Programmable cooking or baking apparatus and method

In a stand alone appliance, such as a stove, broiler, oven, convection oven, microwave oven or barbecue for heating a food product in said appliance, the improvement comprising:

• a control mounted in said appliance for automatically operating said appliance, said control having a non-contact bar code scanner mounted in an interior portion of said appliance for scanning a bar code on a container;
• a scanner window on an outer surface of said appliance for allowing a user to scan said bar code by passing said container across said scanner window;
• a programmable data storage and processing device such as a microprocessor or computer mounted in said interior of said appliance for processing data from said scanner;
• and a computer program stored in said microprocessor or computer.

In a stand alone appliance, such as a stove, broiler, oven, convection oven, microwave oven or barbecue for heating a food product in said appliance, a non-contact for operating said appliance, said non-contact means comprising:

• an input device mounted in an interior portion of said appliance for receiving data from a source which is remote from said input device;
• a means for transmitting data from said remote source;
• a programmable data storage and processing device such as a microprocessor or computer mounted in said interior of said appliance for receiving and processing data from said input device;
• and a computer program stored in said microprocessor or computer.