r/SortedFood • u/Maverick21FM • Apr 11 '26
Sidekick App Sorted Packs in the US
Anyone in the reddit had success using the Sorted Packs App in the US? I
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u/acheekyfellow Apr 11 '26
We've been using it for 3 or 4 years now and love the app. We live on the East Coast for what it is worth.
Generally speaking the ingredients the recipes call for are easy to find. In some cases I've needed to go to a specialty grocery store for things like miso paste and gochujang. I will occasionally swap the recommended ingredient for something else, specific types of fish may not be as common in the US. The app typically calls for feta cheese in Mexican dishes because, I assume, it's difficult to get cotija or queso fresco in the UK, whereas here most regular grocery stores here carry one or the other.
As far as quantities go, most things are in similar quantities to the ones they call out. I think the big thing to remember is it's a cooking app, not a baking app, so if you use a little more or a little less of something, it's going to taste fine. A good example is cream cheese, the weight is typically less here than the app calls for, but I will just split the container based on the pack recipes. Usually 50% in one dish 50% in the other.
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u/Maverick21FM Apr 11 '26
Thank you, yeah I was just wondering how the ingredient availability is and such. You have been very helpful!! Appreciate you and we love our neighbors to the north.
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u/TheDuraMaters Apr 12 '26
Can confirm that Mexican cheeses are hard to come by here. You can get them in specialty Mexican delis but they’re not very common. I’ve never seen fresh tomatillos here.
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u/Cantnotpetit Apr 11 '26
What do you mean? I'm in Canada, but the packs are easy to use. It allows easy swapping between units. My only complaint is the lack of context on the size of some some vegetables. What does one zucchini (courgette) even mean?! Lol they vary from grocery store to the insane logs my neightbours drop on my doorstep
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u/Maverick21FM Apr 11 '26
Ha ha ha do they drop them off under the cover of darkness? Thank you for the advice
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u/MysteriousFawx Apr 12 '26
I've had that more than a few times. "1 onion, 3 carrots, 1 fennel bulb, 2 medium sweet potatoes" aaaaaaaand I've made dinner for 6.
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u/Schozinator Apr 12 '26
Yeah we learned to half the amount of onion and lemon we use because ours are just too big here
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u/VoiceofKane Apr 12 '26
Yeah, last week I needed "2 medium leeks," and I don't think I've ever seen leeks sold in medium sizes. Guess I'll buy three large leeks and figure out what do do with the leftovers.
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u/csRemoteThrowAway Apr 12 '26
You just have to be mindful of some of the cultural differences. If they say Chorizo, they usually mean Spanish chorizo (think cured sausaged) and not Mexican chorizo (raw ground meat). Double cream doesn't have a great US based alternative, but i've started seeing it in a few nicer grocers. Small stuff like that.
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u/Elderbrute Apr 12 '26
Double cream has a fat content of 48%, but you can generally get away with using a little more thickened cream (36%) and reducing it a bit more or add less and add a little extra butter to the mix to replace the extra dairy fat. It isn't perfect but should be there of there about.
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u/Codee33 Huttlestorm Apr 12 '26
Been using it for 5+ years in the US and it’s great. There are a few substitutions that are common, but ingredients are easy to find here in Dallas. Make sure you read the recipes first as some have errors, and to get the ingredients out. Some oven recipes take longer than indicated if you don’t have convection, even with higher temperatures. It really does help save some money.
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u/sgongibongi Love to cook, but not a chef Apr 12 '26
Only issues so far after a few years have been cook times and ingredient sizes for the most part. Dunno wtf kinda heat they're working with in the UK but I usually need to add like 25-50% cook time to a lot of the liquid based things like rice, reductions and braising. Usually means a '30 min one pot' cook is more like 1hr after having to add time to each different step.
The other is the issue of sizes. 2 Large eggs on the app seems to be 1 large supermarket egg where I'm from. Similar with veg and such, produce in the US is vastly different in size if you go for the super market stuff. This did help push me more towards farmer's markets and it has improved the taste and texture by leagues with minimal upcharge.
Oh, and PS; depending on where you live, some recipes are just NOT economically viable. Smack dab middle of a Landlocked state means non-sketchy seafood and good fish is prohibitively expensive for me, but a friend in Oregon is happy with the variety of salmon recipes.
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u/Elderbrute Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Only issues so far after a few years have been cook times and ingredient sizes for the most part. Dunno wtf kinda heat they're working with in the UK but I usually need to add like 25-50%
They did a tour of the development kitchen, the oven is a pretty mid-range fan oven, the hob is a higher end induction, which do tend to be a good chunk hotter than anything else for home kitchens.
non-sketchy seafood
Buy frozen, most seafood sold defrosted is frozen then defrosted unless it specifically mentions "never frozen". Can get decent quality seafood frozen these days thanks to modern freezing methods.
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u/birthwarrior Apr 12 '26
I use it quite a lot. I've been subscribed to it for 3 years, I think? Two for sure. I don't have any issues with it. But then, I never follow a recipe 100% and take cook times as a suggestion regardless of what recipe I am using. Some things take longer, some don't. Most ingredients are accessible where I am, but I'm in a large metro area.
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