Despite having a massive Instagram following and publishing recipes for over a decade, Lindsay Ostrom’s (Pinch of Yum) email list had hit a wall. She was adding around 2,000 subscribers per month.

Then something shifted. Not through creating more content or working longer hours, but by strategically connecting the dots between her Instagram audience and her email list. In just four months, Lindsay went from adding 2,000 monthly subscribers to adding 20,000-30,000, per month.

Seasoned food bloggers know success isn’t just about great recipes, it’s about the right WordPress plugins powering performance, SEO, and monetization. In this guide, we highlight the top 7 plugins every expert recipe creator should consider, from SEO-friendly recipe cards to community tools and advanced automation. Whether you want to improve discoverability, deepen reader engagement, or unlock new revenue streams, these plugins will help turn your food blog into a high-performing, sustainable business.

Instagram’s new Repost feature is a powerful tool for recipe creators to expand reach and engagement. Easily reshare seasonal favorites, spotlight follower recreations, feature brand collaborations, or join trending dishes — all while keeping original credit intact. It’s a simple way to reach new audiences, build community, and keep your feed fresh without starting from scratch.

If you're a recipe creator drowning in "where's the recipe?" DMs while watching your real engagement suffer, Mary Smith's story (@maryswholelife) will hit home. 

She went from being completely overwhelmed to building a system that grows her audience and revenue automatically. 

From 137K to nearly 500K followers (in less than 2 years!), 5% to 21% affiliate conversions, and $100+ Amazon revenue daily, here's her exact playbook.

After more than a decade of building Pinch of Yum into one of the most successful food blogs on the internet, Lindsay Ostrom thought she had Instagram figured out. 

She'd been consistently showing up, posting beautiful recipe content, and building a massive following of engaged food lovers (1.6M, but who’s counting?). 

Historically, Instagram has been a place to build awareness around specific recipes with the hopes that people eventually go to the site.

But recently (and with the help of Grocers List), Lindsay cracked the code on turning her existing followers into email subscribers. 

This is her exact playbook.

Instagram just changed the game for food bloggers: as of July 2025, Reels, captions, and posts from professional accounts are now indexed by Google. That means your content can show up in search results—driving traffic, growing your email list, and even earning affiliate revenue without a blog post.

Interested in LinkDM or looking to make the switch? Grocers List offers a specialized and straightforward solution for recipe creators to enhance their Instagram engagement, grow their email list, and monetize their content efficiently through automated interactions and keyword-based engagement.

While Manychat offers robust and versatile automation capabilities that are beneficial for a broad range of Instagram creators, recipe creators may seek alternatives that can cater directly to their unique needs, enhancing their ability to engage followers, distribute content, and grow their audience effectively.

Tired of stressing over what to cook each week? These food creators make meal planning easy and enjoyable with simple, flavorful recipes and practical tips. Whether you’re feeding a family, eating on a budget, or trying to stay healthy, their weekly meal plans and prep guides help take the guesswork out of cooking. From grocery lists to time-saving hacks, they offer everything you need to stay organized (and inspired) in the kitchen.

What if every major holiday could boost your traffic, grow your email list by thousands, and create your biggest affiliate revenue days of the year? 

For recipe creators who know the playbook, that's exactly what happens. 

While others post random holiday recipes and hope for the best, strategic creators follow a simple system that turns holidays into their most profitable content periods.

Here’s exactly how some of the best creators out there turn holidays (big and small) into a goldmine for their businesses. And you can too.

As AI-powered search tools like Google’s AI Overviews reduce traffic to food blogs, recipe creators are looking for more sustainable ways to grow and monetize. A membership site offers a reliable solution—giving you direct access to your audience, recurring revenue, and space to deliver premium content and build community. Whether you offer exclusive recipes, cooking tutorials, or live events, a membership model helps deepen engagement and reduce reliance on platforms you don’t control. And when you’re ready to scale, tools like Grocers List can automate DMs, grow your email list, and drive affiliate sales—all tailored for food creators.

You know how important email is. You know you should be sending them more often. But what exactly should you be sending?

That's exactly what this post covers. Because the last thing you should be worried about is what to send in your emails.

Here's the thing. As a recipe creator, you're sitting on a goldmine of content ideas. 

From that viral recipe to your favorite kitchen tips, there are SO many ways to connect with your subscribers. And we've got 11 proven email types to prove it.

If you’re a food blogger looking to work with brands, a well-designed media kit is essential. This guide walks you through exactly what a media kit is, why it matters, and what to include—from your brand story and audience demographics to key metrics, services offered, and visual content. You’ll also get practical tips for designing a polished, on-brand kit, plus guidance on how to keep it updated and aligned with your blog’s personality. With examples of what to showcase (and what to skip), this post helps you create a media kit that feels professional, personal, and pitch-ready.

For time-strapped recipe creators, posting more isn’t the solution — building smarter, more direct connections is. Instagram DMs offer a powerful but often overlooked way to grow your email list, boost site traffic, and drive affiliate sales without adding extra work to your plate. In this guide, you’ll discover six proven DM strategies that turn everyday engagement into sustainable business growth. Learn how to create natural interactions that capture attention, build owned audiences, and increase revenue — all while keeping your brand voice authentic.

“If you could have a shortcut for one part of cooking, what would it be?”

That’s exactly what Julie Pollitt (aka @backtomysouthernroots) asked her email subscribers recently.

The #1 response? Meal planning. 

And while weekly meal plans make your audience’s life WAY easier as they prep recipes and groceries for the week, it can be really time consuming to pull off.

So we took a peek at how 5 recipe creators crush weekly meal plans for their audiences and boiled it down to a playbook you can tweak to make your own.