There are an ever growing number of I-Phone applications geared towards the healthy & environmentally conscious. I’ve trolled the web in search of the most useful, user-friendly and ultimately coolest vegan apps. that fit my price range  - Free.

Veg Kickstart

Outlining the first 21 days of eating a vegan diet, this app. is ideal for beginners who may be confused as to what to eat those first few weeks. Daily motivational tidbits guide you through a day full of delicious and varied vegan recipes, kitted out with directions and nutritional facts. You can search through the weeks to substitute meals and book mark your favourites. If you’re a more experienced vegan, consider suggesting this app. to your mates as a teaser or introduction to veganism.

 Whole Foods Market Recipes

Whole Foods Market Recipes has a gorgeous interface and an excellent selection of recipes for all types of foodies. You can browse individual recipes or mealtime themes, or search by keywords. Best of all is the ‘On Hand’ tab which lets you find recipes based on the ingredients you have. Vegan and vegetarian recipes are illustrated with a small icon. A shopping list, nutritional information, and email sharing round out the functionality.

VeganYumYum Mobile

From the popular food blog Vegan Yum-Yum.com come these delicious recipes.

Although the background is a droll gray / blue combo, the pictures are deliciously mouth watering and the layout is very user-friendly.

There are a decent number of appetizers, mains and most importantly deserts. There’s also an option to search for dishes by ingredient, although this feature is not very sophisticated. It’s a great go-to app. when you’re lacking inspiration for dinner.

Epicurious

This recipe app. is unlike the others in two ways. The dishes have been professionally created (rather than publicly submitted like VegWeb ) and they feature vegan and non-vegan recipes. However the app. has been very well developed with tons of features; such as searching by course, main ingredient or dish type. You can create a shopping list and save your favourite recipes.

Searching for ‘Vegan’ dishes, suggests 33 options. The first 10 are not rated highly but don’t be put off, the other 23 get great reviews. If you’re fairly capable in the kitchen, you can probably search through the hundreds of other recipes and alter them to exclude animal derived ingredients. So get cooking.

Vegan Cakes

Isa Chandra Moskowitz created this App. based on her and Romero’s delightful book of the same name.

The cupcakes are phenomenal, that’s not under debate, and the instructions are pretty kick-ass too. The problem is that it’s advertised as ‘Free’, but once you enter the main menu, all the recipes are locked unless you pay for the full-version. I am not about to deny a girlfriend from reaping from her labour – however, false advertising is pretty uncool.

To gain access to the recipes without paying for the full-version, simple enter a common term (like cake) in the search screen and you’ll be able to see the recipes.

PETA

This app. offers a simple way to keep in touch with activist activities being undertaken by PETA. The Action Alerts menu lists different campaigns you can help with, usually via E-mail or letter writing. The app. provides up-to-date information on the background to each campaign. There’s also a tracker which monitors your contribution to campaigns which is unnecessary but good for kids or those with OCD.

Amnesty International (AiCandle)

This activism app. is a convenient way to join in with Amnesty International’s campaigns to end human rights abuses. It offers a lot of news from independent agencies, on the state of Human Rights around the world as well as details on specific campaigns. There’s also a really cool interactive image of the Amnesty International candle alight.

With this much information you’ll never be bored on the subway, and you’ll always feel completely informed.

Cruelty-Free Application

Lists companies which have shown that they care about animals by proving that no new animal testing is used in any phase of production by the company. (Unfortunately ‘no new’ is the best you’re going to get these days.)

What’s super-cool is that the app. identifies products that adhere to the Leaping Bunny standards, and are a subsidiary of a non-compliant parent company. So, you can still boycott those big corporations who think they can sell organic or vegan products with one hand and poisons with the other.

Animal-Free

The Animal Free app. makes vegan grocery shopping easy; listing by name, animal ingredients, vegan ingredients and ingredients which maybe derived by either plant or animal.

To find the origin of your food’s ingredient, you can either scroll through the 100′s of options or hit the magnifying glass to search directly. The app. itself offers a detailed explanation on the source of the ingredients. The background is sharp, based on a supermarket theme. It is a must have resource for every vegan.

Vegman

This little green App. finds the location of vegan and vegetarian friendly restaurants in your area. You’ll never be lost for a place to eat in a new town again. It relies on users contributions, which means the information is up-to-date. Hence you to can contribute by adding your favourite vegetarian and vegan restaurants.

Apart from being useful for travelers and the adventurous, it’s also super fun to find some eateries as far as 2000km away.. in like.. Hong Kong or Finland.