Pantry and shopping lists with an assistant

Asking about the pantry

The assistant reads what is in your pantry, with amounts and best-before dates, and can look in one place — the fridge, the freezer, storage or seasonings, as the app sorts them. Ask what is about to expire and anything already past its date comes first; items without a best-before date are not in that answer.

Asking about a shopping list

A household can have several lists. Your phone knows which one you have open; the server does not, so the assistant says which list it used and names the others. If it picked the wrong one, name the list and ask again.

What you may need is Mealuna's own suggestion from your purchase history — items it expects you to need soon that are not on a list yet.

Adding to a list

Once you allow changes, the assistant adds items when you ask. Something already on the list is never added twice: if you ask for more, its amount goes up; it never goes down, and an item already in the cart is left as it is.

On a food list, a name Mealuna does not know becomes a product of your group, the same as typing it in the app.

Ticking the cart and removing items

Ticking an item puts it in the cart, as the tick in the app does — nothing is bought and nothing goes into the pantry. A removed item disappears from every device, as swiping it away in the app does.

Saying what ran out, or how much is left

When something runs out it goes to zero, as marking it out of stock in the app does, and Mealuna may suggest it for your shopping list. Unlike marking it out on your phone, this never puts it on the list by itself — not even a product you keep always at home — so ask the assistant to add it if you want it there. An amount left is given in the unit the pantry already uses.

If an item holds several purchases, less is taken from the one that expires soonest, as in the app. More is a new purchase with the product's usual shelf life, joining the newest one when close in date.

From a receipt

Show the assistant a receipt photo, or tell it what you bought. Before you say yes, it shows every receipt line beside the product it matched, the amount and where it will go, plus the shopping-list items that will come off the list. Nothing is written until your yes. If you ask for a change, or the pantry or list changed meanwhile, it shows a new plan first.

Only an exact name match is chosen by itself. Otherwise the assistant offers up to five possible products or asks you; it never guesses. A new product of your group is made only when you agree, and only when the change is written.

Each item joins its product in the pantry as a purchase, or becomes a new row. The purchase uses the receipt's date; a receipt older than 30 days or in the future is refused. The best-before date comes from the package if you give it, otherwise from the product's usual shelf life. A new row goes to the product's usual place, rather than a place your phone learned. If the pantry uses another unit, the assistant asks or restates the amount in that unit; it never adds a second row. For a new or returning item without an amount, the plan assumes 1 of the product's usual unit, such as 1 kg. The plan marks it as assumed — correct it before your yes if needed.

The same receipt is never added twice: Mealuna tells you when it was added. A long receipt in several photos is one go. Items also on your shopping list come off it in the same confirmation, unless you ask to keep them. If you keep them and later mark them bought in the app with automatic pantry filling on, they will go into the pantry a second time.

The assistant says which pantry it used and names the others. Without a list named, it uses your default list, or the first list with a pantry. The photo stays with the assistant: Mealuna receives only the lines it read, never the image.

From a fridge photo

Show one place at a time: the fridge, the freezer, storage or seasonings. You can also tell the assistant what is there. It shows four groups before your yes: items to add, amounts to change, items there with no change, and pantry items not in sight. Nothing is written until you confirm the plan; a change you ask for means a new plan first.

Not in sight stays as it is unless you say it is used up. You can say so in the same confirmation. Something Mealuna already has in another place stays there; the photo does not move it.

A counted amount changes if it differs. An estimate such as half a bottle changes the amount only when it is more than 25 % off, so another photo does not keep adjusting it. The same photo again changes nothing. Without an amount, a new or returning pantry item is planned as 1 of its usual unit and marked as assumed; an item already there stays as it is.

A best-before date read from the photo is used only for a new or returning item. A new item goes to the place you photographed, and your devices learn that place for the product. As with a receipt, an unclear product is a question for you, and a new product needs your agreement.

The photo stays with the assistant. Mealuna gets only the list of what it saw — names, amounts and best-before dates — never the image. This is different from scanning a receipt in the Mealuna app.

Moving an item, its best-before date and removing a mistake

Ask the assistant to move an item to another place, or set or clear its best-before date. A new date applies to the whole item: its purchases become one, as when you edit the date in the app.

Remove an item only if it should not be there, such as something added by mistake. It disappears from every device. Something that ran out is marked used up instead, so Mealuna keeps it for shopping suggestions.