There are many apps available for those living a gluten free lifestyle, each providing all kinds of information ranging from GF friendly restaurant finders to GF recipes to GF ingredients lists. These are valuable tools, whether you’re new to the GF lifestyle or a veteran. But how do you determine which apps are the most useful and contain reliable data without spending a lot of time (and possibly money) doing so? We hope this post proves useful in helping you narrow it down to a handful of worthwhile apps. Here are four that I found to be particularly useful – two are gluten free friendly business locators, one is a recipe and meal planner, and the fourth is a GF product and ingredient database.
1. Find Me Gluten Free
Cost: Free
Version reviewed: Android (also available on iTunes)
Description: Gluten free-friendly restaurant and business finder
Pros:
- Simple, straight-forward, and very user-friendly format
- Can search based on current GPS location or you can input a specific address
- GF-friendliness is based on suggestions, reviews, and ratings by users
- All reviews for chain restaurants are linked and appear in each record for that chain
- When running a search, you can choose to include/exclude establishments that do not have a dedicated GF menu and include/exclude chain locations
- If you register, you may rate and review establishments
- Can suggest GF businesses that are not already listed
- It’s free!
Cons:
- Not many ratings and reviews
- When searching near my current location, I occasionally would get results based on a previous location, so had to re-run search
Overall:
I found this to be an easy-to-use tool providing accurate information. Look forward to more users adding ratings and reviews.
2. Gluten-Free Registry
Cost: $1.99
Version reviewed: iPad app (Also available at Android Marketplace)
Description: GF-friendly restaurant and business finder
Pros:
- Comprehensive listing of GF friendly businesses: 23,400+ businesses around the globe
- Can search based on current GPS location or you can input a specific address
- Map view or list view of search results
- Information based on ratings and reviews from other users
- Can see all reviews for chain restaurants, no matter which record you are in.
- Contains more user reviews compared to Find Me Gluten Free
Cons:
- Duplicate records in list view
- It’s not obvious how to search for specific location (you have to click on ‘Add a business’, which links to company website, and from there click on Home/Search).
Overall:
This app is very comprehensive, with plenty of business listings, user reviews, and useful information to guide you to GF friendly businesses.
3. Cook It Allergy Free
Cost: $4.99
Version reviewed: iPad App
Description: GF (and other allergen-free) recipes and meal planning tool
Pros:
- Super easy- to-use interface
- A nice variety of almost 200 total recipes, all GF, organized by course
- The recipe contributors are listed in the app, with direct links to their websites
- Multiple substitution suggestions are given for other food allergens with the option to save these changes and add to your recipe box
- Can create a grocery list of ingredients from multiple recipes, add to/modify the list, sort the list by recipe or by grocery aisle, and email it to yourself
- Can add notes to any recipe
- Can share any recipe via email, Facebook, or Twitter
- The recipes I’ve prepared have been delicious and well-received by my family
- Can give feedback on the recipes which will then be used to improve existing recipes
Cons:
- Some of the recipes could be better written (i.e. the ingredients are out of order with the instructions)
- Cannot view other users’ feedback
Overall:
Planning your allergen-free meals becomes a piece of cake (GF of course!) when using this app. It is worth every penny.
4. Is That Gluten-Free? (For Groceries)
Cost: $7.99
Version reviewed: iPad App
Description: Provides information about gluten-free products
Pros:
- All products listed as GF are verified directly from the manufacturer, with last date of verification stated on the product listing
- Links to company contact info for easy access
- Products are listed alphabetically by category or brand, or you can search by key word
- An alphabetical ingredients list that includes safe, questionable (with comments), and off-limits ingredients for the GF diet (info obtained from Wikipedia)
- You can add your own products and brands, and you can add notes for any product
Cons:
- Possibly difficult to keep up with the verification process due to the large amount of products. As always, it’s a good idea to check any product label for possible ingredient changes and contact the manufacturer yourself if you have any questions
- Cannot submit your ratings, reviews, or notes to share with others and vice versa
Overall:
The price of this app seemed expensive to me at first. But after using the app I think it is worth it, especially for those new to the GF lifestyle. What makes it a good tool is that you have a large database of GF product and ingredient information all together.
Erin Hugus, MS, CN has a Master’s degree in Nutrition from Bastyr University. Erin is an expert in Diabetes care and is passionate about empowering people with realistic strategies for optimal health. She takes great pleasure in her time spent in the kitchen and loves cooking nourishing meals for her family.
