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MacGourmet Deluxe sale about to expire

by Megan Lavey-Heaton Jan 31st 2009 at 12:31AM

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.

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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...
 

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Maxwell

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.

February 01 2009 at 12:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
lanceh5

I just bought MacGourmet Deluxe but they have not emailed a serial number. Maybe their server is slow?

February 01 2009 at 12:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to lanceh5's comment
lanceh5

My web order did not go through. I will have to call them Monday.

February 02 2009 at 12:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
shamwow

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.

January 31 2009 at 2:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Matt

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.

January 31 2009 at 10:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Matt's comment
Donna

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.

January 31 2009 at 11:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
robbinevanston

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.

January 31 2009 at 10:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andy Miller

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.

January 31 2009 at 8:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
taka-san

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!

January 31 2009 at 7:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adam

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.

January 31 2009 at 6:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Adam's comment
Jack

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 .

January 31 2009 at 4:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Silver

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

January 31 2009 at 1:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Silver's comment
SubGenius

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.

January 31 2009 at 12:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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