iFood: Top Apps for the Hungry Techie

How do you find out about a hip, new eatery? Or a special sale? Want to check and compare prices between food options? There’s an app for each of these things. Innovations in technology and social media have made made life much easier for foodies who want to make plans for a meal or gain valuable information without taking their eyes off their precious iPhones. That is why these apps have helped me and my friends drastically improve our dining experiences (and I hope they can help yours as well!):

GrubHub (free in App Store)

GrubHub is a database that has the locations, hours, and other specifics for takeout and delivery restaurants in many cities nationwide. GH has 38 eateries to choose from in the Ithaca area, and you can even place an order on the app itself. It stores your favorite food joints and purchase information to provide a streamlined and convenient way of placing orders.

FoodGawker (free)

This app is gaining popularity amongst the hipster crowd, and in a good way. High-resolution, visually enticing pictures of dishes draw in a certain Instagram-esque, artsy vibe, while the app also allows people to share and browse recipes based on what really stands out. If your eyes are bigger than your stomach, this is the app for you. I was never hungrier in my life than when I first ‘gawked’ at some of the most popular dishes on this app.

Epicurious (free)

There are many apps that allow you to find an extensive selection of quality and professional recipes, but Epicurious seems to be the best of the bunch. It offers step-by-step guides to any recipe you could ever think of, and allows you to share and save favorites easily.

Tipulator ($0.99)

I never want to take more than 5 seconds or kill more than 2.5 brain cells trying to figure out how much to tip someone. So whether I’m at a restaurant or even if the delivery guy is at my house, Tipulator’s simple, easy interface keeps me from devoting any sort of real energy into figuring out how much to tip someone.

Wegmans (free)

This next one goes out to my personal favorite grocery store in the Ithaca area. Wegmans’ app has a lot of capabilities that attempt to make the traditional shopping list a thing of the past. One cool feature is the ability to quickly scan an item’s barcode, where you can then see its price at your local store or you can add it to your shopping list. Whenever I am about to run out of something like a box of cereal, I scan the item’s barcode and, with one click, its on my shopping list. With this app, Wegmans continues to show why it is ahead of its time in terms of customer experience and satisfaction.

Urbanspoon (free)

I’ll leave you with one of the most popular apps not only in terms of dining but in the entire app store. Urbanspoon provides spontaneity and chance, and is great for people like me who are extremely indecisive. I like to use it to play dinner-roulette; if you shake your iPhone, Urbanspoon will randomly choose a restaurant in the area for you to dine at; or you can choose and filter from lists of nearby eateries. Even if you aren’t a die-hard foodie, I guarantee this app will make your dining future more interesting and diverse.