anning a Thanksgiving dinner can feel like a giant stress bomb just detonated in the middle of the month. Not only do you need to figure out the menu shop for groceries, but then there’s all of the preparation, seasoning, slicing, timing everything to perfection— dealing with your family, of course. It can be overwhelming. ’ve all been there.
Android apps can’t dice your veggies or stuff the turkey, but they can do a lot of other things to help ensure that your Thanksgiving feast goes as smoothly hassle-free as possible. From planning the menu managing recipes to learning kitchen skills, synchronizing cooking times, getting décor ideas, these apps are sure to make you thankful for your phone this week.
Food Network’s In the Kitchen app is a hy resource all year long, as it’s packed with thouss of diverse recipes—but it’s especially helpful this time of year. As anyone who watches the cable network knows, its roster is packed with an array of chefs who all have different personalities, tastes, cooking techniques.
That translates perfectly into the app, which has a themed Thanksgiving section primed to set you off in all sorts of directions. oking for classics? No problem. Need something a bit more refined or even untraditional? Sure thing. Hoping to emulate a holiday meal like one you’d find from Bobby Flay or Giada De urentiis? Seriously, it’s all there.
Food Network: In the Kitchen (Free)
On the other h, maybe you don’t want to be overwhelmed with options. anning a Thanksgiving meal is hard enough as it is: why not let the experts decide? That’s exactly the task you can assign to Thanksgiving by Bon Appetít, a dedicated app inspired by the long-running cooking magazine. It’s attractively built, but more importantly, it makes your job very straightforward.
Sure, you can browse through the various recipes, as the app offers more than 100 dish options. But you can also hit the Menu tab choose which kind of meal you want. Classic, Modern, Southern? How about the super-fancy meal featured in last year’s Bon Appetít issue? It’s all here, including a special cocktail for each menu option.
Thanksgiving by Bon Appetít (Free)
There’s real comfort in trusting your Thanksgiving menu to the experts, or picking through recipes that have been verified by notable gatekeepers. But what if you want something more adventurous or outside the box? Or what if you put more stock in crowdsourcing your options? ll, that’s where Cookpad can play a role.
Cookpad is a community of amateur chefs foodies who share their home creations— you won’t find the polished, photo-shoot-perfect renditions of meals here. Instead, users post actual snapshots of how their meals turned out so you get a real sense of what’s possible… or probable, at least. st search for a term you’ll get tons of diverse, mouth-watering options.
Cookpad (Free)
Maybe you already have a meal mapped out comprised of family recipes past favorites. But chances are that all your instructions are spread out between written cards, ratty books, an array of browser bookmarks. It’s time to bring the old stuff into the digital era keep everything in one spot. That’s what prika is for.
prika lets you download clip web recipes or manually enter your own, then save sort them as needed so everything is easily accessible when it’s time to hit the kitchen. Better yet, prika’s cloud sync service puts your recipe library on every device, so you can study the lineup on your or Mac at work, for example, or your Android tablet or id in bed.
prika Recipe Manager ($5)
An official Butterball turkey app? You probably won’t need this for any other time of the year—although the Avocado me Ice Cream recipe looks pretty appealing—but it’s sure to be helpful when planning your Thanksgiving feast. It has a variety of recipes for both turkey sides, but the bigger perks come from the tools how-to videos.
Included tools help you figure out how large of a turkey you’ll need based on how many people are attending ( other variables), plus it offers ingredient substitutes if you need a swap or find yourself in a bind. And the quick video tutorials show exactly how to choose, thaw, roast, finally carve your bird. If it’s your first time hosting or you just need a refresher, don’t miss those.
Butterball Cookbook us (Free)
Your family may vary, but if you’re preparing a large feast full of meat, carbs, desserts, chances are that many folks will want a nice wine to help wash all of that delicious food down. But which one(s)? If you’re not an amateur sommelier yourself, you might need a little help in that department. So grab Hello Vino let the app point you in the right direction.
Hello Vino has a section dedicated to food pairings, even has a holiday-centric theme that’ll suggest the right type of wine based on the type of turkey dish you’re preparing. The app will offer a few ideas, but if you find something at the store you’re curious, simply scan the U with your phone camera: Hello Vino will quickly tell you all about it.
Hello Vino (Free)
Once you have your Turkey Day menu plotted out, it’s highly likely that you’ll need to hit the store to pick up a wealth of ingredients. ile it’s true that any note-taking app can hold your digital list, consider a free app like Out of Milk, which smartly sorts your items lets you compare against your stockpile at home.
As you add items to the shopping list—either manually or by scanning a U code—the app automatically disperses them into categories (produce, bakery, etc), plus you can check them off the list as you make your way through the store. And the separate ntry listing is hy, as well, since you can list frequently-used items give yourself a reminder when running low.
Out of Milk Shopping st (Free)
Even with our best intentions— a hy app like the prior one—it’s easy to overlook items needed to execute your meal. It’s OK. Even if you can’t get back to the store before the big day, you can enlist some help. Instacart is a hugely beneficial app for times like these, as you can order an item from a nearby grocery store have it delivered in as little as an hour.
It’ll cost you a little more in fees, we can’t promise what drivers’ availability will be like on Thanksgiving day, but the convenience is tremendous. Better yet, save the entire grocery trip: make your list on the app Instacart’s driver will grab your entire order from the store bring it right to your door. Now that’s something to be thankful for.
Instacart: Grocery Delivery (Free)
Setting the right atmosphere is an important part of any successful Thanksgiving gathering. ed, an excellent meal a hful (or more) of loved ones may be all you really need, but why not go the extra step decorate? You don’t have to spend a lot of money: many of the images seen on nterest are dominated by charming, homemade decorations.
nterest is essentially the Internet’s idea board, its contents are wide varied—but they’re especially voluminous with regards to holidays. So load up the free app, search around a bit, surely you’ll find compelling ideas for setting the table sprucing up your space. Oh, play a little music: surely Spotify, ay Music, or Apple Music can help with that.
nterest (Free)
Designed around the thoughtful premise that anyone can excel at cooking, Kitchen Stories is more than just another recipe app: it helps you through the whole process. Instead of just a listing of ingredients steps, you’ll find step-by-step preparation images even video clips that help bridge the gap between what you need to do actually doing it.
Better yet, while Kitchen Stories can help you roast a turkey, it’s also focused on upgrading your general kitchen proficiency. You’ll find easy-to-underst video tutorials on knife skills, basic preparation abilities, the fine art of baking, all of which will help you become more capable comfortable with cooking in the long run.
Kitchen Stories (Free)
There’s nothing like a good food pun. But besides the fun title, there’s real benefit to having Thyme on your phone this Thanksgiving. No doubt, you’re already equipped with a means to set a few timers on your device, but Thyme goes a step further in letting you assign each to an image of a stovetop range oven.
It’s minimal simplistic, but when you need an at-a-glance way of knowing exactly how much longer everything will take to complete, it can be a crucial part of your cooking routine. You’ll get an alert as each component finishes cooking, setting timers couldn’t be easier: simply swipe around the circle like you’re winding a dial. Easy as pie. Or turkey. Or stuffing…
Thyme – Kitchen er (Free)
Got young kids to entertain? How about nostalgic parents other adults? rfect: grab the Charlie Thanksgiving app draw everyone’s attention for a sweet, festive story. The app delivers an interactive storybook experience based directly on the classic 1973 animated special, using the same imagery voice-over work throughout.
Kids will enjoy pulling the digital tabs, tapping bowls of food, shaking the device to interact with the story. And adults who grew up with the tale may have fun thinking back to their own childhood holidays—back before we all had screens to stare into, right? Really, though, it’s a charming little app, a good note to end your great gathering on.
