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Guides
Food journal guides, for people who eat out.
Practical answers to the questions people actually search: how to keep a food journal, what to write in it, how to plan a food trip, how to rate a dish, how to split the bill without a fight.
Guides
All guides
Every guide here works with a pen and a notebook, a notes app or a spreadsheet. Most come with something to copy: a template, a checklist, a list of prompts or a scoring sheet. PlateDiary turns up where it is the shortcut, never as the gate.
They are written by the people who make PlateDiary, for an international table: ramen in Tokyo, tacos in Mexico City, laksa in Singapore, a Sunday roast in London, a food trip through Manila. Each one says when it was last checked.
Guides
How to keep a food journal
A food journal for eating out: what to write, real example entries, paper vs app, and how to keep it up in three seconds a meal. Nothing to count.
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Guides
Food journal ideas and prompts
Sixty prompts about the dish, the place, the people, the night and looking back, plus page ideas for a paper journal. Free, and made for eating out.
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Guides
Food diary template
Three free food diary templates to copy: a daily page, a weekly spread and a meal-out card, with filled-in examples and tips for keeping them going.
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Guides
Restaurant journal template
A free restaurant journal template for Google Sheets, Notion and paper: place, dish, stars, who you went with and a note, plus formulas that count visits.
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Find restaurants you’ve been to
Forgot that restaurant’s name? Find it with Google Maps Timeline, your photo map, your inbox or your bank app, then keep every place for next time.
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Guides
Export Google Maps saved places
Export your Google Maps saved places and lists with Google Takeout, what you get in the download, and what to check when saved places seem to vanish.
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Organize your food photos
Find every food photo in your camera roll on iPhone or Android, sort them into albums, name them with 40 title ideas, and clear out the duplicates.
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Cut out food from a photo
Lift a dish out of a photo on iPhone, Google Photos or a Samsung Galaxy, why it fails on busy tables, how to shoot for clean edges, and every dish at once.
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Food photos at restaurants
Take a good food photo at the table in five seconds: light, angles, no flash, what to move, and how to do it without making everyone wait for you.
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Guides
How to rate food
Stars, out of 10 or head-to-head? How to rate dishes and restaurants so your scores still mean something a year later, with a ready-made scale to copy.
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How to write a food review
What to say about the dish, the place and the price, a fill-in template, and short examples for Google, Instagram and a blog. Start from your own notes.
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Words to describe food
Words for taste, texture, aroma, temperature and look, sorted so you can find the right one fast, plus how to turn them into a one-line note about a dish.
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Food scrapbook ideas
Thirty food scrapbook page ideas: receipts, menus, maps, the people at the table and the best bite. For paper journals and digital pages alike.
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Food collage ideas
Cut-out piles, menu boards, receipt strips and plate grids: twenty food collage ideas for Instagram stories and posts, with how to make each one.
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Year in food recap
Make your own year in food: twelve award categories, questions to answer, a monthly recap template and ways to share it. Or let your saves tell it.
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Date night scrapbook ideas
A page for every date: the menu, the receipt, the dish you shared and one line about the night. Couple scrapbook ideas for paper and phone.
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Food date ideas
Recreate your first date, order blind, try a cuisine you have never had, do a dessert crawl: thirty food date ideas for anniversaries, Fridays and tight weeks.
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Restaurant bucket list
Build a restaurant bucket list that gets eaten, not forgotten: what to put on it, how to pick the next one, a copyable template and 25 ideas to start.
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Food passport
A food passport challenge to copy: a page per dish, stamp lists for world cuisines, a city and a family version, plus rules for what counts as a stamp.
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Food trip itinerary
Plan a food trip that does not end in a food coma: how many stops, what to share, cash per person, walking order, pacing and a free itinerary template.
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Food trip captions
Short, funny and sweet food trip captions for posts with friends, family and dates, plus food dump, cafe hopping and travel lines. Copy one and go.
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Guides
Cafe hopping
What cafe hopping means, how many cafés to visit, what to order so you last, a copyable planning checklist and a few captions for the post afterwards.
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Split a restaurant bill
Even, itemised or by share: fair ways to split a restaurant bill, a worked example, service charges and tips in a few countries, and lines for awkward moments.
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Food account name ideas
Punny, minimal, cute and city food account names for Instagram and TikTok, plus how to pick one that is still free, easy to say and built to last.
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Questions
Questions people ask.
What should I write in a food journal?
The dish, the place, the date and who you were with, plus one detail you would tell a friend. Stars and prices are useful extras; everything else is optional.
Do I need an app to keep a food journal?
No. A notebook or a notes app works. An app like PlateDiary just saves the typing: one photo keeps the dish, the place and the night for you.
How do I remember the restaurants I’ve been to?
Take one photo of the table at every meal out. Photos keep where they were taken, so a food journal app or a photo album can sort them by place later.