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I also don’t think it’s interesting long term. It may be interesting to learn cooking but once you know a little you see quickly that going shopping is not that

I also don’t think it’s interesting long term. It may be interesting to learn cooking but once you know a little you see quickly that going shopping is not that hard. I want either ready made foods or cook from scratch but not this weird thing in the middle. Is this the “uncanny valley” of food preparation? Almost looks like it but not close enough.

treis 8y ago
>once you know a little you see quickly that going shopping is not that hard Planning meals is still a somewhat significant cognitive load. I think that's the value proposition here. Getting a bunch of single meal portions is convenient, but not really any better than getting groceries delivered. It's not having to go through the process of finding recipes and then generating a shopping list that's the killer feature. I think the ideal thing is the ability to click and say I want to make these four meals this week. It adds a list of perishables (meat, veggies, etc.) to my cart and a spits out a list of staples (spices, flour, soy sauce, etc.) for me to check to see if I have. Then I either have it delivered or it can print me out a shopping list.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  "I think the ideal thing is the ability to click and say I want to make these four meals this week. It adds a list of perishables (meat, veggies, etc.) to my cart and a spits out a list of staples (spices, flour, soy sauce, etc.) for me to check to see if I have. Then I either have it delivered or it can print me out a shopping list. " I would like that too. For this a "smart fridge" would actually make sense if it could check what you have already.
- zelos 8y ago
  That does sound like a great idea. You could even add some automated optimisation recipe suggestions: “if you add these two ingredients to your basket, you could use the leftover vegetables from recipe A to also make recipe B”
- moreira 8y ago
  Check out https://www.eatthismuch.com https://www.eatthismuch.com. Does exactly what you're describing, and it's brilliant. I picked it up last year, I couldn't believe it existed.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Ideally I would like to feed my own recipes into the system. Or even better, have recipe sites use a shared data format for their recipes. We could call it "RecipeML" or "RecipSON".
    - paulgb 8y ago
      MealLime might be what you're looking for, I think you can add your own recipes but I haven't tried it https://www.mealime.com/ https://www.mealime.com/
      - treis 8y ago
        This looks very promising. The only thing missing off my list is integration with online ordering.
    - alexhutcheson 8y ago
      > Or even better, have recipe sites use a shared data format for their recipes. We could call it "RecipeML" or "RecipSON". https://schema.org/Recipe https://schema.org/Recipe
  - treis 8y ago
    This is neat, but it misses the mark by quite a bit. In no particular order: (1) I don't want randomly chosen dishes. I want meals where the side dishes compliment the main (2) I want something more curated and well thought out. Some variety throughout the week and dishes that are less perishable. Like I want to make a fish dish as soon as I get the fish but a pasta dish can wait 3-4 days after my order. (3) The filter choices are odd. I can't say "chicken and fish only" but I can do mediterranean? And I question how much "Cheesy Chicken and Spinach" and "Buttered toast" are mediterranean. (4) The recipe filter is broken too. I tried to filter for main dishes and my first two choices are "Rice cake with Strawberry Ricotta and Honey" and "Grilled Peaches with Honey"
- bhandziuk 8y ago
  I use this app [1] which does exactly what your describing. Even splits up the shopping list into "produce section", "inner aisles", "frozen" so you can segment your shopping. The app has some quirks but overall it's really great. [1]:http://www.pepperplate.com/ http://www.pepperplate.com/
  - treis 8y ago
    Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon but I won't consider something that's app only with no website when it should just be a website anyhow.
    - bhandziuk 8y ago
      I hear ya. I called it an app but most things (everything?) in the app is also on the website. Like for actually cooking a recipe I pull it up on my laptop. When editing a grocery list my wife and I finalize it on the laptop and I use the app on my phone to check things off.
      - treis 8y ago
        Ah, I guess they make you sign up then before showing anything on the website.
        bhandziuk 8y ago
        Yeah, this is true
- ghaff 8y ago
  In addition to the apps people mention, old school ways work pretty well once you get into cooking. Just have a binder of your standbys. You could even have a section specifically for quick weekday meals. I have a shelf-ful of cookbooks but a good chunk of my cooking is some variant of what’s in my day to day binder.

treis 8y ago

>once you know a little you see quickly that going shopping is not that hard Planning meals is still a somewhat significant cognitive load. I think that's the value proposition here. Getting a bunch of single meal portions is convenient, but not really any better than getting groceries delivered. It's not having to go through the process of finding recipes and then generating a shopping list that's the killer feature. I think the ideal thing is the ability to click and say I want to make these four meals this week. It adds a list of perishables (meat, veggies, etc.) to my cart and a spits out a list of staples (spices, flour, soy sauce, etc.) for me to check to see if I have. Then I either have it delivered or it can print me out a shopping list.

maxxxxx 8y ago
"I think the ideal thing is the ability to click and say I want to make these four meals this week. It adds a list of perishables (meat, veggies, etc.) to my cart and a spits out a list of staples (spices, flour, soy sauce, etc.) for me to check to see if I have. Then I either have it delivered or it can print me out a shopping list. " I would like that too. For this a "smart fridge" would actually make sense if it could check what you have already.
zelos 8y ago
That does sound like a great idea. You could even add some automated optimisation recipe suggestions: “if you add these two ingredients to your basket, you could use the leftover vegetables from recipe A to also make recipe B”
moreira 8y ago
Check out https://www.eatthismuch.com https://www.eatthismuch.com. Does exactly what you're describing, and it's brilliant. I picked it up last year, I couldn't believe it existed.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  Ideally I would like to feed my own recipes into the system. Or even better, have recipe sites use a shared data format for their recipes. We could call it "RecipeML" or "RecipSON".
  - paulgb 8y ago
    MealLime might be what you're looking for, I think you can add your own recipes but I haven't tried it https://www.mealime.com/ https://www.mealime.com/
    - treis 8y ago
      This looks very promising. The only thing missing off my list is integration with online ordering.
  - alexhutcheson 8y ago
    > Or even better, have recipe sites use a shared data format for their recipes. We could call it "RecipeML" or "RecipSON". https://schema.org/Recipe https://schema.org/Recipe
- treis 8y ago
  This is neat, but it misses the mark by quite a bit. In no particular order: (1) I don't want randomly chosen dishes. I want meals where the side dishes compliment the main (2) I want something more curated and well thought out. Some variety throughout the week and dishes that are less perishable. Like I want to make a fish dish as soon as I get the fish but a pasta dish can wait 3-4 days after my order. (3) The filter choices are odd. I can't say "chicken and fish only" but I can do mediterranean? And I question how much "Cheesy Chicken and Spinach" and "Buttered toast" are mediterranean. (4) The recipe filter is broken too. I tried to filter for main dishes and my first two choices are "Rice cake with Strawberry Ricotta and Honey" and "Grilled Peaches with Honey"
bhandziuk 8y ago
I use this app [1] which does exactly what your describing. Even splits up the shopping list into "produce section", "inner aisles", "frozen" so you can segment your shopping. The app has some quirks but overall it's really great. [1]:http://www.pepperplate.com/ http://www.pepperplate.com/
- treis 8y ago
  Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon but I won't consider something that's app only with no website when it should just be a website anyhow.
  - bhandziuk 8y ago
    I hear ya. I called it an app but most things (everything?) in the app is also on the website. Like for actually cooking a recipe I pull it up on my laptop. When editing a grocery list my wife and I finalize it on the laptop and I use the app on my phone to check things off.
    - treis 8y ago
      Ah, I guess they make you sign up then before showing anything on the website.
      - bhandziuk 8y ago
        Yeah, this is true
ghaff 8y ago
In addition to the apps people mention, old school ways work pretty well once you get into cooking. Just have a binder of your standbys. You could even have a section specifically for quick weekday meals. I have a shelf-ful of cookbooks but a good chunk of my cooking is some variant of what’s in my day to day binder.