Smartphone Apps of the Month- March

Daylight savings time approaches and I’m thinking, all of a sudden, about the concept of time. It’s been said “time” is our most precious commodity, and I would agree. Time has been called a river, a snowflake, and a handful of sand.

Simply put, time has been called many things since, well, since time immemorial. This month I’d like to recommend two smartphone apps that can help you make better use of your time: What’s For Dinner? and Alarm Clock Plus.

What’s for Dinner? Available on iPhone and Android.

What’s for Dinner? gives you immediate access to all of your recipes and more while you’re on the go. You can search popular recipe websites, including FoodNetwork, Allrecipes, Epicurious, Better Homes & Gardens, and Food.com all at once.

There are many reasons why home cooks now refer to this as their go-to app. From now on, you don’t have to worry about shopping for groceries and not remembering that one last ingredient you needed. No more second trips back to store for an overlooked item. Instead, just pull out your smartphone and access the grocery list feature while shopping.

You can also add your own family recipes as well as those from others, creating menu plans for the week. Plus, the many reviews and recommendations from other users make choosing a new meal easy, and you can even search by key ingredients.

One user says the app saves her tons of time (there’s that word again) and she can’t live without it. Another user calls it “Absolutely flawless.” Still a third said to find the app’s comparison you’d have to go to the labs of 007. In short, meal prep has never been easier.

Alarm Clock Plus: Available on iPhone and Android

Alarm Clock Plus has been described by Lincoln Spector of PCWorld Magazine as “quite simply, the best alarm clock I’ve ever used–including physical alarm clocks of the digital, analog, and wind-up varieties.”

That’s saying a lot, especially since some innovative uses of alarm clocks have been around for a long time, even as far back as Ancient Greece; Plato was said to keep a large water clock with an alarm signal.

Alarm Clock Plus enables you to set up a range of alarms. For example, the Nap Alarm Clock allows you to quickly and easily create a new alarm for a given amount of time (like a timer), while the Math Alarm will require you to solve a math problem in order to dismiss or snooze the alarm. This helps you to work your brain first thing in the morning and wake up ready to go.

There’s also a Music Alarm which lets you wake up to your favorite track or a random song from any artist, album, or playlist on your phone, or the App Alarm launches an application when alarm sounds.

Alarm Clock Plus is fully customizable, so download the app now and have fun playing with time.

Many years ago, a rock band named The Rolling Stones told us: “Time is on my side.” With these two smartphone apps on your side, you can be sure to better manage your time. Better late than never may be true, but never late is even better. May time—and your apps—be with you until, well, until next time.