> The Problem
Most meal planner apps assume everyone cooks the same. They ignore goals, time windows, and dietary rules, so recommendations look good but aren’t realistic for your week.
> What FoodCast does
FoodCast personalizes meal choices to your life, not an average template. It collects your goals and health conditions, time/serving constraints, and hard filters for allergies and dislikes; the ranking engine then surfaces the most relevant recipes first, and you add the ones you want to your plan. Once you're happy with your plan, FoodCast exports a portion-scaled grocery list so you know exactly what to buy.
The signature feature of the app is Smart Swaps. Smart Swaps provide you with constraint aware ingredient alternatives. For example, for diabetes it might swap white rice → cauliflower rice and recommend lower-sugar sauces.
The end result is a plan you build in minutes, with options aligned to your goals.
> How it's built
FoodCast is built primarily with FlutterFlow for the UI and Firebase for data.
While the app includes several complex features, the grocery list generator proved the most challenging. It had to translate varied recipes and user constraints into a clean, store-ready list.
The grocery list pipeline expands a meal plan into a list of raw ingredients with their corresponding units and quantities. The units are normalized using an ingredient specific conversion graph and synonym ingredients are collapsed into one. The ingredient quantities are then aggregated and totals are converted into practical store packages (e.g. 2 x 355ml can). The list is then sorted by grocery store aisle and displayed to the user.
> Download FoodCast on iPhone
© Eshaan Marocha 2025