Help Center

To generate your first meal plan:

1. Add at least 7 recipes to your library and mark them as favorites
2. Navigate to your Dashboard
3. Click the "Generate Meal Plan" button
4. The algorithm will assign recipes to the week based on your preferences, prep time requirements, and course types (appetizer, main course, dessert)
5. Review your meal plan and make any desired changes using the "Replace Meal" option

Tip: Each day includes lunch with three courses (appetizer, main course, and dessert). Make sure you have recipes for all course types!

Set up your preferences during onboarding or update them anytime:

1. Go to Profile
2. Update your dietary restrictions, household size, skill level, and weeknight availability
3. Click Save Changes

The meal planning algorithm uses these preferences to assign recipes appropriately.

Every recipe must specify its recipe_type which determines which course slot it can fill:

• Appetizer: Starters and first courses (e.g., soup, salad, bruschetta)
• Main Course: Primary dish/entrée (e.g., grilled chicken, pasta, stir-fry)
• Dessert: Sweet courses (e.g., cake, ice cream, fruit tart)

Each day's lunch has 3 courses = 21 course assignments per week (7 days × 3 courses).

Tip: Make sure you have a balanced number of recipes in each category to allow the algorithm to generate complete meal plans.

To create a new recipe:

1. Navigate to My Recipes
2. Click the "+ Create Recipe" button
3. Fill in the recipe details:
   • Title
   • Ingredients (quantity, unit, name)
   • Instructions (step-by-step)
   • Prep and cook times
   • Recipe type (appetizer, main course, or dessert)
   • Complexity level
   • Advance prep requirements (optional)
4. Upload an image (optional)
5. Mark as Favorite to include it in meal planning
6. Click Save Recipe

Yes! To share a recipe with the community:

1. Open the recipe detail page
2. Toggle "Share to Community"
3. Your recipe will be publicly visible in the Discover section

Note: Shared recipes are publicly indexed by search engines and attributed to your username. You can unshare at any time.

Kitchen Mode is a high-contrast, large-text view optimized for hands-free cooking:

• Enhanced text size (+4px) for readability from a distance
• High contrast (7:1 ratio) for varied kitchen lighting
• Step-by-step instructions with large "Next" buttons
• Screen wake-lock to prevent sleep while cooking

Enable Kitchen Mode via the toggle button on any recipe detail page.

The algorithm assigns recipes based on:

1. Course type matching: Appetizer recipes → appetizer slots, main course → main slots, dessert → dessert slots
2. Rotation logic: Favorites are used once before repeating to maximize variety
3. User constraints: Dietary restrictions, prep time availability (weeknights vs weekends)
4. Advance prep timing: Recipes requiring advance prep (e.g., marinating) are scheduled with sufficient lead time

Tip: Hover over any meal slot to see the algorithm's reasoning (e.g., "Saturday: more prep time available").

Yes! To replace a single meal:

1. Navigate to your Meal Calendar
2. Click on the meal slot you want to change
3. Click "Replace This Meal"
4. Select from suggested alternatives or browse all recipes
5. Confirm replacement

Note: Your shopping list will automatically update to reflect the new ingredients needed.

Regenerating your meal plan will:

• Create an entirely new meal plan for the week
• Archive your current meal plan (you'll lose any manual replacements)
• Regenerate shopping lists based on the new assignments

Warning: This action cannot be undone. If you only want to change a few meals, use the "Replace Meal" option instead.

Shopping lists are automatically created when you generate a meal plan:

1. The system aggregates all ingredients from the week's assigned recipes
2. Duplicate ingredients are combined (e.g., 2 cups flour + 1 cup flour = 3 cups flour)
3. Items are categorized: Produce, Dairy, Meat, Pantry, Frozen, Bakery
4. The list is available at Shopping

Tip: Shopping lists work offline! The PWA caches your list so you can check off items even without internet connection in the store.