31 replies to this topic

[AmyKay]

Next week, we will finally have an iphone in our house. We are very excited, and we are looking forward to making use of all of the applications that are out there. The only problem is that I really don't know anything about which food related apps are good, great, or useless.

What have been your experiences with food-related iphone apps? Have you found any that you love? Any that sound great, but ended up being useless?

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

The only food related iphone/ipod touch app I've used is Kitchen Calculator... it's handy when I'm have to scale up/down recipes.

[AmyKay]

The only food related iphone/ipod touch app I've used is Kitchen Calculator... it's handy when I'm have to scale up/down recipes.

That sounds interesting, I will have to take a look at it. Thanks!

[Kerry Beal]

I have an iTouch rather than an iPhone - but an app called HandyCook is great because it lets you upload your own recipes easily.

[mgaretz]

We both have iPhones ands one of the coolest apps is "I Need Stuff" - it's a shopping list app that also allows you to input recipes for reference in the store or automatic addition to your list. But the coolest feature is that you can set it up to sync between iPhones. So if Ellen (my SO) adds something to the list I will see it when I go to the store or vice versa. It uses GPS to know which store you're at and will organize the list by what you've previosuly bought at that store.

[AmyKay]

We both have iPhones ands one of the coolest apps is "I Need Stuff" - it's a shopping list app that also allows you to input recipes for reference in the store or automatic addition to your list.  But the coolest feature is that you can set it up to sync between iPhones.  So if Ellen (my SO) adds something to the list I will see it when I go to the store or vice versa.  It uses GPS to know which store you're at and will organize the list by what you've previosuly bought at that store.

That sounds so cool! It also sounds kind of big-brother-esque (big brother is watching, he even knows where I am shopping). The phone that is on its way to our house will belong to my SO, who is very graciously offering to share it's gadgetry, but I really have ienvy. This app will go in the "pro" column for my eventual smartphone purchase.

[gavinhanly]

In the restaurant category, Urbanspoon's app isn't bad - the "what's near me" function is quite fun, but ultimately it needs a lot more work to be really useful.

Big Oven is quite a nice one though, expecially if you're looking for a recipe app.

[mgaretz]

We both have iPhones ands one of the coolest apps is "I Need Stuff" - it's a shopping list app that also allows you to input recipes for reference in the store or automatic addition to your list.  But the coolest feature is that you can set it up to sync between iPhones.  So if Ellen (my SO) adds something to the list I will see it when I go to the store or vice versa.  It uses GPS to know which store you're at and will organize the list by what you've previosuly bought at that store.

That sounds so cool! It also sounds kind of big-brother-esque (big brother is watching, he even knows where I am shopping). The phone that is on its way to our house will belong to my SO, who is very graciously offering to share it's gadgetry, but I really have ienvy. This app will go in the "pro" column for my eventual smartphone purchase.

With only one iPhone, the other person can log into their web version and add to the list or view it.

[EatingInTranslation]

Next week, we will finally have an iphone in our house. We are very excited, and we are looking forward to making use of all of the applications that are out there. The only problem is that I really don't know anything about which food related apps are good, great, or useless.

What have been your experiences with food-related iphone apps? Have you found any that you love? Any that sound great, but ended up being useless?

My favorite feature is the ability to make your own picture menu.

[HungryC]

I just downloaded Kitchen Calculator Pro--seems like a great app! I found "Around Me" very useful when traveling: use it to quickly find the nearest coffeeshop, restaurant, bar, etc. It lists distances in yards, then can provide a walking or driving map to the place. Nice to have when you're in an unfamiliar urban environment.

[tsquare]

I have no idea, but just read about Locavore - to help find farmer's markets and such. local in more ways than one!

[jsmeeker]

The only true food related app I have is a grocery shopping list app called GroceryIQ. I think it's pretty good. They have made some improvements in it recently to support multiple stores (so you can tell it what you like to buy where, plus be able to arrange the order of the items based on the physical layout of each store)

I'm not really sure if OpenTable app counts. I guess it is about food cause it's used to make restaurant reservations. I'll need to check out some of these calculator type apps. Thanks for suggesting them.

[Paul Funyun]

Has anyone tried any celeb-type recipe-based apps yet?

Martha's Everyday Food App
http://www.marthastewart.com/app

Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals App
http://www.jamieoliv...0-minute-meals/

These types of apps usually spend a week or two on iTunes most downloaded section, but then fall off. I was wondering if it was because of poor design that usurps the star power, or if there's just a small group of loyal followers who buy it once and hang on to it.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Instead of Kitchen Calculator, I use Convert because it includes lots of over conversion possibilities.

I am one of those freaky people who categorize my applications; I have a page for Food apps, one for travel, one for games, one for maps, one for news, one for art, one for tech, and one for communication. Oh yeah, the first page for all the other stuff.

My Food Page has:

AroundMe
Cheap Eats
Crazy Menu
Epicurious
Foodbuzz
GoMeals
GrubHub
Urbanspoon
iSushi
OpenTable
Vintages
WinePrices
42Lite
BigOven

[AmyKay]

We ended up using GroceryIQ for our grocery list. In general, I like it. I don't really like how it tends to want to default to particular brands or products. We can get around that, but then the items aren't categorized as well. Still, it is pretty easy to use and more convenient than the excel spreadsheet and clipboard I used to use.

[emmalish]

I am one of those freaky people who categorize my applications...

How is that freaky? Doesn't everyone do that??

Mine are organized slightly differently tho. First page is the apps I use all the time, then I have apps grouped by type, like games together, database-type apps together (including recipes, finance, book library), locational apps, photography apps, etc.

I downloaded Martha's Everyday Foods app, but I haven't played with it much yet. Looked at Jamie Oliver's, but $7.99!? No. The Whole Foods app is pretty nice – lots of good recipes and you can search by diet restrictions – and it's free and has a built-in shopping list.

The app I use most for recipes is MacGourmet. It started as a Mac-based application and then they introduced the iPhone app so you can sync the two and carry your recipes with you – very handy. It comes with a lot of recipes, and if you have the desktop app as well, you can customize and delete theirs and add your own. Can also do shopping lists.

For shopping I just use a basic Lists app. I tried some of the grocery-specific ones but I didn't like the way they organized things. Still looking for that perfect grocery list app.

[docsconz]

Two Food apps I like are Michael Ruhlman's Ratio and Cocktails.I also use the Open Table app a lot and Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch.

[godito]

I like the Ratio App, although I've only been fiddling with it for a couple of days.

[John Rosevear]

Cocktails+ and Flip'n'Drink are my go-to boozing apps. (Also Tiki+, which is best-of-Jeff-Berry app done with his involvement, but that appears to be no longer available.)

I like Epicurious's app and Weber's On The Grill app (which has recipes from Jamie Purviance's books) for hunting up recipes while standing in the grocery store. Open Table is very useful when out-and-about in town. Yelp is also worth having.

[nickrey]

I didn't buy the Ratio book as I can look up any of my other books for ratios or recipes just as easily. However, I am finding the iPhone Ratio app to be invaluable as an immediate aid to improvising in the kitchen.

[Lindacakes]

I have these:

Zagat
Open Table
Sushipedia
iBartender
How to Cook Everything

But the one I find absolutely indispensible and use every day is Weight Watchers. I don't know how anyone ever lost a pound without it.

[merrymed]

The ones I use with any frequency are these:
Epicurious
Seafood Watch
Zagat
Bittman's How to Cook Everything
Ratio

[ScottyBoy]

I do all my shopping now with Grocery Gadget, haven't used another one but this thing is awesome! Also for ratios I got Converter

[spanielking]

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for apps for the iphone/android jobbies. I have an android phone, and was looking for a decent wine price checker app, but could'nt really find one. Also, any decent restaurant guides out there. I know the good food guide is available on the iphone, but is it going to come onto the android market?

Ta peeps.

[jackal10]

Google Goggles for wine

[MaLO]

I have toptable - opentable - relais chateaux - grand tables du monde - the aa b&b guide & yell is usefull for phone numbers and addresses.
Wine-searcher.com is an decent place to get an idea about wine prices etc, if you have constant browsing, although not an app as far as I know. I dont have any paid food apps.

[Becca Porter]

Okay, it is not a food app per se, but if you do not have screebl for Android get it! It keeps your phone lit as long as it is at an angle, when you lay it flat it goes black. This is useful all the time, but it really helps if you happen to be cooking from a recipe on your phone.

There is a paid version, but the free one works perfectly.

[eatenmess]

i know its on android, not sure about the iphoney, but foursquare is pretty fun.

[martinwa]

Try typing "wine" into the iTunes app store and you get 2 pages of em.

[sbb1979]

There are so many out there that it is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack - or should I say, looking for the oyster knife in the kitchen drawer...

As far as food apps go, I love FoodSpotting. So great for getting the appetite going - it makes it so much easier to choose where to eat when you can actually see what's going to come out of the kitchen.

Spingredients is really cool - select one ingredient, shake your phone and it picks three other ingredients that not only go with it, but also with each other. You can also personalise it by adding your own ratings of flavour combinations, but there's loads of them in there already.

Epicurious and AllRecipes apps are reasonable for recipes, but I prefer to browse my cookbook collection or the internet rather than apps for recipes.

I quite like the idea of iPairings, but there's not that much in there, and it looks like an early 90s website.

Cocktail is quite fun for selecting what to drink whilst out and about. Spin through the photos of the cocktails in the random selector and where it stops decides how you're going to feel the next day!

One that I really love that's not food related at all, but that's helping me to be better organised is "2Do". It is a to-do list app, but is so much more than that. Word Lens (translation) is also amazing, but I'm not going to Spain in the near future, so its of little use to me right now.

Has anyone had any luck with Chef's apps etc? Or are they just cheap marketing ploys?