5 Ways Smartphones Simplify Mealtimes
If you’re anything like me, you’re a super busy parent (I think “super busy” and “parent” are actually synonymous). Your smartphone is constantly on, and you use it for everything from phone calls to calendars to daily pictures of the kids and keeping everyone on the same page. The digital and mobile world often gets a bad reputation for taking away from quality family time. However, in many ways my phone is a life saver to get the family together around the dinner table in half the time it took in the pre-digital era.
I’m a total foodie – constantly thinking about what we’re going to make for dinner, what we need to be eating and dreaming up ideas for meals that everyone will eat. Based on the message of Together CountsTM, my family doesn’t see food as “good” or “bad” – we enjoy balanced meals. To help me create these delicious and balanced meals I use my phone to take pictures of recipes in magazines or dishes that inspire me when we eat out, and I make notes in my phone to remind me or trigger a thought.
(see also 4 Tips for On-the-Go Family Meals)
There are tons of recipe apps available for mobile phones that will produce a recipe in seconds depending on your needs. A few of my favorite apps are Ziplist, AllRecipes and How To Cook Everything. Together Counts also has great recipe suggestions on Pinterest that I can access directly on my phone! I’m all about anything that makes my life in the kitchen more streamlined and easier and my phone definitely helps me to do that.
When I’m running from practice to practice and picking kids up from school and juggling homework and time outside… it’s easy to pick up my phone and be able to scroll through my pics or notes to inspire an idea for dinnertime.
5 Ways My Smartphone Simplifies Mealtime
- Take pics of what’s in my pantry/fridge before making my grocery list
- Take pics of recipes in magazines and email them to myself
- Use recipe apps to save recipes, inspire dinner and even to provide recipes – bonus for recipe apps that will turn my recipes into shopping lists (Ziplist)
- Use my phone as a cooking timer so I don’t have to be in the kitchen and can be with the kids instead
- Let my kids read ingredients and use the phone calculator to help me figure out amounts and practice math and reading skills
Do you use your phone to help make mealtime or planning meals easier? What are your favorite apps or tips?
Rachel Matthews is a southern belle and author of the blog A Southern Fairytale. Rachel was featured as one of Babble’s Top 100 mom blogs in 2011 and she was recently named one of the Top 50 parents on Pinterest. Rachel is a mom to two children, who she aspires to raise with good morals, good manners, open hearts and bright futures. She currently resides in Corpus Christi with her family.
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