Paprika Recipe Manager

First off.... welcome to Tech Tuesdays! When I was deciding how I wanted to blog again, I realized that I needed to break up my posts from just life updates... so each day this week, you're going to see a different type of post.

Tech Tuesdays are all about the "Tech" things that make life easier. Have you ever had that one thing that you want to tell everyone about because its like, so awesome? This is my spot for that. And it might be actually technical-- like an app or a gadget or it just might be something really useful, like a book or organizational doodad.

Sooooo.... Tech Tuesday: Paprika Recipe Manager!

I found this app right around Christmas. I was browsing the app store for something that I could keep my grocery list on... and this one is such a winner. Not only does it keep track of your grocery list, but it's the ultimate recipe finder, keeper, meal planner, and grocery list. It's the perfect pairing for browsing pinterest for all those yummy recipes.

Paprika Recipe Manager is for iphone, ipad and if you have a mac, they also have a desktop app! If you've got it on more than one device, they sync wirelessly via the cloud!  So this mother's day, on Saturday, I already had the recipe I had in mind, I swung by the grocery store last minute, was able to get everything for the meal, with my grocery list in the app. Then, on Sunday, I just took my phone with me, and had the instructions right there while I cooked. Genius!

Here's the app on my phone with a list of all my recipes on the left, and the bookmarks page of food sites on the right.

The grocery list on the left, and the meal planning page on the right.

I admit, I like the ipad layout more for when I'm at home, browsing recipes, planning out meals, and cooking at home.

Top: See how the list of recipes is way easier to browse and plan from in the ipad?
Bottom: This is the best screen to cook from in my opinion. Plus, I love the timer feature.

Top: It's super easy to capture a recipe that's on a blog, that you saw maybe on pinterest.
Bottom: I love the meal planner on the ipad, because it's way easier to see what you're doing  in a given week.

The layout is just a little better for examining recipes, saving recipes from the web. If you're already at a recipe website, like food network, there's an easy button you just have to click once, and it grabs the entire recipe for you.

The only downside to this app is that it isn't cheap. It's $3-4 in the app store per device! At first I only had it on my ipad for a few months, but a couple weeks ago, I broke down and got it on my phone too. To me, with trying to lose weight, and keep my life sane in my work/life balance, the on the go syncing was a must. But it's been a real winner. You can email recipes to friends from the app, and import recipes emailed to you too... but I haven't done that yet. :)

If you end up getting Paprika, let me know and let's start exchanging recipes!

Paprika Recipe Manager, www.paprikaapp.com, $19.99 for Mac Desktop, $4.99 for iphone and ipad each.