What's Cooking with Recipe Software for PDAs

Once, the PDA was thought of as a businessman's device, and why not? It came loaded with word processing software, schedules, and spreadsheet programs. But now, it is a whole lot more than just a business device. Now, the PDA has moved into the kitchen to help anyone who cooks survive the day-to-day rigors of keeping the kitchen stocked, menu planned, and recipes organized. Recipe software is available for both the Pocket PC and Palm Pilot.

Depending on the version of software you purchase, or download for free, your PDA software can not only help you keep your recipes in order, but also help you plan your meals, then use your plan to provide you with a shopping list. This makes it easy to move from budgeting to grocery shopping without skipping a beat. The shopping list may even be organized according to the type of food-vegetable, meat, bakery, etc.

With Internet access, you can add recipes from the Internet to your personal favorites quickly. And, some recipe programs allow you to customize the categories you use to set up your recipe files. So instead of just cakes, cookies, and brownies, you might want to set up subcategories for each of frosted, chocolate, and low fat.

While PDA software for the kitchen may sound great, you need to make sure find one that is compatible with your PDA's operating system. Also review the available memory requirements and the processor specification. Even freeware isn't a bargain if it doesn't work with your PDA.