I haven’t been a big user of phone apps, even though I’ve had an iPhone for quite a while. But that’s changing. I just discovered the free app for the cooking site epicurious.com (also available for the android phone). I am a cook and a foodie, I own many cookbooks and am a frequent user of many online recipe sites. I don’t need my phone to spell out recipes for me in order to make dinner.
But what’s got me excited here is the planning capability, and planning is the number one key to a healthy diet, in my opinion. Sometimes it’s hard to pull menu ideas out of your brain, and you need some visual help. When I can, I take some time to plan a few meals for the upcoming week, browse my recipes, make a shopping list. But sometimes life gets hectic. Now, if I am sitting in the dentist’s waiting room, or riding in the car (not driving!), or heading for the market, I could easily make a plan for several meals and generate an automatic shopping list.
You can type in a search phrase, browse through recipes, and select one (or even one that’s close to what you want to make), save it to a shopping list, then edit the list to delete items you already have on hand or don’t want to include, and check your phone list when you are at the grocery store. I typed in “vegetarian chili” and got a nice selection of recipes. I typed in “healthy sandwich” and it came up with hummus-and-feta, grilled chicken, portabella, and many more. It might not be as complete or reliable as my cookbook library or a google search, but it will certainly help get me going in the right direction.
Even if I don’t stick to the plan exactly, any plan is better than no plan, and I think this may be a very helpful tool for using those spare moments to give some thought to upcoming healthy meals and ingredients. Here’s a link to read more: www.epicurious.com/services/mobile.
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