It goes without saying: you want to make your food as healthy as possible. But…it must be easy.

I couldn’t agree more.

I have to admit, I have a love/hate relationship with phone apps. I’m a little bit of an app junkie and have gotten lured in by the time saving abilities of some of them, such as Paprika. (Cannot. Live. Without.). I have also been known to clutter up my phone with others (Word With Friends, I am firing you ).  So when I created this list of apps to make healthy cooking easy, I was very discerning. I don’t want you to make my mistakes.

Here are five cooking/food apps that I use often in order to save time, not waste time, in the kitchen:

• Yummly. Need recipe inspiration? Yummy is an app full of recipes with nice visuals. Simply tell them a little about yourself (what you like to eat, etc.) and Yummly will point like minded recipes in your direction.
• The Photo Cookbook. Curious about specific ingredients in your olive gremolata? The Photo Cookbook not only gives you step by step recipes with pictures of each step, but point and click on each ingredient for a detailed description.
• MealBoard. Ready to jump into the world of meal planning (that would make me so happy!)? MealBoard is one way to simplify the process. Plan your meals, create shopping lists, keep track of your pantry items, and organize recipes, all in one app.
• Substitutions. Don’t you just hate it when you realize you are making a big pot of Turkey Chili, and oops, someone forgot to buy the chili powder? No need to ruin your dish. Jump on the Substitutions app, type in your ingredient, and up comes a list of backups that you can use.
• Paprika. You know when you find something and wonder how you have been living without it for so long? How was the world turning for me before Paprika? Yeah, lots of ripped out pages from magazines, file folders filled with scraps and constant frustration whenever having to locate that great salmon recipe my friend gave me two months ago on a piece of paper.

Paprika is a recipe database and my favorite kitchen friend. All my recipes get stored here. You can upload recipes right off the internet or type them in manually, then sort them by categories, just like a cookbook. Paprika will sync onto your phone, your computer and any other device you use your recipes. A life changer for me.

 

So, I’m curious. What apps do you use in the kitchen? Share in the comments below!