A few weeks ago I bought an iPhone. When I told my friends and coworkers, several of them asked if Hell had frozen over. Considering the winter we’re having, it’s entirely possible.
For years I’d been a cell phone holdout. There was some sense of pride in saying I didn’t have a phone. I had my home phone, I don’t commute far and I’m not someone who needs to chat all the time. I grudgingly said that yes, I should have a cell phone for emergencies, but I couldn’t justify the price of something primarily for emergency use.
As technology entered the era of the smart phone though, I saw the appeal. I don’t need to chat, but I do like being connected. Being an avid ebay seller, I also saw the appeal of being able to check prices while shopping. Plus, dating someone 40 minutes away has me on the road a lot more and there have been a few times when car trouble or driving conditions made me wish I had a phone with me. So shortly after the new year, I finally gave in. An afternoon of pricing different plans led to the iPhone purchase that same evening.
I’m getting used to it little by little. I’m still not using it as my primary phone and I jump each time it rings or I get a text message. I’ve learned how to take and send pictures, and I’m hoping to add some video to my cooking. What I’ve had the most fun with, however, is discovering different apps to play with. I refuse to get sucked in by Angry Birds, but I did start considering what food apps might make my life easier. I already know I want some shopping apps to find deals and get the best prices for my groceries, but I wondered what else was out there. I’d just looked the other night and discovered a few, but yesterday I found this story about one user’s top picks.
I’m going to download “How to Cook Everything” because I’ve been eyeing the book for years. The recipe spinner also sounds like a good one. The rest may just be research and experimenting. If you’ve found any good food apps, I’d love to hear about them!
5 food apps
By Alison Sherwood
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
If there’s one thing my smartphone has instilled in me it’s that I should be
able to do anything from anywhere, provided I have my phone with me.
“I want it now!”
OK, I’m not that bad, but it was awfully nice the other night when I stopped by
the grocery store on my way home from work (with nary an idea what to cook for
dinner and nary a slice of bread in the house) to be able to find a recipe for
dinner with a mere tap of the finger.
Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app to the rescue!
I have several food apps that come in handy fairly regularly. I know there are a
lot of duds out there though, so let’s discuss. What are your most useful food
phone apps? Here are mine (reviews are based on iPhone version of the app):
–Allrecipes Dinner Spinner: Free? Yes. Simple to use? Yes. Lots of good
user-reviewed recipes? Yes. This free app lets you choose a type of meal, key
ingredients and how long you have to cook it before it matches top rated
Allrecipes.com recipes for you. You can also search for specific recipes, or if
you have no idea what you want, you can spin the “Dinner Spinner” and see what
ingredients and types of food pop up. Fun, right? And the recipes are
family-friendly and accessible. The paid version lets you sync your recipe box
from allrecipes.com. Overall, a big gold star for this app.
–Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything: Essentials: With Mark Bittman, you know
you’re going to get healthy, filling recipes with simple techniques and
wholesome, nutritious ingredients. You definitely won’t find cream of mushroom
soup on any ingredient lists; these recipes include foods more along the lines
of quinoa, tofu and edamame. Although the free version of this app doesn’t
include a huge selection of recipes, it adds a new one every week. The best part
of this app is the built-in timer. If a recipe says to simmer for 15 minutes,
all you need to do is tap “15 minutes” and an adjustable timer pops up.
Brilliant!
–Open Table: The popular restaurant reservation website, Open Table, makes
itself even more useful with its free mobile app. Not only can you make
reservations for an increasing number of restaurants with the tap of a finger,
but you can find nearby restaurants while on the go by activating your phone’s
GPS.
–MyNetDiary: Calorie counting apps are good for more than just tracking what
you eat. I find the free MyNetDiary app useful for calculating the nutrition
information of recipes. Just enter the ingredients and serving size and it will
give you full nutrition data. While it doesn’t take into account how the meal is
prepared, it can still give you a rough rundown of calories, fat, sugar, fiber,
vitamins, etc. Its database of foods is quite comprehensive, and if a particular
item isn’t in the database you can easily add it by scanning the barcode.
–Ratio: This app costs a hefty (relative) $4.99 and I admit I haven’t shelled
out the cash for it yet. But just based on reviews and descriptions, it’s worth
sharing with you. Based on Michael Ruhlman’s book, “Ratio: The Simple Codes
Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking,” the Ratio app teaches 32 “critical
ratios” that are the backbone for recipes for everything from doughs to meats to
sauces. For example, the ratio for dough is one part sugar, two parts fat and
three parts flour. Which sugars, fats and flours you use is what makes the
recipes unique (and the ratios can indeed be played with slightly). A calculator
and converter help you create your own recipes, and the app also lets you share
them via Facebook and Twitter
