Feedback wanted: AI that handles the "what's for dinner?" mental load

This idea is AMAZING and the first thing I thought of seeing this was "no way this isn't already available."

My feedback:

1. PLEASE make it open-source from the start. For devs like me, the most frustrating thing about an app can sometimes be "there's this one feature that would be great but the single guy running this project hasn't had time yet and I would do it for him for free if he'd let me." I'm not saying this is you--just that it becomes inevitable that one person cannot keep up perfectly with every feature request. Also, this allows feedback like "I saw you're using this one AI model for this task, I have had a much better experience using this model so you might want to consider it."

   1. a. It is still COMPLETELY POSSIBLE to monetize an open-source app. Simply don't build releases as installer files or apks. 99% of people who just want to use the app are not going to go to the trouble of building and deploying your code just to get a working app for free; they want an easy, managed solution that they can actually use in their house. Also, the vast majority of end users for this would have absolutely no clue how to do such a thing. Personally, I would gladly pay a small fee to use a project like this even though I could run it myself; it would be far harder than it's worth to self-host, and also, in the case of mobile apps, you can't just run the app on an iPhone; about the only way to practically get it would be through the app store.
      
      One example I recently came across is https://www.longcut.ai/; it's open source AND paid. If I decide that I want more usage out of it, I would definitely just pick one of the pricing options and pay him for it. Why would I go to all the trouble of setting up Supabase and hosting it myself when I could just pay $3? The time required would far outweigh the money.
      

2. Enough said about that now :D. Features I would add, based on the lists on the web:

   1. Leverage AI to enable smart scanning of everything, not just receipts. This would enable taking a picture of some groceries and automatically saving "5 cans of Bush's black beans, 2 red onions"; most useful for random stuff you already have and leftovers in the fridge.
      
      Maybe you're already doing all of this but the website didn't mention it. I would use Gemini for this, as whatever the numbers might say, I have still found it to be the best at real-world image tasks, beating both OpenAI and Anthropic's models.

   2. No lock-in on shopping lists; easy printing, export, SMS, etc.

   3. More will probably occur to me but those are the main two I noticed.

3. Landing page:

   1. Not enough detail. I have a pet peeve with one-page websites because they have a habit of not giving near enough detail about the product and when you click on the top links that you would expect to give more pages with more info, it just redirects you back down to the info you already read. Could be workable if you make the one page long enough; I just haven't seen a really good implementation of a one-page website yet. Of course I understand at this point you probably don't have enough info to fill more than one page, so it makes sense at the moment.

   2. Another problem with this type of website: no "about" page. If I use (especially pay for!) a product, I want to know who's behind it. Of course I get concerns about privacy; I just feel that it's a human touch that really makes things stand out to consumers because we are missing that type of thing so much in the age of AI.
      
      

This is a great idea and I'd love to see where this goes! I wish I had this now in my own house--we've never been able to do much, if any, meal planning and "eggs and bacon because we don't have a better option for dinner" is a fairly frequent weeknight scenario :D.

Amazing idea, this would be useful for A LOT of people

The biggest headache about this as I user I believe would be keeping track of what's in the pantry and what's in the fridge, unless you can physically track it somehow then people would need to list what they have left regularly, I think mainly for this reason either a voice-first UI or a voice-first mode of the app would be essential

Good luck!

This is a great idea! 🔥 It always amazes me, how there are so many solutions to problems no one's ever tried. The features mentioned by @lincoln_brown1 are really good! The site also looks really good, colours are definitely warm and what I'd expect of a family sharing app.

I would also add to the - HOH (Home Operations Hub). The following:

1. See ingredients purchased by other family members during the week, it would be nice to keep tabs on who's been buying the milk and have an alert for when it runs out.

1. Set a family share-able grocery list i.e If we need Chicken someone can just add to the list and if another family member is at a store they can just look on the list of things needed for tonights dinner.

2. Set polls on family dinner ideas that family members can upvote / downvote with a list of ingredients and budget, taking into account what's already in the fridge. AI could learn from this.

Similar to what @build_with_aj said if you could integrate UberEats it would be good for takeaway nights to pick the family favourite at a random point in the week and send invites for a specific time, and family members could check a box to RSVP if they'll make it.

Hope this takes off, and looking forward to seeing it progress! I would also add, for a family-based app, I would want to see a bulletproof privacy policy as I would want to make sure my family data (probably the most personal) is safe.

If you add Uber eats, doordash, postmates, or any delivery service for groceries as an integration people will flock to this.

What's missing for me is the "help me eat healthy" piece, especially with the grocery shopping. And maybe we could put our brains together on that!

i appreciate your approach, this is a valuable concept and you considered the workload that affects homes, i like that you have pantry and grocery list.

It's a wholesome app. @lincoln_brown1 really gave you industry pointers and i agree with @bertmatt a voice-first ui would make it stand out.

Thanks MJ for the kind words and detailed feedback! Family member collaboration is coming shortly, and the inventory tracking, shared lists and dinner polls are great ideas — all noted on our feature list.

The UberEats takeaway night idea is fun too, noted!

And yes — privacy is built in from the ground up. Family data is the most personal there is, we take that seriously.

Can't wait to show you what's coming! 🚀