Coocook.org

The authors of Coocook and as of 2023 all its active users are Germans. But still the software is only available in English.

That's because all terms and tools used in software development are in English and using German texts in an English program text results in a huge mess. Also we don't want to limit development and usage to Germans.

Implementating localization and providing a German translation is one of our top priority goals for next development.

Coocook has been initially developed for a summer camp for kids and teens in Leipzig, Germany: the Sommerlager Leipzig [German]. It happens once a year for almost 4 weeks with up to 200 people per meal. Most of the camp staff and all kitchen staff are volunteers.

Still we tried to make Coocook universally useful but these use cases match best:

• You need to cook for more people than you regularly do in your family, e.g. a group vacation or an event with more than 10 people.

• You have an event limited in time rather than a permanent menu, like in a restaurant.

• You need to plan purchases in advance—maybe buy everything at once or buy perishable items from day to day.

• You have a team of volunteers (not professional chefs) who need detailed ingredient lists and cooking instructions.

Coocook was created for community-driven, maybe volunteer-based projects. Currently we do not plan to implement business features like:

• price calculation: Coocook doesn't know what ingredients cost and can't sum them up

• VAT and taxes: Coocook doesn't know anything about it

• stock keeping: Coocook doesn't keep track of what's in your storage

If you need any of these features, maybe use a different software or get in touch with the creator of Coocook.

Coocook is a web application which can be installed on any computer because it is free software and can be downloaded for free.

Coocook.org is a web service provided by the founder of the Coocook software. Anyone can sign up at Coocook.org for free and create their projects. As of 2023 free accounts are limited to public projects visible for everyone.

In Coocook all your data belongs to a particular project and even basic data like units or shopping sections are independent between projects. The disadvantage of this is you have to import these data from other projects or create them from scratch. Why is Coocook designed this way?

Interestingly when development of Coocook started, we began with global data including units. But a fixed set of units doesn't suffice: Evolution of these data must be possible to fix mistakes, add more units etc. Also you might want to use custom units, e.g. regional means of measurement or custom units for the size of boxes in your kitchen. But how to deploy these changes to existing projects with finished plans just ready to print?

Variable global data and variable project-specific data don't play well together. Our solution is to make all data entirely project-specific. This has several advantages:

1. Existing data in your projects will stay the same forever without external interference.
2. You can import a default dataset from template projects.
3. You can adjust units or add your own.
4. There can be different sets of template data (e.g. different languages or imperial/SI units) and they can evolve over time.

Coocook.org is an unpaid service and new users can only create public projects by default. Users can get permission to create private projects, too. If you need that, write an e-mail and ask for it.

Also Coocook is free software. Anyone can download and install the software and create private/public projects at their will or run the web application entirely in a private network.

Grocy is described as “ERP beyond your fridge”. It has a focus on tracking items in stock and regular purchases like your typical groceries in your household.

In contrast Coocook has a focus on events with more people. That means planning for a few days or weeks—it doesn’t track items in stock. Coocook supports recipe ingredients with more details and more complex meal plans. Purchase list items can be converted from one unit to another, e.g. for larger quantities.

Both applications can group purchase list items by shop section.

Do you know Grocy better than we do? Don’t hesitate to send us updated/corrected information!