Managing Meals

Navigating the Meal Screen

The Meals screen displays a daily meal listing on the left side of the screen, and a monthly calendar on the right. The calendar will open to the first meal or the current date (if no meals are defined) when you first open the Meals screen. After that, the meal calendar will always return to the last date you accessed.

• Use the wheel on your mouse or the up/down cursor keys to move forward and backward through the meal list. You can also use the Page Up/Page Down keys, or the on screen slider to navigate the list.
• Click the Left Arrow and Right Arrow buttons to change months quickly. You can also use the left/right cursor keys to change months.
• Click the Today button to jump to the current calendar date.
• Click the First Meal button to jump to the first meal in your meal plan. This is a quick way to jump back in time if you keep old meals for a long time.
• Click the Last Meal button to jump to the last meal you have planned. This is convenient when you are planning meals weeks or months in advance.

Start a New Meal Plan

The Meals screen lets you plan meals as far ahead as you wish, and keep old meal plans until you remove them. In most cases, you will probably delete meals from the Meal calendar after you prepare them, or drag them to new days on the meal calendar. However, you can delete all meals at once if you want to wipe the entire meal list.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Click the check box at the top of the Meal list, or press Control+A to select all meals.
3. Click the Delete button, then click OK to verify.

Adding a Meal

You can attach any recipe in Home Cookin to a date on the meal calendar. This lets you plan your meals in advance, and quickly access them later when you are ready to prepare them.

1. Locate a recipe on the Index or Recipe screen.
2. Click the New Meal button. By default, the selected meal(s) will be attached to the current calendar date. If you are selecting a single recipe from the Recipe screen, you can change the date and meal time before submitting. New meals will default to whatever default time (breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc.) you have selected on the Options screen.
3. When you are finished adding recipes to the meal calendar, click the Meals tab and move or copy the meals to your desired dates.

You can also add notes to any calendar date. These can be used to indicate birthdays, special holidays, dining at a restaurant, or to reference pages in printed cookbooks (i.e. "Chicken Soup - Easy Cooking, page 40").

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Click twice on the desired calendar date.
3. Type in your note.
4. Click the OK button or press the Enter key.

Tips:

• You can place as many recipes or notes on a calendar date as you wish.

Move or Copy Meals

When you add meals to the meal list, they are placed on the current date by default.

• Move the meal by clicking with the Left mouse button and dragging to the desired date. This is useful when you are initially organizing your meal plan, or if you do not prepare a meal as planned and need to reorganize.
• Copy the meal to another date by clicking with the Right mouse button and dragging to the desired date. Copying meals is useful when you plan to have the same meal on additional days (leftovers), or if you plan to make the meal again the following week.

Delete Meals

You may keep old meal plans as long as you wish. However, the meal calendar will be easier to navigate and organize if you remove meals after you prepare them. This keeps the database size to a minimum, and allows you to better see which meals you still have not prepared.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the meals you wish to remove. Click the check box at the top of the meals screen or press Control+A to select all meals on your calendar.
3. Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
4. Click the OK button to verify the deletion.

Tips:

• Removing a meal from the meal list does not delete the recipe from the recipe database.
• If you did not prepare every meal on an earlier meal plan, it is often easier to remove the meals you prepared, then move the remaining meals to new dates. If you clear the meal list, you will be forced to find the remaining recipes and add them to your meal list again.

Printing Your Meal Plan

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the meals you wish to include in the meal list. Press Control+A, or click the check box at the top of the meals screen to select all meals in your meal plan.
3. Click the Print button.
4. Select the Meal List print layout.
5. Click the Setup button to choose your printer and desired font. Then click OK to return to the print screen.
6. Click the OK button to print your meal list.

Tip: The print function assumes your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper. Be sure that paper size is selected when you choose your printer.

Print Recipes From Meal Plans

Once you have arranged your meal plan, you can print your recipes directly from the Meals screen. This is helpful for printing the recipes you are making for dinner, or if you want to print the recipes you'll be preparing that week.

1. Click the Meals tab.
2. Check the boxes next to the meals you want to print. Press Control+A, or click the check box at the top of the meals screen to select all meals in your meal plan.
3. Click the Print button.
4. Select your desired print format (The Meal List will only print the list of meals).
5. Click the Setup button to choose your printer and desired font. Then click OK to return to the print screen.
6. Click the OK button to print your selected recipes.

Tips:

• Note records will not be printed with your recipes. Print the meal list if you need a printout of your notes.
• The print function assumes your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper. Be sure that paper size is selected when you choose your printer.