I recently bought Big Oven software because I wanted to be able to choose my favorite receipes or put in new ones for a weekly menu and automatically generate a shopping list.

I'm a little disappointed in the functionality of the calendar / menu planning features.  The basic things I would look for in menu planning software, I haven't been able to do.  Since I'm a newbie, perhaps I'm just missing how to do this, but if not, please consider this a serious request for a future version!

1.  I want to be able to copy an entire menu from one week to the next and then modify it.  Right now, it appears the only way to do this is drag and  drop each unique item from my receipe list into the new day one at a time -- a waste of time.  Why not allow us to save a weekly menu?  Or daily menu?  And then reload it?

2.  I should be able to add items that are not a "recipe" to my menu plan -- for example, "1 glass of milk" or "V8" .  Right now I have to create a "recipe" for a glass of milk so I can add it to my menu.

3.  I'd like to be able to add all items on a weekly menu or daily menu to the shopping list instantly, but right now I have to select each individual item and add it.  

4.  I've been doing my weekly menu plans in Excel prior to buying Big Oven and I am able to dress it up and print out a nice looking menu plan to put up in the kitchen.  In Big Oven, I don't see any way to 'doll up' your weekly menu with a border or color or graphics -- and no way to export the data to a Word or Excel file so that you can do it there.  At the very least, you should be able to export from the calendar.

These are basic features I would love to have in planning my weekly menu.  If I'm simply missing how  to do these things (or any of them), please let me know how to do it!

Best regards,

Jane in California