💡 Power User Tips & Tricks

🍽️ Menu Generation

• Select 4-6 categories for best variety — one category means the same type of food all week. Gets boring fast!
• 10-15+ recipes per category is the sweet spot. Too few = repeats. Too many = some favourites never show up.
• Regenerate freely! The app remembers what you've had recently, so you get great variety even if you press it a bunch of times.
• Favourites + other categories can be combined — perfect for a week with some safe bets and some new adventures.
• Create a "Safe Dinners" category with 8-10 recipes the whole family agrees on. On days when nobody wants to discuss — just generate from there. Instant peace! 😄
• Happy with the week except for one day? Go to All Recipes, find the recipe you want instead, and press Swap Day to swap just that one day. No need to regenerate the whole menu!

📂 Categories

• Rename freely — the internal code never changes, so renaming is always safe.
• Create a "Weekend" category for recipes that take longer — Lasagne, slow cooker dishes, BBQ. Select it only when you have time.
• Use "Uncategorized" as a holding area. Periodically review and move recipes to proper categories.
• Use Merge into... immediately when you spot duplicate categories.
• Keep categories below 12 total. More than that makes the generator screen cluttered.

🥗 Recipes

• Use the Comment field for family notes: "Kids don't like the onion", "Use 600g instead of 500g for leftovers", "Grandma's version — double the garlic".
• Edit cook times honestly — if a recipe says 20 min but takes you 45, update it. Accurate times make weekly planning much easier.
• Import first, customise second — import a pack to get a base, then edit individual recipes to match how your family actually makes them.
• Do a regular cleanup in All Recipes — remove recipes you imported but never cook.

🧅 Pantry

• Do one big setup first — go through the default list and remove things you genuinely never have.
• Add your household-specific staples: spice blends, condiments (soy sauce, hot sauce), tinned goods you always stock.
• Adding "lemon" also stores "sitron" automatically — the pantry is bilingual under the hood.
• Check the shopping list after generating — greyed items = you already have them. If too much is greyed out, your pantry list might be too generous.

👨‍👩‍👧 Household & Profiles

• Give everyone their own profile — even kids. The activity log shows who did what, and profile switching is one tap.
• Set a 4-digit PIN for quick owner profile switching on shared devices.
• Give your partner Editor role so they can add recipes and regenerate menus without needing the full password.

🚀 Pro Workflows

The Sunday Reset

1. Open Menu Planner
2. Click Generate Menu
3. Select your categories for the week
4. Regenerate until you're happy
5. Open Shopping List
6. Go shopping

Under 5 minutes once you're set up properly. Sunday morning with a coffee and Menu Planner — the week's dinners sorted before the breakfast table is cleared. ☕

The Season Refresh (4× a year)

1. Review categories — add seasonal ones (Grill for summer, Supper for winter)
2. Import any new recipe packs
3. Remove recipes you didn't cook all season
4. Update your pantry with seasonal staples