How Kalina works

How is this different from a recipe site?

A recipe site hands you a catalogue and asks you to browse it. I plan several nights at once, and I build the rest of them around what the first night already puts in your basket, so you shop once and the ingredients get used. Send me a photo of your fridge, freezer, pantry or spice rack and I'll square the list against what you already have. What comes out the other end is one grocery list sorted by aisle, ready to send to Kroger or Walmart.

Can I bring my own recipes?

Yes. Most recipe apps (such as Paprika, Mela, and Recipe Keeper) export your whole collection as a file. Import the file and I'll plan from it.

Keep your recipes where they are. I don't do recipe management, so your app is still where they live. All I need is the ingredients, and on the night I'll point you back to your copy.

How is this different from asking an AI assistant to plan my week?

Ask ChatGPT, Muse, or Claude for a week of dinners and you'll get one right away. But making it a week you'd actually cook is still your job: who's eating, what to leave out, how much time you have, what you're in the mood for, all worked out and typed in by you. The thinking stays with you.

I learn what your weeks need once, up front, and build every plan around it. What you like, I pick up from what you love and what you turn down, so each week starts from the last one. You react; you don't have to explain.

Every dinner is a recipe someone published, with a page you can open and come back to. Every dish is checked against your food rules before it reaches you. And when it's time to shop, you sign in at the store yourself. I never see your password.

Does Kalina remember what our family likes?

Yes. Your favorites come back on their own, spaced out so you don't get tired of them, and each week brings something new to try. You're never planning from scratch. Bring your recipe collection and the favorites you've already marked come with you.

I remember what you turn down, too. Skip a dinner or pick something else a few times and it drops to the bottom of my list.

Tell me how many nights a week you cook and how many you're out, and I plan just the nights you cook. When tastes change, update your nights and food rules in Settings anytime.

What if someone in the family is a picky eater?

Tell me what each person won't eat, kids included, and I plan around it. If it's a food they dislike, like mushrooms, I plan fewer dinners with it. If it's one dinner they won't touch, I won't plan that recipe again. And if something can't be on the plate at all, tell me to keep it out, and I check every dish against it.

What if someone here has a food allergy?

Every recipe is checked against what you've told me to avoid before it reaches you. Where I can't read an ingredient, the recipe site's own label has to clear it before the dish can go through.

You can tell me to keep out dairy, eggs, fish, gluten, peanuts, sesame, shellfish, soy, tree nuts or wheat. I can plan around no red meat, pescatarian, pork-free, vegan and vegetarian too.

Two limits are worth knowing. An ingredient list doesn't always name everything in the dish, and it can change after I've read it. And I can't see the specific product you buy, where brands reformulate and shared equipment never appears in an ingredient list.

So I narrow what you consider. I am not the last check before someone eats. Read the label on the food you actually buy, every time.

Is it free?

Yes, Kalina is free.

What do you do with my data?

I only use what you tell me to plan your meals, and I never sell it. The full picture is in my Privacy Policy.