resume
Crafted Plates
A smart meal planner to reduce decision fatigue
the problem
Most apps give you hundreds of recipes.
But people don’t need recipes.
They need decisions made.
So what if your pantry could think for you?
No recipes. No friction. Just a gentle nudge to get started.
what i essentially did
People love cooking, but hate the decision fatigue of planning every single meal. So I reimagined the entire flow - from understanding user preferences, to tracking pantry inventory, and finally generating meal options dynamically.
the role and process
End-to-end product thinking:
UX flows · Interaction design · Content logic · Visual system
Solo project (4 weeks) · Prototyped and tested on peers with varied cooking habits.
but before, some product decisions:
I dropped anything that didn’t reduce effort.
No account creation. No shopping list. No multi-day plans.
Good UX is about clarity, structure, and knowing when to stop adding “features”
key screens in the flow
3 core flows: Pantry → Suggestions → Cooking
12 primary screens
1.
Onboarding
I designed a simple flow to gather dietary needs without overwhelming users
- cutting drop-off rates while feeding smart logic into later suggestions.
2.
Ingredient list and Ingredient Swap
Users often panic if they’re missing one ingredient. So I built a swap flow that suggests alternates instantly, and adjusts steps accordingly.
3.
Smart Recipe Suggestion Based on Pantry
Users often forget what they had in their pantry before making a meal. Now, users see meals they can make right now - based on pantry items available, esp with pantry items expiring soon
This reinforces utility without demanding effort.
(using AI assisted smart suggestions - which can later learn your pantry items.. preferences.. to suggest “smartly”)
4.
Cooking Mode
I built a focused ‘Cooking Mode’ that reveals steps with built-in timers, so users can follow along without touching the screen or losing their place.
It reduces mental load and makes finishing a recipe feel doable, even on low-energy days.
Testing & Iteration
I did 2 rounds of testing with my low and mid fidelity wireframes, identified issues and iterated based on 3 criteria:
Was it adding to the ease of the flow of each feature?
Did it reduce cognitive load to make or reach a decision faster for the user?
Did it make introducing newer concepts simpler?
Two of the important flows that iterated to a much better place because of testing were:
1.
Alternate ingredient flow
This being one of the USPs of my product, I wanted to have the feature integrated subtly in the ingredient’s list and this is the evolution of the feature
V1: Check for alt ingredients after the ingredient selection
V2: Alt ingredients integrated within the selection with an option to check it back and forth
UI: After the last iteration, I added signifiers within the list to nudge users, signify additions or subtractions
2.
Cooking flow integration
The cooking mode evolved as a nice to have to one of the core features based on feedback during interviews
V1: Introduced as a nice to have extra feature, with text being the focus
V2: Made it a standalone feature to autoplay the recipe to make cooking hands-free, with audio being a focus as well
(inspired from spotify’s play UI)
UI: Added a timer for each step to make cooking mode work best hands free, with an option to jump back/forth to each step
The future, long term:
A system that doesn't just suggest what to cook, but adapts to how you live.
Built on pantry logic, guided by AI, designed for real-life energy levels. Some possible ideas include:
AI-tuned suggestions that evolve with behavior
Learn user cooking patterns, ingredient preferences, and effort tolerance over time to deliver increasingly accurate and personalized suggestions; not just recipes, but smart defaults
Predictive pantry forecasting
Based on usage and cooking history, the system could pre-emptively suggest replenishments or alert about potential gaps before they affect meals:
“You’re likely to run out of onions this week.”
Smarter Suggestions Engine
Let the system learn your pantry patterns and nudge you before ingredients expire:
“You have tofu and carrots expiring soon. Want to try this stir-fry?”
Good UX doesn’t try to fix you. It just helps you get dinner on the table without overthinking it.
Thanks to Adam Brodowski and Clara Bunker for their feedback on this project!