you want to have a lot of recipes from the internet in your recipe software, that makes this program very tedious to use.
Updated on Aug 28, 2008 -
"Does a wonderful job!"
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
It is a great software and I really love it. Now I can save all my recipes and retrieve them with great ease. I can also update photos, make changes and have several boxes. Excellent and takes a load off my back trying to put them on a folder.
Cons
Hope that it has more information about some of the newbut basic ingredients so that it can populate my nutritional content. Sometimes it has glitches when I start a new recipe and it inserts the recipe in a prior recipe so it cans a little frustrating. They need to fix t hat as it is annoying.
-
"Works smoothly"
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
II like the fact it runs smooth without getting errors popping up all the time.
Cons
The nutrician part is a little time consuming.
-
"Very good and comprehensive program"
Version: BigOven 1.8.977
Pros
Very easy to understand, many different recipes and good pictures
Cons
Difficult to work with the nutritional values.
Add Your Review
Submit your reply
E-mail this review
Report offensive content
See more CNET content tagged:
Previous Versions:
