Help topics

Recipes

From 'that looks nice' to a shopping list in seconds.

📱 Screenshots show the iPhone app. The Android app works the same way — only small platform details differ.

Help Centre › Recipes

There are two ways to get a recipe into the app, and they meet at the same place: a tidy, editable ingredient review list. Use the link route for recipes on websites, and the scan route for cookbooks, recipe cards, and anything you can paste as text.

🔗 From a website

Share the page from your browser, or paste the URL. The app fetches the recipe and reads the ingredient list for you.

📖 From paper or text

Photograph a cookbook page or paste recipe text. The text is read on your phone — nothing is uploaded.

Import from a website

  1. 1
    Found a recipe in your browser? Tap your browser's Share button and choose Your Shopping List. The app opens with the recipe already fetched.
  2. 2
    Or start in the app: tap the link icon in the List screen's top bar, paste the URL (there's a Paste URL from clipboard shortcut), and tap Fetch recipe.
  3. 3
    The preview shows the recipe name, "Serves N", and every ingredient — ready to review.
🍽️
Cooking for more (or fewer)?

Tap the ×0.5 / ×1 / ×2 / ×3 servings chips and every quantity rescales instantly — 250 g of butter becomes 500 g at ×2.

📸 Screenshot coming soon

Scan or paste a recipe

For recipes that aren't on a website, tap the book icon in the top bar. Two tabs:

  1. 1
    Paste text — paste the recipe (from a message, a PDF, anywhere) and tap Scan recipe.
  2. 2
    Camera — photograph a recipe card or cookbook page (or pick a photo from your gallery). The text is extracted automatically, on your phone.
  3. 3
    The app picks out the ingredient lines — quantities, units, and all — and skips the method, headings, and chatter.
Photographing a cookbook page with the recipe scanner

The review list — you stay in charge

Nothing is added until you say so. On the review list you can:

  • Tick or untick any ingredient — only ticked ones are added.
  • Edit inline — tap an ingredient's chevron to change its name, quantity, or unit.
  • Pantry staples sit this one out — salt, pepper, water, oil and friends are flagged and unticked by default, because you almost certainly have them. Tick them back if you don't.
  • Fractions survive — ½ tsp in the recipe is ½ tsp on your list, not rounded to 1.
  • No stomping — anything already on your list shows "Already on list — your qty kept" and is left alone.
📸 Screenshot coming soon

Where the ingredients go

Above the Add button, a picker chooses the destination:

  • Your current shopping list — the everyday choice.
  • A new list — give it a name ("Saturday dinner party") and keep the recipe shop separate. You can even share that list with whoever's helping.
  • Pantry — log ingredients you already bought, or both at once.

The Add button always tells you exactly what will happen — e.g. "Add 9 items to list".

📸 Screenshot coming soon

Tips & honest limits

  • Most recipe sites just work — the importer reads the same structured data Google uses for recipe search results. If a site doesn't cooperate, you'll get a clear message — copy the ingredient text and use the paste route instead.
  • Photos like good light — a flat page, decent lighting, and the ingredient list in frame beats a crumpled page in shadow.
  • Only the URL fetch uses the internet — and only to download the recipe page you asked for. The paste and camera routes work fully offline; photos never leave your phone.
  • Cooking units are first-class — tsp, tbsp, cups, fl oz, lb and more carry through to your list and its quantity editor.

Related guides: Your Shopping List (editing quantities) · Pantry · Lists & Sharing

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