EhWhatToCook

EhWhatToCook is a lightweight web app that turns whatever is in your fridge into personalized, nutrition-aware meal ideas. It combines a simple ingredient capture flow with profile-based calorie targets so users can cook faster, reduce food waste, and stay aligned with fitness goals.

What It Does

• Accepts ingredients you already have on hand.
• Uses your profile (age, weight, activity level, goal) to estimate daily calories and generate meals that match your target.
• Produces recipes with steps, estimated macros, and serving/time details.
• Optionally generates a top-down clipart image for each dish.

Why It Helps

• Cuts down decision fatigue when you do not know what to cook.
• Helps students and busy users build meals around real pantry constraints.
• Aligns meals to cutting, recomp, or bulking goals without extra tracking apps.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React + Vite, Bootstrap styling.
• Backend: Express.js API with Zod validation.
• AI: OpenAI for recipe generation and optional image generation.

Screenshots

Local Development

Frontend

cd ehwhattocook
npm install
npm run dev

Backend

cd ehwhattocook_backend
npm install
npm run dev

Create ehwhattocook_backend/.env with:

OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key_here

Built With

• css
• html
• javascript