Meal Plan

Present options for each meal slot.

Step 3: Build Plan

Create a plan grid:

Step 4: Generate Shopping List

Combine all recipes with appropriate scaling:

cook shopping-list "Oatmeal.cook" "Pasta.cook:4" "Eggs.cook" ...

Step 5: Output Plan

Save as:

• Markdown table - For notes/calendar
• Menu file - .menu format for CookCLI
• Shopping list - Ready for the store

Examples

User: "Plan dinners for the week for 4 people"

Questions:

1. "Any dietary restrictions?" → "No red meat"
2. "Prefer quick meals on weekdays?" → "Yes, under 30 min"
3. "Any cuisines to focus on?" → "Variety is good"

Generated plan:

# Week of January 22, 2026

## Meal Plan (4 servings each)

| Day | Dinner | Time | Tags |
|-----|--------|------|------|
| Mon | Chicken Stir Fry | 25 min | asian, quick |
| Tue | Pasta Primavera | 30 min | italian, vegetarian |
| Wed | Fish Tacos | 25 min | mexican, seafood |
| Thu | Sheet Pan Chicken | 35 min | american, easy |
| Fri | Homemade Pizza | 45 min | italian, fun |
| Sat | Thai Curry | 40 min | asian, curry |
| Sun | Roast Chicken | 1.5 hr | classic, sunday |

Shopping list generated:

cook shopping-list \
  "Chicken Stir Fry.cook" \
  "Pasta Primavera.cook" \
  "Fish Tacos.cook" \
  "Sheet Pan Chicken.cook" \
  "Pizza.cook" \
  "Thai Curry.cook" \
  "Roast Chicken.cook"

Reference

Menu File Format

Save plans as .menu files:

# Weekly Dinner Plan
# January 22-28, 2026

Monday: Chicken Stir Fry.cook
Tuesday: Pasta Primavera.cook
Wednesday: Fish Tacos.cook
Thursday: Sheet Pan Chicken.cook
Friday: Pizza.cook
Saturday: Thai Curry.cook
Sunday: Roast Chicken.cook

Planning Tips

Weekday strategies:

• Quick meals (< 30 min)
• One-pot dishes
• Sheet pan dinners
• Planned leftovers

Weekend strategies:

• Longer cook times OK
• Batch cooking for week
• Fun/involved recipes
• Family cooking time

Reduce waste:

• Use overlapping ingredients
• Plan leftover nights
• Buy proteins in bulk, portion
• Fresh produce early in week

Combined Shopping List

# All recipes at once
cook shopping-list "Recipe1.cook" "Recipe2.cook" ...

# With scaling
cook shopping-list "Recipe1.cook:4" "Recipe2.cook:4"

# From menu file (if supported)
cook shopping-list --menu weekly.menu

Scaling for Household