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Recipe Finder/ Coupon Finder/ Need Shopper

See Frequently Asked Questions about this page.

This page does three things:

Recipe Finder. Connects you with online recipe sources to quickly find recipes for dishes you want to make, or recipes using ingredients you already have.
Coupon Finder. Connects you with online coupon sources to quickly find coupons for the items on your smart shopping list.
Need Shopper. Connects you with sellers to help you shop to cover the needs on your smart shopping list. You can use this page to rapidly search for products at your favorite sellers and place orders with the ones you choose. This page doesn't purchase anything for you. You do that yourself.

Guest or Member?

You can use this page as our guest -- without signing in -- to find recipes, find coupons, or shop. However, if you create a free MakeLifeEasy account, you can (1) save your searches to re-use them later, (2) link them with your smart shopping list to find them easily when you need them, and (3) get all the other benefits of using MakeLifeEasy for smart shopping.

Using the Page - In Brief

Whether you're finding recipes, finding coupons, or shopping, the steps are about the same (though the page will look somewhat different in each case).

Find What? Select what you want to find: Recipes/Uses, Coupons/Deals, or Stores/Shopping.
Select A Need (Not in guest mode) Select one of the needs from your smart shopping list. Then, wait a few seconds while MakeLifeEasy fills in a few possible search terms for you.
Zip/postal code. (Coupons only) Type in your zip code. This lets you fast-search for local coupons and deals.
Search for. This lets you fast-search for specific search terms. (In guest mode) Type in one or two keywords. (When signed in) Pick a search term from the list, or press "+" to enter a new search term.
Search at. Pick (up to five) sites to in which to search.
Press "Go". The results of the first site search will be displayed. You can click on "1", "2", "3", "4", or "5" to see other results.

That's the basic idea. The rest of these topics provide more details about how this page works.

Fast Searching

"Fast search" allows you to quickly and automatically search for the search term(s) you enter each time you enter the site. You can do this for a single site or for up to five sites at once.

Most of the coupon sites and recipe sites offer "fast search". We've already set these up for you: just enter the search term(s), select the sites, and press "Go". Some

When shopping, some of the seller sites offer "fast search". Many of the pre-entered seller web sites support it. Usually, a site that you enter yourself won't support this feature, since MakeLifeEasy won't be set up to do it. However, you can request this feature for any site, using the "request fast-search" link on each results panel of this page. We're actively seeking your requests to provide fast search for any site(s), and we can service these requests fairly quickly.

Please DO send requests to provide fast-search for the site(s) you use.

Printing Search Results

You can print any "panel" of results on this page. Just view the panel, then use your browser's "Print" command to print it. You may want to "Print Preview" to assure that you're printing what you want.

Printing All Your Coupons

If you've searched for coupons, found several coupons you want, and want to print them all at once, you can use your browser's option to print "all frames individually". Be aware, though, that this will use a lot of paper, since it will print the setup page, each results header, and each set of results.

Saving Searches

When you're signed in, and you have selected a need in the need list, you can press "Save this setup" to save your seach term(s) along with the need. If you're in "Need Shopper" mode, this will also save the sellers you've selected. You can save your search term(s) separately for each need (that is, for each item on your shopping list). Then you can quickly search for recipes, search for coupons, or shop for each need the next time you need to, using the search term(s) you saved.

Using the Page - In More Detail

These are detailed instructions for using the page in "Need Shopper" mode. If you're looking for recipes or coupons, the instructions are very similar.

Shop For:

Select the need you wish to cover. If the need you're looking for isn't in the list, you can add it with the "+" button.

Shop At:

Select up to five sellers. To select more than one seller, hold down the "Ctrl" key while clicking the mouse on each seller name.
(Optional) Click on the "+" button to add a new seller. Assure that you enter the seller's URL if you want to view their site in the results. Also, you must refresh the page before you can view that seller's site in the results.
(Optional) Click on "Show seller data" to view/edit a seller's information.
(Optional) Click on "Show seller rating" to get the BizRate data on that seller.
(Optional) Double-click on a seller in the list to open the seller's site in a new window. If a site offers fast-search, the keyword(s) you entered will be used.
(Optional) Sellers that you have opened this session will be displayed as links after "Opened today:" You may click on one of these names to open that seller's site in their own window. Fast-search will be performed if it's available.

Search for:

When you select a need, this list will be pre-loaded with the need name and some other useful variations, including the need's folder names. Some seller sites offer fast-search for keyword(s) you select.

Select the keyword(s) in the list you wish to search for. You can also load new keyword(s) into the list using the "+" button.

Do it:

Press "Go" to open the site(s) you selected and search for the chosen keyword(s).

MakeLifeEasy will load the seller's site(s) into the results pane(s) and display the first results pane.

Things To Watch Out For

If it's available, you'll see Buying Advice for the need at the bottom of the setup panel. This is the same advice you'll find on the Need Properties page.
Some web sites will work incorrectly or produce errors when displayed within the need shopper. This is a common problem when one site tries to display another within frames. If you experience problems, you can click on "Show in new window" to display that site in its own window. Then it should work fine.
Some web sites may take over the whole Need Shopper window! "Best Buy" is an example. The solution is to not select any of these sellers. Search them yourself in a separate browser window.
You may end up with several open windows with seller sites in them. However, it's best to keep a seller site's window open until you're sure you're finished with it.