How to Organize Your Recipe Set With the Paprika App
Paprika ($ 4.99) is our favorite recipe manager on both Android and iPhone , but its huge feature set makes it a little overwhelming at first. Let’s take a look at some tips on how to organize these recipes without losing your mind.
Learn to import recipes from anywhere on the internet
Unless you plan on manually entering hundreds of recipes into Paprika, you’ll want to see the different ways to import recipes into your app. Paprika is smart enough to parse a seemingly endless personal essay at the start of a recipe and automatically transform ingredients and directions. You have three main ways to do this.
On the iPhone, Paprika includes a sharing extension that makes it easy to add a recipe from Safari. When you’re reading a recipe in Safari, click the Share button, then Paprika. This will automatically import the recipe into Paprika.
You can also copy and paste the url in Paprika. Copy the complete address of any recipe, then open the Paprika app. Paprika is smart enough to recognize the URL in the clipboard, so it will automatically ask if you want to import it.
Finally, you can also import recipes from your computer’s browser using the Paprika bookmarklet. If you haven’t already, you’ll first need to create a free Paprika cloud sync account . Next, go to the bookmarklet page , enter your email address and password, and then follow the onscreen instructions to set it up. Once you’ve done that, you can click the bookmarklet to add any paprika recipe from your browser to your desktop.
Group your recipes into categories that you will actually use
After adding a recipe, the next logical step is to categorize it. There is probably some sort of recipe book-style logical means to organize it all, like pastas, snacks, side dishes, etc., but I found that I am not actually using these traditional systems.
Instead, I use categories like time (15 minutes, 30 minutes, slow cooker) where I got it from (friend, blogs, or recipe books) or special events (Christmas Dinner, Super Bowl, etc.). This is what works best for me, so your experience will be different, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box when creating categories. Build a system that makes sense and works for you.
Search, search, search without ordering
One of the reasons I’m not worried about categories is because I’ve found that Paprika’s search is good enough that I don’t need them. I don’t need to create a category for “fish” because it is easier to type “fish” in the search box. In Paprika, you can search for recipes by three parameters: name, ingredient, and source.
Use multiple timers
If you’re like me, the only thing you really use your voice assistant for is setting a timer. Unfortunately, on iPhones at least, you can only set one timer at a time. Paprika allows you to use up to three at a time, and they are integrated directly into the recipe instructions. This is great.
In any recipe, touch the blue highlighted time to start the timer. If there are several timers, you can set three at once. The timer is automatically tagged with the recipe, which is very convenient when you are preparing several dishes.
Pin recipes when you cook multiple dishes at once
Speaking of preparing several dishes at the same time, paprika allows recipes to be reinforced. Pinning recipes makes it easy to switch between a couple of different dishes. Open the recipe and tap the pin icon in the lower left corner. When you have multiple recipes pinned, click the same pin icon to cycle through them. Paprika will remember all the ingredients you crossed out and the directions you indicated so that you don’t lose your place.
Scale recipes whenever you need
Paprika can scale recipes, something incredibly healthy that I haven’t noticed in months. On the main recipe screen, press the “Zoom” button and you can zoom in or out. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but for some reason it took me ages to even realize it was an option, so I figured I’d share it too.
Use the pantry tool to keep track of the ingredients you already have
One of my favorite features in Paprika is the pantry. As the name suggests, you can make a list of the things you already have in your pantry. This way, when you create a shopping list, you can automatically remove items from the pantry, such as oils, flour, or spices.
To get to the pantry menu, go to the “Products” section and click the “Pantry” button below. Click on the plus sign to add the items you want. It will take a few minutes to set up, but once you’ve done it, creating a shopping list becomes much easier.
Use a meal planner
Paprika’s meal planner feature is incredibly robust, and while it’s not something everyone is going to use, it’s still worth a try.
The basic idea here is simple: tap the Food menu, then tap the Plus button to add a dish. Add a recipe and choose a day of the week. You can also do this directly from the recipe screen by pressing the calendar button. When it’s time to head to the grocery store, go to the Week tab, click Select, select each recipe you need to buy, click the Share button, and then Add to Shopping List.
Perhaps more convenient for those of us who live tirelessly when it comes to meal planning are the menus. The menu is useful for recurring event-style meals that you can prepare. On the Power Planner screen, press the Menu button and then the plus sign. Create a new menu, say Easter, then click Done. Click on the plus sign again and you can add a bunch of recipes. Now, in the future, you can add everything in this lunch to your meal planner right away, making it easier to create shopping lists.
Turn on auto-lock to keep your phone awake (and other settings)
You wouldn’t think it’s worth taking the time to peek into the settings in the recipe app, but a few things here can improve the experience.
Personally, I like to enable the auto screen lock option, which prevents your phone from going into sleep mode while the paprika is open. I also switch the font size of the recipe to medium so I can read it from afar, set up the grocery list to be sorted by aisle, and enable ingredient aggregation (which avoids separating items by recipe, like 2 apples, 1 apple). This is all personal preference, but if you’ve never visited the settings menu, I recommend doing so.
Don’t forget to rate the recipes
I can’t even count how many times I’ve looked at a recipe trying to remember if I really liked it. After you’ve cooked and eaten the recipe, go to Paprika again and check it out. Seriously, this will help you in the future more than you might imagine.