Cookbook/ Recipe Applications

foozball3000

foozball3000

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From a little browsing on Google, it seems that there aren't any free + Practical cookbook applications.
So, being a programmer, I'm planning on writing my own.
Yes, it will be Open Source (C#.Net). Sharing is caring.

All it is, is:
A program (few databases) that you can feed your recipes in.

Mine will have the following features:
- Stock room : To do check on what you can make with your current food stock
- Unit converter, changing all units to local measuring units.
- Alternatives listing. It gives alternative ingredients for those "hard to get ones"
- I'll probably have a menu function, which you can list what looks good, and it will prompt (suggest) you via a calender of sorts.
- And what ever other useful features I can think of.

New features:
-Personal Liking rating (A more practical version of the Favorites feature) and be able to like a certain group eg. I like pancakes, but don't like this pancake recipe.
-Bulk importing of recipes
-Printout option
-XML based
-Compile a menu feature
-Complicated and accurate data management, so the user won't have to worry about it (This will take some serious design)
-Local pricing system, to estimate the total cost.
-And a feature for indecisive people (like H_C), so you just pick: "I want something... That I like/New/Quick/Daring... ect.
-And a star rating (I have no idea how to do this one, but it can be done), it's not based on taste or difficulty, but rather if a recipe has 5 stars, you'll easily pay R800 for it. ..and so on and forth. (Just an idea)

But I'll only have time to do that after my current pet project. :(
 
Last edited:
FarligOpptreden said:
...and what's your current pet project?
Click to expand...

The most complicated screensaver app that I've ever written... purely because I can. :D
The theme is simple. It's a slideshow of 8 steps to success, captured from a TED lecture. But instead of being sensible, redrawing all the slides in GIMP, and just adding them into the screensaver... I decided to break each object down to maths, so that the resolution will always be perfect. So, the program renders each frame.
 
Sounds a wicked little app FB, I would definitely make use of something like that :)
 
+1

I would love to have that cooking application. sounds awesome. no more wondering what to make :D
 
I'm also interested in getting deeper into GDI+, there have been some new articles on codeproject recently. I'll post some links if anyone is interested.
 
dequadin said:
I'm also interested in getting deeper into GDI+, there have been some new articles on codeproject recently. I'll post some links if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...

Image manipulation is also applicable in web development. I used it to scale my pictures for thumbnails (oh, the joys of having a page URL as the source for an image!), as well as CAPTCHA controls to generate the random image. For web-based reporting, it's also useful in generating graphs... The possibilities are near endles. :)
 
FarligOpptreden said:
Image manipulation is also applicable in web development. I used it to scale my pictures for thumbnails (oh, the joys of having a page URL as the source for an image!), as well as CAPTCHA controls to generate the random image. For web-based reporting, it's also useful in generating graphs... The possibilities are near endles. :)
Click to expand...

Cool never thought of it like that. I am thinking more along the lines of WinForms and UserControls...

Have you seen Paint.NET, very impressive...
 
I'm using the recipe module for Drupal atm. Works well, although an import feature would be nice.
 
Back on topic, I've also always thought of a similar app.

One feature I've always had trouble with is keeping track of the stock. When following recipes it's easy because you just subtract the ingredients off your stock levels. But what about it you make something not in your recipe database? One idea I had was to may bar-code scan stuff when you take it out the fridge/cupboard.

Rather that just make a simple cookbook application I would think more alone the lines of a kitchen maintenance system. So you can pull trends/reports of what you're eating a lot off. Add nutritional info into the DB to get calorie's eaten per week and auto generate shopping lists that group items by category so you don't end up doing laps around Pick & Pay for hours :p
 
dequadin said:
Rather that just make a simple cookbook application I would think more alone the lines of a kitchen maintenance system. So you can pull trends/reports of what you're eating a lot off. Add nutritional info into the DB to get calorie's eaten per week and auto generate shopping lists that group items by category so you don't end up doing laps around Pick & Pay for hours :p
Click to expand...

Haha! That would be awesome. It would be even better if you could have a scanner fitted to the cupboard so it scans the item as you're pulling it out... But that might cause inconsistencies in your stats if you just randomly pull stuff out of the cupboard or pull out the wrong item. So scratch that idea... :p
 
FarligOpptreden said:
Haha! That would be awesome. It would be even better if you could have a scanner fitted to the cupboard so it scans the item as you're pulling it out... But that might cause inconsistencies in your stats if you just randomly pull stuff out of the cupboard or pull out the wrong item. So scratch that idea... :p
Click to expand...

How about attaching the scanner to your rubbish bin, then you know you've used it :p Anyone pulling stuff in and out of there is a bit dodgy, so we can exclude that case...
 
dequadin said:
How about attaching the scanner to your rubbish bin, then you know you've used it :p Anyone pulling stuff in and out of there is a bit dodgy, so we can exclude that case...
Click to expand...

...and what if the specific item wasn't in packaging? Like fresh fruit or veggies?
 
FarligOpptreden said:
...and what if the specific item wasn't in packaging? Like fresh fruit or veggies?
Click to expand...

Dam :mad:, I knew this was the achilles heel of such a system. For a usable system, maybe image recognition is the only viable solution :confused: :D
 
I like your ideas. It's something that has been on my todo list for a while...

My thoughts:
  1. Must be touch screen based (for wall mount in kitchen use)
  2. Be able to play Media (Music, Video, TV)
  3. Printout option
  4. XML based for easy install/sharing of recipes
 
carudden said:
I like your ideas. It's something that has been on my todo list for a while...

My thoughts:
  1. Must be touch screen based (for wall mount in kitchen use)
  2. Be able to play Media (Music, Video, TV)
  3. Printout option
  4. XML based for easy install/sharing of recipes
Click to expand...

The XML part is a good idea. As well as printing.
For the other things, i'll design it in such a way that it can be easily modified. So , someone with more experience in that field can add those features. :)
 
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