Best of Free, Food-Related Apps: Recipes, Restaurant Finders, and Networking

This post concerns the apps out there that I've found helpful or think some may enjoy. As you'll soon see, by apps I mean software applications, not appetizers. If you don't have a device that can download apps, many of these are also websites.

Looking for a place to eat.

You're in a new city, hungry, and would like to make an informed decision about your next dining destination. Or, you're in the same place, sick of going to the same restaurants over and over again.
If you find yourself wishing someone or something could recommend a restaurant there is, of course, an app for that.


1. Find out what restaurants are around you:
---AroundMe---
A map-oriented integrated map that uses your location to offer categorized lists of businesses around you: Apple Retail Stores, Banks/ATM, Bars, Coffee, Favorites, Gas Stations, Hospitals, Hotels, Movie Theatres, Nearby, Parking, Pharmacies, Pubs, Restaurants, Supermarkets, Taxis, Theaters, and Weather.

Within each category, businesses are ranked by their distance from your location. When selected, the business is shown on an interactive Google Map that pinpoints your location and your destination.
If you click the destination in the map, you can "Show Route" and use Google maps to get there, including options of directions.


2. Find out what people have to say about restaurants:
---Yelp (Yelp.com)---
Uses your location to help you find businesses nearby and then make decisions using other users' ratings and reviews.
Direct links to websites and (in the case of restaurants) menus. Interface offers a map view with pins of what's around you or you can search within categories of :

• Restaurants, filtering by price (out of $$$), distance, or highest rated.
• Bars
• Coffee & Tea
• Banks
• Gas & Service Stations
• Drugstores
• Sales & Special Offers
• More Categories...

Once you join, you can also check in at locations (like FourPoints and Gowalla) and post your own reviews to help others!


3. Do both (find and see reviews of restaurants) at the same time.
---Urbanspoon---
Urban spoon has a fun interface that specializes, clearly, in restaurants rather than all businesses.
It uses your location to find restaurants by three categories, any of which you can lock if you have a specific option by which you'd like to narrow the search:

• Location (district, town, neighborhood),
• Type (Dim Sum, Desserts, Organic, for example),
• Price ($ to $$$$).

The shaker appears like gambling slots and actually uses your shaking of the device to activate the search, or you can simply click "shake" for results.

There is also a Nearby feature which lists restaurants near you by Distance, Name, or Popularity and the same AroundMe Map feature.

I list Urbanspoon third because it's easiest to explain after telling you about the other two, and Yelp reviews far outnumber and are often more specific those on Urbanspoon, but this is not to say that the number of reviews has any relation to the quality of the recommendations or comments.



Looking for a recipe, maybe at the grocery store, or from what's on-hand.

---Allrecipes.com---
The DinnerSpinner acts a lot like the Urbanspoon three-category interface, you can specify a choice within one or all three:

• Dish Type,
• Ingredients,
• Ready In (20 min or less up to Slow Cooker)

You can also "Search" or see the "Featured" recipes if you just want to browse for inspiration.


---Spark Recipes-Healthy Recipes---
Recipes with calories, ingredients, directions, and nutrition facts. I also really like the way this organizes the over 190,000 recipes which you can browse by:

• Category: Poultry, Beef/Pork, Fish, Vegetarian, Desserts, Snacks, Appetizers/Soups/Salads, etc.
• Course: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert, Side, Snack, Drink, Sandwich, Soup, Salad
• Cuisine: Asian, Italian, Mexican, French, German, Indian, Spanish
• Dietary Needs: Vegetarian, Vegan, Lactose Free, Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Carb, Sugar Free 
• Occasion: Brunch, Party, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Cookout, Kids, Birthday, Picnic

You can also bookmark favorites and watch videos of how-to recipes.


---Whole Foods Recipes---
One of my favorite recipe apps. You can search within their recipes by

• Course, Category, or Special Diets,
• or my favorite aspect, the "On hand" tool that lets you select basic ingredients (up to 3) from a large database and browse recipes which include those ingredients.

Once you have found a recipe, you can Add it to Favorites, Add to a Shopping List, Email Recipe, and find out the nutrition information.
You can also locate your nearest Whole Foods with this app.


---TasteBook---
You can create an account or not. Either way, tons of recipes.

• Home tab: features Recipe Collections (Fall Fruit, Vegetarian Greats, Light and Healthy, Easy Weekday Meals, Great Meals for Less, Only Five Ingredients, Tempting Thai Food etc, etc...)
• Search: allows you to search by Meal/Dish, Main Ingredient, Cuisine, or Recipe Source (really cool--includes familiar magazines, cookbooks, newspapers, major publishers of recipes in general)
• Favorites: selected by you from any of the above sources
• Shopping List: also created by you when a recipe is chosen and "add to shopping list" is selected 

---Epicurious---
Treats recipe presentation like a magazine, it includes their chosen recipes relevant to the season plus year-round classics.

Topics on the main page direct you to touch-scan previews of recipes, each have a picture, title, and show a rating (out of 4 forks) and the percent of people who would make it again (and the number of reviews that is based on). If you're interested, you can then "view recipe," which has a Recipe and Reviews tab.

Seasonal topics and recipes are provided first, now: Turkey & Gravy, Thanksgiving Sides, Stuffing, Green Beans, Fine Fall Recipes, Sweet Potatoes, Thanksgiving Taters, Pies & Tarts, Veggie Holiday, Holiday Desserts, Holiday Cocktails.

Consistent topics appear to be Weeknight Dinners, Kid-Friendly Mains (I don't believe in coddling kids regarding food), I Can Barely Cook, I Cook Like a Pro, and Healthy Lunches.

You can save recipes to your "Favorites" with the (+) on the preview window, and create shopping lists.


Looking for Help.

---Chow Thanksgiving Dinner Coach---
Does Thanksgiving dinner stress you out? Yes, it's one of the more involved and complicated meals that many of us will cook this year, but fortunately, millions of Americans do it successfully and Chow has created an app to help you do the same.
The app includes several tried-and-true dishes that you can choose to then create shopping lists, follow along with recipes, and create a day-by-day timeline/to-do list for getting it all done.


Want more than recipes? We can be friends.

---MixingBowl (MixingBowl.com)---
A social networking site centered around the dining table. Find/share recipes, make friends, create blogs, ask questions and get tips on anything food-related from recipes to picky eaters to starting your own restaurant.
It can also be integrated with Facebook, if you want.


Educate yourself about what you're buying and eating.

---TrueFood---
Wary of genetically modified (GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) foods? You probably should be.
-4 Simple Tips to avoid GMO foods.
-GMO Guide: This GMO Guide has foods separated by type and identify by brands/products that are GMO-free and those that may contain GMO's within:

• Fruits & Vegetables
• Meats, Fish, & Eggs
• Supermarkets & GMO
• Alternative Meat Products
• Dairy & Alternative Dairy Products
• Baby Foods & Infant Formulas
• Grains, Beans, & Pasta
• Cereals & Breakfast Bars
• Baked Goods
• Frozen Foods
• Soups, Sauces, & Canned Foods
• Condiments, Oils, Dressings & Spreads
• Snack Foods
• Candy, Chocolate Products, & Sweetners
• Sodas, Juices, and Other Beverages
• Invisible GM Ingredients (aka what to look for on the label)

-What's New: Specificially food-related news, legislation, and measures happening on a national scale.
-Take Action: Join petitions/protests, give feedback to Congress, the Food and Drug Administration, etc. to express your concerns and affect legislation and policy.


Both a gamer and a chef? Or maybe just a dreamer?

---TinyChef---
What cook doesn't dream of opening their own restaurant? Now you can, virtually. It's a game that involves creating recipes, designing and opening your own restaurant, etc.

Now I'm tired and hungry. I hope you find these helpful! Now tell me your favorites.