Apps for Foodies

Do you have trouble deciding what to cook for your family?  Maybe you’re trying to figure out what to do with the few items left in your fridge and pantry?  Here’s a little summary of some apps to help you out.

Epicurious

iPhone, iPad, Android – Free

Epicurious features more than 30,000 recipes from magazine like Gourmet and Bon Appetit, chefs and top recipe books.   Epicurious has reader reviews, ratings and recommended improvements and you can search for recipes by ingredient, course, occasion or dietary restrictions.  There’s 19 great recipe categories - I can barely cook, weeknight dinners, lunches kids love….

You can save favourites to your own personalised recipe box, add ingredients to your shopping list, email recipes and shopping lists to yourself and your friends and get recommendations from other Epicurious users.

Real Simple

Android, iPad, iPhone - $4.99

Tell this app how much time you have, what your basic ingredient is (beef, seafood, vegetables, etc.) and you’ll be given a list of recipes that fit your requirements.  Once you’ve chosen your recipe you’ll get photos and step-by-step directions beautifully displayed on your screen.

 

How to Cook Everything

iPad $9.99, iPhone $4.99

The best-selling cookbook, How to Cook Everything, is now an app.  There’s over 2000 recipes and 400 how-to illustrations, perfect for the beginner to the advanced cook. 

Jamie Oliver: 20-Minute Meals

Android, iPhone, iPad $7.49

An easy to use app with clearly marked tabs for ingredients and steps, beautiful photos and kitchen basics videos.   One great feature is that with one click you can turn a recipe from 2 servings to 4.  You can also turn your recipes into a shopping list organised by supermarket category.  A fun feature is that with a shake of your phone you get a random recipe selection.

Jamie Oliver - Jamie’s Recipes

iPhone, iPad, Android – Free

This app works a little differently to most.  You get a ‘starter pack’ of 10 recipes and three videos with your free app.  Then you can buy additional themed packs of 10 recipes and some videos for $1.99 each.  All recipes include step-by-step illustrations and a shopping list that allows you to cross off items as you shop.

Chemical Maze

iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad $7.49

Chemical maze is the guide to food additives and cosmetic ingredients.  You can filter your search by symptoms and ailments (depression, hyperactivity); dietary restrictions (such as coeliac, lactose-intolerant); effects (malabsorption, immune system); or what the additive or ingredient is derived from (animal, plant, mineral). GM or GMO foods are marked and there’s even an icon to indicate if it’s potentially hazardous to health.

Margaret Fulton Favourites

iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad $7.49

This app gives you a collection of Margaret Fulton's best recipes gathered during the past 50 years. It's simple to use, looks good and each recipe tells a story - such as steamed fish coriander from her first trip to China in 1976 or Singapore noodles, as cooked by ''our good friend Onn Ho''.  There’s only limited search options, and not by ingredient or recipe, but it’s like flicking through the chapters of a lovely recipe book.  Margaret Fulton also has a Christmas recipe app.

4 Ingredients

iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad $2.99

Based on the cookbook series of the same name, 4 Ingredients is gives you more than 340 fast and easy recipes that need four or fewer items.  There’s also 4 Ingredients 2, Gluten Free and Kids.

 

 

Do you use any foodie apps?  I’d love to hear what you think about them.