You know how people say they’ve discovered something “life-changing”? Well… I sort of have. It’s called Paprika.
While Paprika is a great spice for cooking, it’s also a great app for planning meals and managing recipes.
I’ve been using Paprika for over 4 years now, and it’s something I use every single day. While it maybe hasn’t been exactly “life-changing” as other important life events can be, it certainly HAS changed the way I plan meals, keep recipes, and shop for groceries. It has saved me MANY MANY MANY hours, and is a tool that makes me wonder how I managed without it. Yes. It’s that good.
I wanted to share this with you, so YOU can save time, too. I’ll give you the basic information and the basics of using Paprika, along with some tips, tricks, and additional resources. Let’s get started!
What is Paprika?
Paprika is a recipe manager and meal planning app that runs on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows (these links bring you directly to the app for your operating system). I use Paprika on my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Windows computers – the one app syncs between all my devices, so I have access to Paprika all the time.
Paprika allows you to do many things:
- Organize your favorite recipes
- Create (and save) meal plans (and see a month-at-a-glance)
- Easily create grocery lists
- Download and save recipes you find on the internet (this is one of my most favorite features)
- Cook with interactive recipes – where you can check-off each step or highlight the current step
- Set timers while cooking
- Automatically scale recipes to the serving size you need
- and much more!
I mostly use Paprika on my computers for saving recipes and for meal planning. I then use my iPhone or iPad to follow recipes while cooking and while grocery shopping, and I use my Apple Watch for recipe timers. Because there are many platforms that you can use Paprika on, I’m going to focus on the Windows version in this article. For complete, detailed information on how to use Paprika in Windows, you can visit the Paprika User Guide for Windows (I highly recommend you review the information at this link. It’s written very well and is easy to follow).
Paprika is not a free app. At the time of this writing, the iOS version is $4.99. This is a one-time fee – NOT a monthly fee or ongoing fee. This fee includes Family Sharing, and it allows you to use the app on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. I also use the Windows version of Paprika. At the time of this writing, the Windows app is $29.99. Again, this is a one-time fee. So for me, the total to use this app across all my devices was $34.98 – and it is well worth it!
Tips for Using Paprika
You can find all the details you need for using Paprika at the user guide link above, so I won’t go over all of that same information here. Instead, I’ll give you some tips on my favorite features of this app.
Use the Windows (or Mac) App as Your Home-Base App
As I mentioned, Paprika syncs across several platforms and devices. I like to use the Windows app as my “home-base” for Paprika. Not only is it easier for me to type on a full-size keyboard, I also find the Windows app to be the easiest way to save recipes I find online. I can also keep the Paprika app open all the time, while I view several open windows for recipes, or while I read recipe newsletters, or while I add items to my online-grocery list for grocery pickups. Having the larger screen (or screens) allows me to accomplish more at one time.
Use the Browser Feature
The Browser feature of Paprika is awesome! It’s like magic. The Browser feature can download and format recipes you find on the internet into recipe “cards” that you save in the Recipes feature of Paprika. This feature basically parses the information from virtually ANY website and makes it easy for you to save these recipes. For example, let’s say you discovered an interesting recipe on Pinterest. You click the link in Pinterest and you land on someones blog. If you do this often, you’ll know that no two blogs are created equal. Some have tons of ads, some are formatted badly and hard to read, and others contain fragmented bits of the recipe. With the Browser feature of Paprika, you simple copy and paste the URL of the recipe you found on the blog into the Paprika Browser and then click the DOWNLOAD button. Paprika works its magic and pulls the recipe from the blog and puts it into the standard recipe format – with all the information included in the blog (i.e., nutrition facts, photos, etc.). It’s awesome – and is one of my most favorite features of this app.
Here’s a screenshot of a blog that has some fun recipes – notice the pop-up ads?
Now, when you copy the URL of this recipe, and paste it into the Browser feature of Paprika, this is what you see – and what you see when you click the blue DOWNLOAD button (see first image below) to parse the recipe into Paprika (see second image below – click images to enlarge).
Once you have the recipe in Paprika (the second image above), you can add your own notes or modify the recipe any way you want, then click the SAVE button to save the recipe into the Recipe feature of Paprika. Slick!
TIP: When you don’t have a specific recipe URL that you want to use, you can also use the Browser feature in Paprika to search the internet for types of recipes. For example, go to the Browser feature in Paprika, then type the kind of recipe you’re looking for directly into the Search box – such as Slow Cooker Chicken. Paprika will display a bunch of recipes it found on the internet that fit your search. You can then click on that recipe and download it to Paprika (if you want). How cool is that?!
TIP: When you download recipes from the internet into Paprika, you can change the recipe name to something easy for you to remember. For example, if you find a recipe titled something like “World’s Best Texas Chili”, you can change that title to “Chili” or “Texas Chili”. It just makes it easier to search for later.
Use the Meals Feature
The Meals feature in Paprika allows you to plan meals ahead of time. Not only will you see upcoming meals, you can also look back at meals you’ve made in the past. I love this feature, and use it every day!
The image below shows the upcoming month of April, with no meals added to it yet just so you can see what this screen looks like.
From the Meals feature, you can select to view the meals for the Day, Week, or Month. I always use the Month option. The recipes you’ve saved in Paprika appear on the right side of the calendar view. To add a meal to your planner, just drag-and-drop the meal onto the date you want it to appear. Very easy!
TIP: Click in the Search box above all your recipes to search for the recipe you’re looking for. This is helpful when you have hundreds and hundreds of recipes saved in this alphabetical list.
TIP: What about those nights when you don’t feel like cooking and you order takeout? You can still add that meal to your planner! Just click the + (plus sign) in the very upper right corner of this screen, then choose Note from the menu that appears. After typing the name of the restaurant or meal, choose a Date for that note to appear on, and choose the Meal Type (i.e., Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, etc.). Click SAVE and that note is added to your planner. I like using this method when I order from a restaurant so that I can look back on previous months of meals and see the last time we ordered in (click images to enlarge).
Using Recipes in the Planner
After I have all my meals planned for the week, when it’s time to cook, I typically use my iPhone or iPad in the kitchen and follow the recipes from there.
To view a recipe, just double-click on it in your Meal Planner and the Recipe Card appears.
When you follow the recipe, you can click (or tap) on each ingredient as you add them. This crosses off that ingredient. Tap it again to remove the strikethrough.
You can also click on each step under the Directions heading to highlight the step you’re currently working on. This helps you keep your place, especially for long and more complex recipes.
TIP: Sometimes I make changes to recipes to make them more tasty. Click the EDIT button in the upper right corner of the Recipe Card to add your own personal notes in the Notes area (see screenshot below).
TIP: Not all recipes I find online are good, and are recipes I would prefer not to make again. I don’t delete these recipes from my Recipe Cards – instead, I rate them. When the Recipe Card is open (as shown in the image above), just click on the Star Rating to rate a recipe. If I rate a recipe 1 or 2 stars, I have a record of what not to make again – or at least, recipes that will need some work before I make them again. I can also filter these recipes in my Meals list so that the Top-Rated recipes show up first (all the lower-rated recipes show up at the bottom of the list).
TIP: When the Recipe Card is open, you can also click the EDIT button to choose the Difficulty of a recipe. I find this helpful when I’m meal planning and need a meal that is quick and easy to make – I just search for Easy meals in the Difficulty list in the Recipe feature.
TIP: You can also add recipes manually to Paprika. For example, add recipes that you find in printed cookbooks to your Recipes menu. Yes, you have to manually type these recipes, but it’s so nice having all your favorite recipes in one place. I like to use my iPhone to take a photo of a recipe in a cookbook to add to the recipe in Paprika. And… you can also add handwritten family recipes to Paprika. Just enter the recipe manually, and take a picture of the recipe card to use as your photo. This is such a great way to keep those handwritten recipes!
Use the Categories Feature
I highly recommend you create Categories for your meal types. Categories can be things such as: Breakfast; Lunch; Dinner; Desserts; Sides; and Cocktails. When you add a recipe to your Recipe list, just choose the Category from the drop-down list in the Recipe Card (see image above). Once recipes are in categories, you can search just a certain category when looking for a recipe. Categories just makes managing your recipes so much easier!
TIP: You can make subcategories within categories. For example, under my Dinner category I have: Beef; Poultry; Seafood; Pork; Pasta; Pizza; and Miscellaneous. You can make these categories and subcategories what works best for you.
TIP: Categories of meals will have different colors when added to your monthly Meal Planner. For example, my Dinner meals are blue, Lunch meals are green, Breakfast meals are orange, Desserts are pink, and Cocktails are yellow. You can change these colors to suit your needs.
Additional Tips
- User Guides – The above tips are just my favorite features of Paprika. Paprika can do much more – so make sure to visit the Paprika User Guide for Windows, or Paprika User Guide for iOs, or Paprika Guide for Android, or Paprika Guide for Mac for all the features and how to use them.
- Grocery Lists and Pantry Features – The Grocery List feature is a very helpful list for keeping track of what you need to purchase to make the recipes in your Meal Planner. Once you purchase items on the Grocery List and mark them as purchased, Paprika moves those items to the Pantry list. The User Guides will walk you through using these features. They are very handy!
TIP: Make multiple Grocery Lists within Paprika – one list for each place that you shop at. For example, some items I buy are only available at a certain grocery store. I created a list for that store, as well as a list for my regular grocery store. This way, I can find the things I need very easily at each store.
TIP: The Pantry List can be a very handy way to keep track of all the items you have on-hand. For example, add the staples you have such as flour, sugar, chicken stock, etc. This inventory of items will be helpful when you’re planning meals and need to know if you need to purchase additional items in order to make that meal. - Menus Feature – If you plan meals on a regular schedule, you can put those individual meals into a daily menu using the Menu Feature. Again, the User Guides will walk you through how to use this feature. I personally don’t use this feature very often – only because our meals change so often from week-to-week. But this can be a very handy feature for regular meal schedules or for holiday meals.
- Pinterest Recipes – If you want to get started with a bunch of awesome recipes, check out my Favorite Recipes board and Recipes to Try board on Pinterest.
So – there you have it! The basics of using Paprika, along with my tips.
Do you use Paprika? If so, share your tips in a comment below!
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