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What works well for storing recipes digitally? Software and web solutions are both welcome.

For me, the ideal solution would accept recipes from different sources (copy/paste, or email) in any format, and would automatically generate ingredient lists. It would be available from multiple devices (phone, iPad, computer) and would automatically prepare shopping lists.

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  • I can appreciate that this is a problem a lot of home cooks have, and I'm sorry if there aren't a lot of good answers; however, it is a product recommendation request and specifically a shopping question. Even without the obvious poll phrasing, the topic is still firmly in the "don't ask" list.
    – Aaronut
    Aug 1, 2014 at 14:39

12 Answers 12

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My wife and I love http://www.plantoeat.com/

  • The recipe import is well done and intuitive.
  • The meal planner is easy to use and provides a great view of the week ahead.
  • The grocery list maker is awesome. The Pantry Inventory of the stuff you already have on hand is brilliant!
  • The site looks and works great on an iPhone when shopping. We said "so long" to Grocery Gadget after using it :)
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  • I'm checking out the P2E trial now - it really does seem to be exactly what I want. Mar 21, 2011 at 0:30
  • By the way - there's a mobile version of the site - not an iPhone app, as the website initially made me think. Still, very slick. Mar 21, 2011 at 0:33
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I'm using Evernote for all my digital recipes, though it doesn't give you any ingredient list. The list is no issue for me though since I prefer going through my cupboard and check up on what I have, what I need and what I'll soon be needing. I find the ingredient lists to make you focus on one meal at the time instead of having a mixed basic setup.

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    +1 - I have a tablet in my kitchen running OneNote - it's like a paper recipe card box, only with searching and unlimited space for each recipe, and easier updates / fixes.
    – Eclipse
    Jul 10, 2010 at 16:38
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The ones I've found for Mac (and that look reasonable) are:

There are definitely others, but those are the ones that I've fiddled with. I think SousChef is my favorite.

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  • As far as digital storage goes, I can only echo support for SousChef - some great recipes in there to start with and easy to add your own. To be honest, though, pretty much all of the stuff I use frequently is either in an old fashioned cookbook or pinned to my freezer with fridge magnets.
    – Rob Moir
    Feb 5, 2011 at 15:40
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Just Right Menus is a fledgling one that's very intuitive. I especially like that there are formatting options available for ingredient lists. I prefer to put the ingredient name in bold (like the following) so it's easier to glance at when cooking, but most sites won't let you.

2 cloves garlic

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  • Interesting. I'm mainly interested in a place to store my recipes - not so interested in a repository of recipes that I may or may not have ever used. Jul 9, 2010 at 19:51
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    Most sites allow you to create your own "recipe box". So, even if it's a larger repository of others' recipes, you can add your own & flag others' recipes as "yours". It sounds like epicurious.com would have just what you're looking for. Jul 17, 2010 at 4:52
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I'm a big fan of the fledgling online onetsp.com. It's a pretty simple user interface and I can make great shopping lists. As a bonus, wherever I have access to the internet I have access to my recipes.

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i use plain old .txt files, sorted into folders and synced between my computer, ipad & iphone with Dropbox. on my ipad, i mainly access them with Goodreader, which accesses my dropbox folder and syncs wirelessly. so far, it's been pretty great.

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I've used YummySoup on the Mac which was reasonable. It's HTML import feature is certainly very good. I haven't yet found anything that seems to can be shared between multiple machines/platforms easily unfortunately.

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I, too, use Evernote. I use 3 folders, Food, Bake, and recipes I make often I move to Food-Favs.

I try to find the print version of the recipe page that I am saving, or select the important part to save.

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I am using Shopglider, http://shopglider.com/

It is web-based, pretty simple: you keep shopping lists (just list of stuff to buy) and recipes (ingredients) there, can share account between multiple people. Entering ingredients is usually very simple - paste to text field, and site understands that "2 tbsp sugar" is two tablespoons of sugar - creating ingredient list automatically.

Then you decide what to buy next time by selecting items from lists and recipes, and create trip to shops - you can then print it, email it or sync to Windows Phone (last time I checked they don't have iPhone or Android app).

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    Do you have a typo in "2 tsp sugar" is 2 table spoons of sugar? I would understand it as 2 teaspoons, and tbsp as tablespoons. Feb 5, 2011 at 18:19
  • @Peter - I've edited the answer to suggest changing tsp to tbsp. Mar 21, 2011 at 0:30
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I'm using Stoveside, http://www.stoveside.com

It doesn't do shopping lists, it's more of a recipe box for all recipes across the internet.

It runs by a bookmarklet in your browser bar, then on any website you click the button to save the recipe. Very handy, for saving great recipes as you often randomly come upon them.

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I tried different web based applications and I was never satisfied with either the formatting of the ingredients (some are too loose - and you will not achieve good computability and some are too strict and will demotivate you pretty quickly);

For a while I sticked to using paper but sharing the recipes on my blog or with friends resulted in duplicated work.

Using a general tool, like Evernote, left me unsatisfied because there isn't a specific structure that facilitates your task and there is no interaction with other users.

So, since I am a seasoned developer and I also really love cooking (/my blog italianMondays.com) I decided to create a the web app I wanted: without unnecessary cluttering, graphically pleasing, free and fast, open (as in the data always belongs to the user) and easy to use also on mobile (not really there - yet).

I added the simple functionalities that I wanted and now I am engaging the users to drive the development of the new features and it's working well. Some asked for localization (and it's now available in en/it/pt), others wanted a sharing functionality for social networks, other wanted the generation of shopping lists, import of recipes from blogs/websites, conversion between metric and imperial units, export for publishing and printing... It's becoming a full time gig! :)

It can be seen at beta.cook-q.com and suggestions / requests are welcome!

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I use GoodReader on the iPhone/iPad. It stores pdf, text and word documents in any file tree you want to set up. I organized my recipes first on my computer and then just copied the entire folder over in its organized form using GoodReader's file transfer system. There's also a very easy system for transferring between devices, so if you see a recipe online and save it to your iPad, for instance, it's very easy to just send that to the appropriate folder on your iPhone's GoodReader app.

You don't get the menu building or shopping tools, as with many of these other suggestions, but you also don't have to put all your recipes on a website where you then might have to think about sharing/copyright/privacy issues.

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