Meal Planner, Shopping List & Recipe Keeper - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

Yes. I have been developing software since I was 14 (I’m now 32). I have 10+ years of professional experience developing software.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

There were many technical challenges, such as creating machine learning models to extract the quantity, unit and product from ingredient text or learning new programming languages (such as Dart and Python). However, the most challenging part was the area I have the least experience, that is marketing a mobile app. Knowing where and how to promote a mobile app has been tough. This is closely followed by learning how to take criticism because you can get quite a bit of it when you're starting out and your app is free to download.

_Stashcook

Roy, the interviewee, is the hands and also the brains behind this beautiful app. Stashcook makes meal planning easier. It enables you to save any recipe you find on the web. Then use your recipes to create weekly meal plans via the intuitive meal planner. Then finally cook your recipes using a simple and easy-to-read recipe layout.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

WhatsApp is by far the best app I have ever used. I think most people often forget it's not a system-installed app like text messages because it is so good at getting the job done. The WhatsApp team has done an amazing job at providing such a flawless service at the scale they do. Other than that I love Dashlane, which is my password manager; it's a lifesaver!

How long have you been working on this app?

My partner and I came up with the idea of making a simple meal planning and recipe management app back in Jan 2020. The first prototype was completed 3 months later. Then in Septempter I quit my job to work on Stashcook full-time, which was the same day I released the first version to the App Store and Play Store. I’ve been working on the app full-time ever since.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

When my girlfriend (soon to be wife) became frustrated with every recipe storage app she tried, the idea for Stashcook was born. She became the protype user and was not afraid to voice what she did and did not like. Userbility was the biggest consideration from day one; this ranged from addressing things that were "annoying" (e.g. ads, limit on the number of recipes which could be saved) to thinking about how to make the app "easy to use" (e.g. number of tabs, location of buttons). How the user would interact with Stashcook has always been at the forefront of the development.

The origin story for Stashcook can be found here: https://stashcook.com/blog/so-i-made-my-girlfriend-an-app

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

Put simply.... Stashcook is a clutter-free, easy-to-use recipe management app. Simplicity is the name of the game for Stashcook, and the user feedback suggests the app does exactly that. Although the market is saturated with similar apps, we felt it was missing a flexible but simple way to store recipes. Other apps can appear quite complicated and make it hard for the user to grasp the basic concepts quickly. Stashcooks intention is to make the process as simple as possible... you find a recipe on the internet, stash it (save), plan (organise) then use said recipe. But it also has the flexibility for users to personalize the app for how they would want to use it. Collections and meal planning notes, for example. Although Stashcook doesn't include every feature competitors do, the ones it does include seamlessly solve common meal planning issues.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

I hope to provide more meal planning features to help guide and educate users about what they are eating. My aim is to provide all the insights that calorie counting apps, like MyFitnessPal, do without having to go through the time-consuming process of logging every gram of food you consume. Future versions will include macro/micro nutritional information for your weekly meal plans. Plus an easy-to-understand A-E rating to show how nutritional a meal plan is. Further down the line, I hope to provide nutritional information for those ad-hoc meals that don't need ingredients or instructions but you still want to add to your meal plan, such as a pasta bake.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

I am always interested in feedback, so please contact me at [email protected] if you have any comments. Finally I’d say... Stash. Plan. Cook. the food you love and please share Stashcook with your family and friends!