Cooking is the new rock’n’roll, or is that Comedy?…anyway recipe apps and cooking apps are very popular at the moment and there is quite a few of them to choose from.
The features on some of these apps are impressive, from simple recipes, handy cooking tips, video tutorials, shopping lists, supermarket aisle finders and weight and measure converters.
Recipe Apps / Cooking Apps
Lets start with the master of self promotion and worthy causes Jamie Oliver, love or hate him, most of what he delivers is quality, and his 20 minute meals app does not dissapoint.
Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals:
Price: £4.99
OS: Android
Google Play Rating: 4.3 / 5
This app has 60 recipes, which does not sound like alot, but dont forget they are all supposed to be 20 minute recipes, so there is not going to be any slow roasted lamb recipes in there!
You are taken throught each recipe 1 step at a time with the instruction being clear and concise. There are photos as well to make sure what you are cooking actually looks like the thing you are meant to be cooking, and there are 21 video tutorials with useful tips and tricks on how to look impressive and get results in the kitchen.
The app is beautifully designed and a joy to use.
250,000+ Recipes
Price: FREE
OS: Android
Google Play Rating: 4.2 / 5
250,000+ Recipes from Big Oven has had over 7 million downloads, and it’s not hard to see why, for one it’s free, and for two it’s handy and can be a life saver if your girlfriend is coming over and you only have 4 items in your fridge, enter the 4 item into the app, (not literaly shove them in the headphone socket) and the app will try to come up with a tasty dish for you to cook.
Search recipes by ingredients, and using it’s massive database of user submitted recipes it will come up with a dish for you to impress your friends.
Like alot of ‘free’ apps there is a premium version which will cost you $19.99 a year, but this of course adds a ton of features like, scanning paper recipes, specialist nutritional tools and enhanced shopping list tools.
Sweeet ‘N’ Spicey – Indian Recipes
Price: FREE
OS: Android
Google Play Rating: 4.4 / 5
This Indian Food recipes app has over 4000 recipes split into 3 main categories, Normal (Meat and veg), Vegetarian and Vegan with what is said to be the first built in calorie counter for Indian food.
You can search by the usual parameters, along with a cooking time search, just in case you are pushed for time but still crave that spicey experience. There is also an impressive 400+ video recipes which are also searchable.
The content also includes allergy information, information on natural health remedies from the selected dish ingredients and cooking tips.
Food Planner
Price: FREE
OS: Android
Google Play Rating: 4.4 / 5
Food planner has an integrated meal planner which allows you to schedule your meals with an overview of the recipe where you can remove the ingredients you already have by crossing them out with your finger, you are then left with a list of just the ingredients you need to complete your meal plan for the week.
You can create multiple shopping list from different stores in case there are some speciality ingredients that are not at you local supermarket.
If you dont like entering information on a small screen you can do all the work online then transfer it to you phone.
Fooducate – Healthy Food Diet
Price: FREE
OS: Android
Google Play Rating: 4.5 / 5
This app is more of a healthy eating assistant, and has a mass of great information about the food you are eating with the ability to scan product barcodes, see all the good and bad stuff that is in a product, with information on sugar content, trans fats, food colourings, calories and serving sizes and if necessary choose a healthier alternative.
The creation of the app was assisted by dietitions and is designed to do away with faddy diets and supply you with complex nutritional information that allows you to make educated choices about the food you buy.
Drinks and Cocktail recipes
So you made all that lovely food, but what about the drinks?, a nice bottle of wine always goes down well, but what if you want to impress, there is nothing better than a well made drink or cocktail to get a party started.
Mixology™ Drink Recipes
Price: FREE
OS: Android
Google Play Rating: 4.2 / 5
This cocktail recipe app was a big hit with iPhone fans, and has only recently arrived for Android.
This app boasts nearly 8,000 drink recipes using nearly 1500 ingredients, with a Liquor cabinet feature so you can input the drinks you have available and it will then try to create a cocktail from those ingredients.
There is a random drinks generator with search criteria based on the drink or even the type of glassware you have availble!
If you want to impress with your bartending skills ther is a tab for that, click the tab and you will be supplied with info on, which galsses to use, how to stock your bar and general bartending tips and tricks.
If you are a Bartender, this app can be a helpful assistant when someone asks for a cocktail that you have never heared of or dont know how to make.
Cocktail flow
Price: £1.88
OS: Android (Best on 1024×600 res)
Google Play Rating: 4.3 / 5
Make cocktails with the ingredients you already have in your cupboard, there is a cost estimator so you can budget your party, drinks are 
categorised by type of alcohol, Vodka, Gin, rum…etc or you can search by even like, Christmas day or New years eve.
There is a bartender guide which advises on glasswear, how to use bar tools and general tips.
There is an alcohol free section, shots section, and a even a section that advises on what to drink on specific occasions like football matches or Valentines day.
