In a perfect world, I’d want the ability to:

  • Catalog all of my ingredients that I have at the house. Being able to view them on my phone, or on a tablet in the kitchen.
  • See or search for recipes using the ingredients on-hand, in my phone or on the tablet in the kitchen
  • See or search for recipes using the ingredients on-hand, showing me additional ingredients that would be needed to make a recipe. Relevant substitutions are helpful as well, using ingredients I already have
  • Easily order ingredients I’m missing from the phone, tablet, or via google home/alexa
    • Hey Alexa, restock my essentials
      • Essentials could be a keyword for a defined list of staples you have in your kitchen(i.e onions, chicken stock, canned goods(pinto beans, cento tomatoes, etc)
    • Have the ability to confirm what you’re ordering(i.e the only essentials missing are chicken stock, onions, russet potatoes, and cento tomatoes
      • Get updates on when the ingredients are ready for pickup.
        • “I checked your pantry and see you are missing chicken stock, onions, russet potatoes, and cento tomatoes. Would you like me to order these from Target?”
        • “Great, they will be ready for pickup in 2 hours. I’ll notify you when they’re ready for pickup” - Target)
  • Be able to check-in items to your pantry easily when you buy them, either from the store physically or online. I do not want to add them manually.
    • Near-field RFID?
    • Integrations w/locations people shop at?(i.e fetching shopping history from API - i.e QFC rewards card login information)
    • Photo recognition of multiple items sounds cool, but I’m worried about accuracy, and it’s an extra step.
  • Easily subtract ingredients when I’ve used them
    • When I’ve signaled intent to use them for a recipe from the app
    • When I’ve used them for a recipe I’ve used without the app, and just want to keep my pantry up to date
      • EVERYTHING GOES BACK TO THE PANTRY + THE TOOLS I HAVE
  • Ingredients($$, availability, accessibility, quality, season) + tools + time
    • The Pantry is the core to any dish
  • Cost of the items I have in my pantry, what i’ve spent on groceries this month
    • After a few months(or after a few hundred users) finding my patterns & eventually projecting how much I will spend on groceries based on my usage
  • Meal planning mode
    • Creating recipe plan on sunday afternoons, with all the ingredients I have, as well as my caloric specifications(protein, vitamins, no carbs etc)
  • Weight loss mode
    • Integrate with fitbit, apple health, etc to track caloric intake for the meals I make, based on the ingredients used(the recipes)
  • Digitize physical recipes