Stuck for what to cook for dinner choices? Forget recipe books and fire up your mobile phone with these apps.
Whether you are a cooking disaster, Masterchef wannabe or true gourmet, there are dozens of apps to help you on your culinary journey.
Apps allow you to access thousands of recipes within seconds, without having to invest in a recipe book. You can even watch videos and read comments from other home cooks.
Here are five cooking apps to whet your appetite.
1: BigOven
Price: Free
Operating system: Android, iOS
With 350,000 recipes BigOven is a tasty place to start if you want recipe inspiration.
Plan your menu using endless options from cuisine to diet, type of cooking and even the weather. Each recipe includes detailed cooking notes and predicted cooking time.
To get the best from BigOven you really need to create an account to add recipes, create a shopping list and even share meal plans via email.
2: Allrecipes Dinner Spinner
Price: Free
Operating system: Android, iOS
Forget singing, this app lets you spin for your supper.
Choose the type of dish, ingredient and when you want to eat and the app will suggest tried and tested meal ideas submitted by its community of 11 million cooks.
Along with ingredients and preparation instructions, each recipe includes user reviews and photos.
Allrecipes Dinner Spinner caters for cooks of all abilities, with 1000s of videos with step by step instructions for trainee chefs.
3: Thyme
Price: Free/79p
Operating system: Android, iOS
Cooking a meal with lots of different components means having to keep an eye on lots of different cooking times. This can quickly get confusing if you’re juggling a phone and oven timer. Thyme makes cooking that little bit easier, by letting you to set timers for five things simultaneously.
Set a timer by tapping one of the four plates or the oven, select the time and wait for the alert.
You’ll soon wonder how you coped without this incredibly useful app.
4: mySupermarket
Price: Free
Operating system: Android, iOS
It’s not a cooking app, but if you’re food planning for the week or month, mySupermarket lets you compare grocery prices from the UK’s major supermarkets.
Search by product type or name, or by scanning a barcode. You can compare prices at up to 11 shops on individual items or across your entire shopping list. If it’s cheaper somewhere else, swap stores and book a delivery slot.
mySupermarket includes Cashback vouchers, exclusive offers and Multibuys, saving – it claims – an average of 30% every supermarket shop.
5: Just Eat
Price: Free
Operating system: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
Finally… if you’re too tired or just can’t be bothered to cook, takeaway delivery app Just Eat is your new friend. It’s a single app to replace all those annoying takeaway menus that pop through your letterbox.
Pop in your postcode and choose delivery or collection to discover your closest pizza, Chinese or Indian restaurants from 20,000 nationwide. Browse the menu, make your choice then place your order paying by cash or card. User reviews from other customers are well worth checking out before you place your order.
Are there any cooking apps you want to recommend to other BT.com readers? Let us know in the Comments section below.
