How to use MyRecipeHQ

The app lives at app.myrecipehq.com. It works in any modern browser on your phone, tablet, or computer — no download required. On iPhone or Android, you can add it to your home screen from your browser's share menu for one-tap access.

Most people follow this pattern: (1) Build your recipe library by importing the meals you cook regularly. (2) After each grocery shop, spend 60 seconds adding what you bought to your pantry. (3) At the start of the week, open the Meal Planner, pick your dinners, and tap Shopping List to generate your grocery list for the following week. That's it — the app handles the ingredient math from there.

MyRecipeHQ is a mobile-first web app — it's designed to work great from your phone's browser without a separate download. A native app is on the roadmap. In the meantime, adding the site to your home screen gives you the same one-tap experience.

Tap Add Recipe from your library and you'll see four tabs:

Manual — Type or paste the title, ingredients, and instructions yourself. Best for family recipes or anything that doesn't have a digital version.

Photo — Take a photo with your camera, upload an image file, or paste a screenshot (Ctrl/Cmd+V on desktop). AI reads the image and extracts the recipe in a few seconds. Works with cookbook pages, handwritten cards, screenshots from websites, anything.

URL — Paste a link to any recipe page and we'll extract it for you. Works with most major recipe sites — NYT Cooking, Serious Eats, AllRecipes, Food52, and hundreds more.

PDF — Upload a PDF containing one or more recipes. Useful for recipe books, meal plan documents, or scanned pages. Each recipe is extracted separately.

Tap Add Recipe, then select the Photo tab. From there you have three options: tap Take Photo to use your camera directly, tap Choose File to upload a saved image, or click inside the paste area on desktop and press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac) to paste a screenshot from your clipboard. Once the image appears, tap Extract Recipe — AI will pull out the title, ingredients, and instructions in a few seconds.

Every import goes through a review screen before it's saved to your library. You can edit any field — title, ingredients, quantities, instructions — right there before saving. If a recipe imports cleanly, you can save it with one tap.

URL import is the easiest starting point for anything with a web link — paste the URL and you're done. Photo import is the most flexible — it handles anything you can point a camera at, including books and handwritten cards. PDF is great if you have a collection of recipes in one file. Manual is there when you want full control or are typing something from memory.

Yes. Open any recipe from your library and tap the three-dot menu (⋯) in the bottom bar, then choose Edit. You can change the title, ingredients, quantities, instructions, servings, and any other details. Changes save immediately.

No — and you shouldn't try to. The pantry works best for perishables with a short shelf life: fresh produce, meat, fish, dairy, and opened packages. Don't bother logging shelf-stable staples like olive oil, pasta, or canned goods unless you want to. The goal is awareness, not bookkeeping. Approximate quantities are completely fine.

Tap any item in your pantry to edit it inline — you can update the quantity, unit, and storage location right there. To delete an item, hover over it (on desktop) or tap the row to reveal the trash icon, then tap it. Items are removed immediately.

Items show their status based on the expiration date we calculated from your purchase date and storage location. Fresh (green) means you have plenty of time. Expiring (orange) means it expires within 3 days — use it soon. Expired (red) means it's past date. An expiring items banner also appears at the top of the pantry so you can't miss the urgent ones.

The teal Cook from my kitchen card at the top of your pantry generates meal ideas based purely on what you currently have. Tap it and the app looks at your pantry — prioritising things that are expiring soon — and suggests recipes from your library that you can make right now without buying anything extra. It's the fastest way to answer "what should I make tonight?" You get 2 uses per week; the allowance resets every Monday.

Use the filter chips at the top of the pantry to show just Fridge, Freezer, Pantry, or Expiring items. The Expiring filter is handy when you're trying to decide what to cook before something goes bad. You can also search by name using the search bar above the filters.

Tap any empty slot (Entrée, Side 1, or Side 2) on a day. A sheet appears with two options: Suggest for me shows AI-ranked recommendations from your library based on what's in your pantry right now — recipes that use more of what you have score higher. Browse my recipes lets you search and pick from your full library manually. Tap a recipe to add it to that slot.

The Get Suggestions button at the bottom of the planner looks at your whole week — what's already planned, what's in your pantry, and what's expiring — and recommends recipes that would maximise ingredient overlap across your planned meals. The more meals share ingredients, the fewer unique things you need to buy and the less likely something goes unused.

Yes. Each day shows an Add lunch and Add breakfast link below the dinner slots. Tap either one to add a meal to those slots the same way you would for dinner. Breakfast and lunch slots are hidden by default to keep the view clean — they only appear once you add something or tap the link.

Tap any meal already in a slot. A menu appears with options to Swap it (pick a different recipe for the same slot) or Remove it entirely. Swapping re-opens the suggestion sheet so you can pick a replacement.

The Cook From Kitchen button at the bottom of the planner generates meal ideas from what's currently in your pantry. Use it when you want to fill a slot with something you can make tonight without going to the store. You get 2 uses per week (resets Monday).

Tap Smart Swaps to see a list of items on your shopping list that you might already have in your pantry — things you could skip buying this trip. It's a quick sanity check before you head to the store so you don't double up on something you already have at home.

Yes. Tap + Add Item to add anything to the list that isn't coming from a planned recipe — household supplies, snacks, things you need to restock. You can set the name, quantity, unit, and which grocery section it belongs to.

Tap any item to check it off as you put it in your cart. Checked items stay on the list but appear faded so you know what's done. When you're finished, tap Clear checked to remove everything you've ticked.

Once you're home from the store, tap To Pantry. This takes the items from your shopping list and adds them directly to your pantry — no re-entering anything.

If a recipe ingredient matches something already tracked in your pantry, the shopping list flags it with an "Already in your pantry — buy more?" label. It's a reminder, not a block — you can still buy more if you need it, or skip it if you have enough at home.

Go to Settings in the app and tap Upgrade. You can choose Premium or Max on a monthly or annual billing cycle. Annual plans work out cheaper — the pricing page has the full breakdown.

On the login screen, tap Forgot password and enter your email address. You'll receive a reset link within a couple of minutes. Check your spam folder if it doesn't arrive. If you're still stuck, contact us and we'll sort it out.

Yes. Go to Settings and tap Export Recipes. Your full library downloads as a JSON file you can keep as a backup. Your data is yours.

You can delete your account from Settings at any time. All your data — recipes, pantry, meal plans — is permanently removed. No guilt-trip screens. If you're having trouble finding the option, contact us and we'll take care of it for you.