You've gotta try this recipe (app)

October 8, 2017 7:32 PM

Looking for an app that will allow me to collect and organize recipes (found online and self-entered) and also to share them with other app users.

My current system for saving "hmm, I want to try this" recipes is an email thread with myself. It more or less works, but there's zero organization and I very rarely go back to look at what I've saved. So I'm looking to upgrade to an actual app that will make my my to-cook list a bit more usable (but still quick and easy!).

My ideal app would also have a built in friends list or something like that for sharing recipes. I don't want something that's designed for people cooking together on the regular--I want to share recipes with my far away foodie brother and maybe a couple of other long-distance family members. The ability to comment back and forth would be cool, but isn't 100% necessary. On that note, it should also be available for both iOS and Android.

And if there isn't a purpose-built app out there for this... what other system do you use for similar purposes?

posted by snorkmaiden to Food & Drink (21 answers total)

Not sure about sharing options, but I use Evernote for recipes.
posted by praemunire at 7:49 PM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

I use Pinterest for this.
posted by donnagirl at 7:51 PM on October 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

Best answer: I love copymethat but I'm not well versed in the social features.
posted by orchidarea at 8:21 PM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

Pinterest. Almost everything you're looking for.
posted by quiet_musings at 8:23 PM on October 8, 2017

I use pepper plate for storing recipes, though the only sharing option is for emailing/tweeting/facebooking the recipe. Maybe Pinterest would be best!
posted by buttonedup at 8:28 PM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

I use note taking apps too. Instantly searchable by ingredient, style of cuisine, traditional role, etc.

From most websites you can copy and paste text, and do a minute or so of tagging and commenting if you want.

In the cloud, free, lightweight, powerful, robust with local copies. No social features, but I can and do query my note- based database and then copy/paste recipes to friend via email or any other platform that allows text.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:59 PM on October 8, 2017

BTW, with Evernote, you don't even have to copy and paste; you can install a little clipping app in your browser that will do the work for you.
posted by praemunire at 9:07 PM on October 8, 2017

I've been using Paprika for this for a couple of years.
posted by centrifugal at 9:11 PM on October 8, 2017 [12 favorites]

+1 Paprika. If you give it the URL of an online recipe, it'll slurp it down and format the relevant bits nicely (also not hard to change these or create recipes from scratch); it lets you scale recipes, set timers for every time indicated in the recipe, and so on. It'll export nicely formatted PDFs. It's pretty slick. My iPad is gradually replacing the folder full of old printouts and clippings in the kitchen.
posted by adamrice at 10:04 PM on October 8, 2017

I grabbed Paprika on advice of AskMefi I while ago and didn't really get it/forgot about it for ages, now I use it and think it's great. On my android phone I choose the 'share' option in Chrome when I see something interesting, and Paprika is pre-selected. I haven't even futzed around with the meal planner or shopping thing yet, but it beats constant self emailing, leaving tabs open for weeks and sticky notes on my desktop I used to use.

I've had to copy/paste into it once because it couldn't detect all parts of the recipe in the middle of some rambling blog entry, but that was super easy and user friendly too.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 10:41 PM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

I love Paprika for this. One of the handful of apps I’ve really used consistently for a number of years.
posted by bluebird at 2:50 AM on October 9, 2017

I've only used the web-based version, but BigOven has associated apps as well which look like they do everything you want. Downside, it's not free for a full-featured version. ($3/mo or $25/yr or $79/lifetime for the Pro version.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:44 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have a plain old Wordpress blog and I tag the entries with categories/major ingredients. I can't see the tags on the mobile version of the site, though, so I have to manually select the desktop version if I'm on my phone.
posted by needs more cowbell at 5:24 AM on October 9, 2017

Another Pinterest user here.
posted by bile and syntax at 6:29 AM on October 9, 2017

Plan to Eat does exactly this and has a friends list for sharing. It can also auto-import recipes from web pages.
posted by thatone at 7:47 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Another for Paprika... been using it for years.
posted by Huck500 at 8:10 AM on October 9, 2017

Response by poster: Paprika users, does it have sharing in-app?
posted by snorkmaiden at 8:40 AM on October 9, 2017

You can email recipes from within Paprika. It's useful. You can also make grocery lists.
posted by bibliogrrl at 9:54 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Another one for Paprika. You can email to anyone on your contact list, and if they have the app they can import the recipe directly from the email. For new recipes I want to make sure I try, I created a "Cook This" category that I peruse when I feel like trying something new.

It's easy to import recipes from the web, or you can always type them in on your own.
posted by thejanna at 12:10 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

I use Pinterest, too. Easy to have different boards for recipe types, good search, and social media features.
posted by ceramicblue at 5:03 PM on October 9, 2017

I use a free wordpress blog for this.
posted by kathrynm at 9:35 AM on October 10, 2017