Let’s get really honest now, ladies! Eating out is a major source of unnecessary expense in our modern lives. As a whole, American’s eat out waaaay too much and its a stress on our wallets as much as our waistbands! I mean, as much as we all like to ignore the facts, it’s not just fast food restaurants that are bad for our health. Chain restaurants and even your local diner rely on heavily proceeded foods that are packed with extra fat, sugar and sodium so that the food stays good for them and still tastes good to you, which means your burger, steak, and salad are packed some extra unnecessary calories! It may be easier to eat out, but you’re paying the price in a big way!
I am very guilty of this one, and I suspect if you’re reading this, you may want to cut back on the meals out as well. But, how do we cut back on eating out without feeling deprived? After all, not all of us can be Martha Stewart and effortlessly cook gourmet meals for ourselves and our families while keeping the dining room and kitchen in tip-top shape! Well, I am here to tell you that you can cook, you really can! Maybe not exactly like Martha, but with some simple and easy recipes and a set of reliable directions, you can achieve culinary success. So, I have a few apps that can help you hone your cooking skills and help you make use of the food in your cupboards instead of taking a trip to the drive thru! How does that sound? You still with me? Okay, great!
All Recipes (Free)
You may already be familiar with All Recipes and their awesome website with thousands of tried and true user submitted and home tested recipes! Now, it comes in a very convenient iOS App for both iPhone and iPad so you have a wealth of recipe information at your fingertips! I truly consider this app the only cookbook you ever need because the archives over at All Recipes cover every single recipe known to man I am pretty sure and since these recipes have been tried and tested by users in real homes and kitchens around the world, you know you’re getting the best advice possible, not from gourmet chefs, but from regular folks just like you!
Epicurious (Free)
Epicurious gained a lot of popularity upon its release for its awesome name, but it also is an amazing app for finding and planning meals. Now, I wouldn’t say the database of meals even comes close to that of All Recipes, however, this app has some great features. One of my favorites is that you can search recipes by their ingredients, so lets say you are looking at your pantry and you have a lot of rice that you want to use up! You can search by the ingredient “rice” and find a plethora of meal ideas. Yo can even search by multiple ingredients to make your search even more specific! This tool alone is a great time and money saver because you can focus on what you have right now in your kitchen and make a meal out of it! It also includes a nice shopping list feature, so if your browsing and you find a recipe you want to try, you can keep track of the ingredients you will need to pick up on your next trip to the grocery store!
The Photo Cookbook ($3.99)
The Photo Cookbook is a pretty amazing app, which is why its the only paid app I have chosen to include in this series! What set’s it apart from other apps are the high quality photos that go along with their step by step directions. If you are someone who can’t tell a carrot from a parsnip, or doesn’t know what term julienne refers to, this app is a godsend because it lays out all the ingredients in high quality images and takes each recipe slow and simple so that you never have a chance to get lost while preparing a meal! Again, doesn’t have the biggest database of meals, but all the meals are simple and straight forward, which is perfect for a beginner chef!
So, have these apps inspired you to take charge of your kitchen and your wallet with some simple and delicious home cooked meals? Do you already love to cook? Are you a newbie cook and need a little confidence boost in the kitchen? Do you have a favorite cooking app that you use to help you learn and perfect new recipes? Let us know in the comments!