My Kitchen Table

4 cert, Random House, iPad (also iPod Touch, iPhone) ***

A few years ago it was decided that we all should be both interested in and good at cooking. TV schedules over- stuffed us with servings of cooking lessons, competitive cuisine and celebrity chefs. Thankfully, free apps such as My Kitchen Tableoffer a hand to the hitherto inexperienced (ie lazy) cooks among us. Well- known international panhandlers Mary Berry, Ainsley Harriott and Rick Stein contribute 40 free recipes to My Kitchen Table, with 340 more available to buy. The dishes range from the doable (lemon roast chicken) to the defiantly elaborate ("divine" chocolate birthday cake), but they're helpfully rated from one to three stars on a difficulty level.

Here's another convenience; with a touch, you can add items to the a shopping list and categorise them by recipe or by aisle, which should cut down on some in-shop traipsing and exploring. My Kitchen Tableis a text-heavy app, which makes it old-school, but it's an effective and handy source of portable, free recipes.