7 iPhone Apps that Aid Your Inner Chef/Mixologist

February 2, 2010 6:34 pm

7 iPhone Apps that Aid Your Inner Chef/Mixologist

"There's an app for that" proves to be true in the kitchen as well. Whether you're just puttering around the kitchen or a home chef who can whip up a soufflé in no time, we can all use a little help when it comes to planning and preparing meals. Thankfully, it is easier than ever with these handy iPhone apps. The best part? Many of them are free.

1. Orderberry ($0.99)
Orderberrymakes cooking and home entertaining easier by organizing every step of the process. After entering your own recipes into Orderberry, in one step you can scale the recipe for the number of people you are cooking for, price the recipe at cost per unit or cost per person or email your recipe to friends and family. Tip, the app also keeps a To Do list and Notes for you to keep track of your grocery list, cooking tips or favorite specialty stores. Lastly, never get stuck trying to figure out conversions in your head, Orderberry will give you grams to ounces instantly.

2. 20 Minute Meals: Jamie Oliver ($4.99)
One of our favorite British imports, Jamie Oliver won us over with his TV show and cookbooks as The Naked Chef, but now his helpful tips and tasty dishes are right at your fingertips. In addition to 55 recipes that take around 20 minutes, Jamie gives you step-by-step images for every recipe as well as 21 exclusive videos with his tips, techniques and kitchen skills. The app also allows you to create your shopping list and scale the recipe portions. Easily browse through all of the recipes or, if you're having a hard time deciding what to cook, shake your iPhone to choose a random recipe.

3. Epicurious Recipes and Shopping List (Free)
While is nothing new, we've been using it as a recipe resource for years, this app makes it easy to browse their huge database of recipes. Search by type (from weeknight dinner to cool cocktails), search by main ingredient, what's in your fridge, what's in season or keywords — plus save your favorite recipes and email them to friends.

4. All Recipes' Dinner Spinner: Recipes, Drinks and More! (Free)
This free app gives you access to thousands of recipes, photos and member reviews from allrecipes.com. Choose by main ingredient, dish type or "Ready In" time. Not sure what to cook? Trick, give your phone a shake and get a random recipe chosen for you. This app is a favorite among iPhone users.

5. Mixology: Drink Recipes (Free)
Billed as "the ultimate drink recipe and bartending guide," Mixology gives you access to nearly 8,000 drink recipes from classic cocktails to festive shots and non-alcoholic drinks. Simply enter the ingredients you have on-hand in the Liquor Cabinet tab and get served up potential drink recipes. You can file your own signature cocktail recipes, choose drinks at random, or if all else fails, use their Google maps feature to find the closest bar.

6. Grocery iQ ($.99)
Grocery lists are made simple with Grocery iQ's fast, easy way to keeping track of what you need at the store. Not only can you keep track of what you want and where to buy it, but Grocery iQ allows you to share lists, flag items as favorites, add product details and sort by aisle. The two most exciting features though, are their new intenerated coupons and barcode scanning with your iPhone camera. Never forget an item on your list again--there's a lot to be said for an app that can save you money and your sanity.

7. Wine Ratings Guide ($3.99)
Wish you always had your own personal sommelier? This app gives you all the benefits of a wine professional (always drinking the perfect bottle) without any of the drawbacks (price, nose in the air). When you're stuck at the store, browse Wine Ratings Guide's 1 million wines by name, price, grape, flavor, region and more to help you find what you're looking for. For your own reference, the app allows you to rate the bottles for yourself, so whether you loved or hated last night's red, you'll actually be able to remember the next time you go vino shopping.