15 years ago or more, I started to write a software package called What’s For Dinner. I hated that question, and being a unix/pick programmer writing Inventory Control and POS software, I felt I had the skills necessary to answer that question.

My dept. had just upgraded the shipping / warehousing to use barcodes. This was during the old days, you know, all ascii system on a DEC PDP-11. I thought it would be cool – get a barcoder – scan the items in my pantry – thereby generating an active inventory list – then – why couldn’t it tell me what to make for dinner based on my private recipe database? The only hitch was I just couldn’t figure out how to get that big of a computer into my little townhouse kitchen.

Fast forward five years, met Slobo (delphi programmer), GUI was hot, and I just got my first laptop. It weighed only 20lbs. Yet to no avail, no barcoder would hook up to it yet. I started, with Slobo’s help to program Mama’s Kitchen. The graphic above was the entry point in. You could go to the pantry, recipe library or find a recipe based on the money in your wallet if you didn’t have the ingredients in the pantry. Then children came along, and alas, that idea went up too.

In comes Calorie King. Slobo has been using it and losing weight like crazy. Me, I’ve only lost 4 pounds in 3 months. Now, I get a paid link for free calorie counter from myfitnesspal. While this kewl, I went over, signed up, made my fitness diary and logged in what I ate today all 2 meals, and found that I was already over in fat, not calories. Something like this might work, but being the control freak that I am, my first thought was, I could add nutritional labeling to Mama’s kitchen and also include diabetic counseling (since that is a now middle-aged issue). Wonder if I can buy a nutrition database somewhere? May have to keep going on Mama’s kitchen even tho it’s name is no longer politically correct or personally accurate.

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