MacGourmet Deluxe sale about to expire
Getting this one in almost under the wire, MacGourmet Deluxe is currently on sale until the end of Saturday for $34.95 USD, about 30% off its normal retail price of $44.95.We've covered MacGourmet Deluxe in the past, and it was actually Dave Caolo's post that motivated me to give the software a try. The software is touted as the "iTunes for your recipes," and it definitely doesn't disappoint in that area. I have a feeling if Julia Child was still alive, she'd be using this software to organize recipes, interface with iCal for planning meals and publishing cookbooks through the partnership with TasteBook. It's actually almost a bit overwhelming for someone whose cooking experience might be tossing together frozen pre-packaged meals from the grocery store and occasionally experimenting with Alton Brown recipes from Food Network's "Good Eats."
But the services that MacGourmet Deluxe is touting with this sale is the integrated nutritional resources. MacGourmet uses the USDA National Nutrient Database to analyze recipes and automatically updates the software as the USDA database is updated.
MacGourmet Deluxe requires Mac OS 10.4 or higher.
For those wavering on whether or not to purchase this software, the tipping point just might be the recently released MacGourmet app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. MacGourmet [link opens iTunes] will allow users to sync with the desktop version of the program to transfer recipes, shopping lists, and more in order to streamline meal planning. You can also create shopping lists from the recipes already on the app itself and comes with more than 200 recipes already built in. The MacGourmet app is $4.99 USD in the App Store and works with both MacGourmet Deluxe and the regular version of MacGourmet.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Channer said 1:01AM on 1-31-2009
The download version is only $24.95 regular price.
http://www.macgourmet.com/
Reply
DrWho said 11:29AM on 1-31-2009
Yeah but the calendar, cookbook and nutrition plugins are $9.95 each
Quix said 1:49AM on 1-31-2009
Me, I'm waiting to see Cookbook from the My Dream App competition before I choose a Mac cooking app. I'm sure it will be released *any day now.*
/sarcasm mixed with disgust
Reply
SubGenius said 12:46PM on 1-31-2009
After wasting our time for months and those of the contestants and judges, they have yet to produce the promised product.
But of course Phil Ryu can find enough time for yet another MacHeist.
Oh and did I mention he also found time for an iPhone app?(Classics)
I refuse to support anything he is involved with.
Jack said 4:40AM on 1-31-2009
I have a feeling if Julia Child was still alive, she'd be using this software to organize recipes, http://www.laptops-battery.co.uk interface with iCal for planning meals and publishing cookbooks through the partnership .
Is it so useful as it say? Take a look .
Reply
Adam said 6:43AM on 1-31-2009
Would love to use something like this (the USDA DB isn't such a big deal to me), but one annoyance, and a bit of a dealbreaker - you can't clip a recipe from Firefox/Mozilla.
Reply
A-Pow said 9:25AM on 1-31-2009
I would use it with SuperDuper to create a clean image of my new uni-body Macbook before I upgrade the RAM to 4GB.
Then when the MacBook failed I would use it in Target Disk Mode to restore the image.
Oh wait...........................I can't.
A-Pow said 9:30AM on 1-31-2009
Actually that has nothing to do with MacGourmet, but it has to do with the fact that Mozilla/Firefox doesn't support Services input. Camino on the other hand does: Firefox rendering with Safari input.
Adam said 9:41AM on 1-31-2009
I have thought about trying out Camino, but that's a different thread - I've got SousChef (http://acaciatreesoftware.com/) on my Macbook that snips from Firefox, albeit not from the services menu - basically sucks recipe info straight out of the clipboard
Meanwhile I've got a shelf full of cookbooks and Cook's Illustrated that I use...
Steve said 7:43AM on 1-31-2009
My wife prefers YummySoup! over MacGourmet. Personally I don't care what she uses. I am just glad that she loves to cook! That's what it's all about, not what gimmicky app you use. Try new things, make it your own, and just enjoy the food!
Reply
AndyM said 8:46AM on 1-31-2009
Erm, call me Mr Pedantic, but a discount of $10 on a price of $44.95 is less than 25 per cent - not 'about 30 per cent' which would be closer to $14.
Reply
robbinevanston said 10:07AM on 1-31-2009
Just tried it out to see if my wife would use - unfortunately, I just got done checking out taskpaper and, by comparison, the UI for MacGourmet is way too, uh, involved. Had I not just done that, I might've been more happier with this.
One could handle this if one were spent one's days using quickbooks or some other accounting app. Not sure how there could be so many dialogues involved in entering a recipe. Crazy.
Geesh. Someone should make a recipe app that has a clean, white sheet of paper as it's paradigm - handle all the complexity, data relationships for you behind the scenes.
Hmmm.
Reply
Matt said 10:25AM on 1-31-2009
Having tried both, I think that SousChef is a more robust program than MacGourmet. It has a lot of great features. One of my favorites is where you can go into full screen recipe mode, which will take you through the recipe step by step, saying the process as you go. This mode is also controllable through the Apple Remote or voice activated. Very nice.
Reply
Donna said 11:41AM on 1-31-2009
Thanks for the tips and links; I've been wanting to organize my recipes for some time. Based on others' suggestions here I also trialed Yummy Soup and Souschef. I like the user interface of MacGourmet best (to each his own) but the companion iphone app and sale price for the deluxe version clinched it for me. The web clipping doesn't work in Firefox b/c it doesn't support services; this is a bummer but not a deal breaker since I just pop up Safari when I need to use this function. BTW a recipe can be displayed full screen in MacGourmet using the ' Chef View' option.
shamwow said 2:01PM on 1-31-2009
I just did trials of MacGourmet Deluxe and YummySoup! My main use of it will be to have my aging mother enter family recipes. Here's what I found:
MacGourmet-
- options to add equipment/utensils
- recipe input is an extensive set of forms but thorough and creates consistent recipes
- the cookbook builder option is really cool - create pdf cookbooks, that is if you can figure out how to use it. *No one reads manuals anymore.
YummySoup!-
- 1 page recipe entry form
- fantastic visual recipe sorter
- overall interface is easier to use for people who aren't software savvy
YummySoup! appears to me to be a better digital cookbook to use while actually cooking. MacGourmet Deluxe makes a very good recipe reference builder.
No doubt that my mom can handle YummySoup! but eventually the family will all want that .pdf output from MacGourmet to share her recipes with family members.
Hopefully YummySoup! will add cookbook builder to it's features.
Reply
lanceh5 said 1:54AM on 2-01-2009
I just bought MacGourmet Deluxe but they have not emailed a serial number. Maybe their server is slow?
Reply
lanceh5 said 12:07AM on 2-02-2009
My web order did not go through. I will have to call them Monday.
Maxwell said 2:44AM on 2-01-2009
Be aware that MacGourmet will not open libraries across the network. So, whatever Mac you create the recipes on is the one you have to read them one. No second-laptop-in-the-kitchen games. YummySoup has no such limitation. Dunno about SousChef.
Reply