Should I Build It Should I Build It
08 May 2025
Food & Drink Health & Fitness

what should I eat ? A platform that suggest which food you should eat

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Run Away

Multiple attempts have failed with clear negative feedback. Continuing down this path would likely waste your time and resources when better opportunities exist elsewhere.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

Your idea of a platform to suggest what to eat falls into a crowded space where many have tried and, judging by user feedback, often failed to deliver compelling value. We found 23 similar products, indicating high competition. The engagement, measured by the average number of comments, is also high at 14, suggesting some level of user interest in this space, but the lack of positive signals around use and buy suggests that these products failed to meet user expectations. Given the existing solutions and the challenges they face, launching another generic 'what to eat' platform might not be the best use of your time.

Recommendations

  1. Carefully review the criticism from similar products, particularly the 'Tinder, but to decide what to eat' app, which received a high number of comments (227) and negative feedback. Focus on the reasons users rejected those solutions, such as limited added value, high costs, and missing features like recipes and sharing options. Avoid making the same mistakes.
  2. Rather than directly suggesting 'what to eat,' explore related problems that your skills might solve. Consider a more specific niche, like dietary restrictions (as seen with 'Food For Blood Pressure') or international menu translation (as seen with 'Fork Wise'). A narrower focus may lead to a more valuable and appreciated product.
  3. If you've already built some technology for this idea, evaluate if it could be repurposed for a different, more promising application. For example, if you developed an algorithm for suggesting meals, could it be adapted for a specific dietary need or to analyze nutritional content more accurately?
  4. Talk to at least three people who have used similar food suggestion products. Understand their frustrations, unmet needs, and what they truly desire from such a tool. Their insights will be invaluable in shaping a new, more successful approach.
  5. Instead of focusing on a broad 'what to eat' suggestion, consider building tools for specific dietary needs. 'Food For Blood Pressure' found success by targeting hypertension sufferers. Explore other health conditions or dietary restrictions where a tailored food assistant could provide significant value.
  6. Since recipe and shopping list features were well-received in similar products like 'MealGuide,' think about how you could expand on these features. Perhaps integrate with grocery delivery services or offer personalized recipe recommendations based on dietary preferences and available ingredients.

Questions

  1. Given the criticisms of existing 'what to eat' apps (lack of features, unjustified subscription models), what specific, unique value proposition would your platform offer to justify its existence and attract users?
  2. Considering the success of niche products like 'Food For Blood Pressure,' what specific dietary need or health condition could you target to create a more focused and valuable food suggestion tool?
  3. How will you address the potential technical challenges, such as accurately determining sugar and oil content (as highlighted in the 'AI Diet Companion' feedback), to ensure your platform provides reliable and trustworthy nutritional information?

Your are here

Your idea of a platform to suggest what to eat falls into a crowded space where many have tried and, judging by user feedback, often failed to deliver compelling value. We found 23 similar products, indicating high competition. The engagement, measured by the average number of comments, is also high at 14, suggesting some level of user interest in this space, but the lack of positive signals around use and buy suggests that these products failed to meet user expectations. Given the existing solutions and the challenges they face, launching another generic 'what to eat' platform might not be the best use of your time.

Recommendations

  1. Carefully review the criticism from similar products, particularly the 'Tinder, but to decide what to eat' app, which received a high number of comments (227) and negative feedback. Focus on the reasons users rejected those solutions, such as limited added value, high costs, and missing features like recipes and sharing options. Avoid making the same mistakes.
  2. Rather than directly suggesting 'what to eat,' explore related problems that your skills might solve. Consider a more specific niche, like dietary restrictions (as seen with 'Food For Blood Pressure') or international menu translation (as seen with 'Fork Wise'). A narrower focus may lead to a more valuable and appreciated product.
  3. If you've already built some technology for this idea, evaluate if it could be repurposed for a different, more promising application. For example, if you developed an algorithm for suggesting meals, could it be adapted for a specific dietary need or to analyze nutritional content more accurately?
  4. Talk to at least three people who have used similar food suggestion products. Understand their frustrations, unmet needs, and what they truly desire from such a tool. Their insights will be invaluable in shaping a new, more successful approach.
  5. Instead of focusing on a broad 'what to eat' suggestion, consider building tools for specific dietary needs. 'Food For Blood Pressure' found success by targeting hypertension sufferers. Explore other health conditions or dietary restrictions where a tailored food assistant could provide significant value.
  6. Since recipe and shopping list features were well-received in similar products like 'MealGuide,' think about how you could expand on these features. Perhaps integrate with grocery delivery services or offer personalized recipe recommendations based on dietary preferences and available ingredients.

Questions

  1. Given the criticisms of existing 'what to eat' apps (lack of features, unjustified subscription models), what specific, unique value proposition would your platform offer to justify its existence and attract users?
  2. Considering the success of niche products like 'Food For Blood Pressure,' what specific dietary need or health condition could you target to create a more focused and valuable food suggestion tool?
  3. How will you address the potential technical challenges, such as accurately determining sugar and oil content (as highlighted in the 'AI Diet Companion' feedback), to ensure your platform provides reliable and trustworthy nutritional information?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 23
  • Engagement: High
    • Average number of comments: 14
  • Net use signal: -12.8%
    • Positive use signal: 6.6%
    • Negative use signal: 19.4%
  • Net buy signal: -18.3%
    • Positive buy signal: 1.9%
    • Negative buy signal: 20.1%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

Relevance

Tinder, but to decide what to eat

03 Nov 2024 Dating

Hello HN,My girlfriend and I waste too much energy to decide what to eat. Every day, we would text each other, "what do we eat tonight" messages, and go over options and many times spend too much time on deciding. I am an indie dev and created this app to solve my own problem: decide with my girlfriend what to eat for dinner.Initially, I created a simple app, in which we listed all the recipes we ever prepared, and it would propose randomly three of them. We would then choose together one of them. This app[0] turned into a tinder-like app, which would propose every day a set of recipes to my girlfriend and me - we would swipe and go for the first match.If have some time, give it a try and feedback is very appreciated!Cheers, Kiru[0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/meal-planner-dinner-ideas/id64...

The Show HN product has been criticized for limited added value, high cost, and a lack of features such as complete recipes, sharing options, and restaurant listings. Users find the subscription model unjustified and prefer a one-time purchase. The app is seen as basic, with a shallow experience that doesn't justify the price. There are concerns about the effectiveness of the algorithm, the practicality of the swipe feature, and the app's appeal to different demographics. Additionally, there are technical issues like crashes and a lack of cross-platform availability.

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227
266
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Relevance

MealGuide - Healthy, mindful eating starts here

21 Apr 2023 Android Dieting Health & Fitness

A nutritionist consultation and healthy recipes app that takes away the taboo around 'dieting'. With the help of 1600+ recipes and qualified nutritionists, we help cure lifestyle diseases while helping people get healthy and fit.

The Product Hunt launch received positive feedback, with users congratulating the team and expressing excitement about the features. The recipes feature was specifically highlighted as cool and enticing for users to try. The recipes-to-shopping list functionality was lauded as a great feature, prompting immediate downloads. Overall, the product is viewed as a great idea for cookbook management, inspiration, and shopping list organization.

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66
3
100.0%
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Relevance

Eato – provides personalized restaurant and dish recommendations

06 Nov 2023 Food & Drink

Eato is an app that curates restaurant AND dish recommendations based on the user's specific food taste.Finding new restaurants is time-consuming, especially for picky foodies who are new to a place. Personally, I only trust the recommendations of friends who share the taste in food as me. However, if I can't rely on personal recommendations (from friends, family, locals), I have to experiment a lot in order to find a good food spot, wasting both time and money. The goal of this app is to recommend places you are guaranteed to like by taking into account the type of food you grew up eating, type of flavors you gravitate towards, etc.The beta app is now live (for Seattle, WA only) and we're looking for some feedback.Backend logic: The app requires the user to answer an initial survey about specific food habits. Eato then matches you with users with similar responses and displays those users’ fav restaurants and dishes. This does, however, require the user to do some work. If you're a foodie and have faced this problem, I would love to hear your feedback!Check out our Instagram eato.app if you want to hear about app updates and information :)

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1
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Fork Wise - Eating out? Scan your menu!

11 Oct 2024 Food & Drink Health & Fitness

Dining out? Snap a picture of the menu wherever it may be (even a board!) - our AI will neatly show you the best choices based on nutrients, health goals, allergies etc.

Users are interested in features like translating non-English menus and allergy customization. The allergy feature is particularly appealing, as it helps users avoid awkward restaurant situations. There seems to be interest in broader language support within the app.

The primary criticism raised concerns the lack of translation features for international menus. Users are looking for the capability to translate menus in different languages.

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7
2
50.0%
2
7
50.0%
Relevance

Munchy – Automated Diet Planning Website

04 Jan 2024 Health & Fitness

I'm working on an automated diet planning app and I'd love to get your thoughts on it. You tell it about your diet and lifestyle, and it crafts personalized meal plans. It's still a work in progress - we are missing food item images in the sub-menus, and it can stumble on strict diets.We're using a donation model to keep it community-focused. That way, we are building for it to be genuinely useful for everyone here.https://buy.stripe.com/28o29a2uReDB87K4ggAs this is my first project of this kind, I'm excited to share the journey with you. If you're interested in following the progress and getting regular updates, feel free to join our Discord server:https://discord.gg/4VbseGpgI really appreciate any kind of feedback on this, and look forward to hearing it!

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1
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Discover, rate and track foods around the world

15 Nov 2024 Food & Drink Health & Fitness

Hello HN!I built this simple food map tool to track what I've eaten and what's left to try. Why?Sometimes, it’s hard to decide what to eat for lunch or dinner. I want to try something new but often have no ideas, so this tool was born from that.It’s a simple idea, so I think no further explanation is needed.Comments, ideas and feedbacks are welcome!

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3
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Food For Blood Pressure - AI-powered food assistant for hypertension sufferers

20 Apr 2023 Artificial Intelligence Health

FoodForBP.com evaluates how blood pressure friendly you eat, and creates a tailored meal plan, including recipes and grocery lists. Free for Product Hunters! Co-designed with nutritionists, no user data storage.

Food For Blood Pressure received overwhelmingly positive feedback on its Product Hunt launch. Users congratulate the team and express excitement for this innovative solution addressing a critical health issue. Many highlighted the app's potential to provide real value and improve lives by managing blood pressure through dietary habits. Suggestions include incorporating dietary preferences for personalized meal plans and expanding language availability (French, Spanish) and geographic reach. Some users inquired about future plans and collaborations. The project is seen as a necessary and relevant tool, with strong support for its health-focused mission.

The primary criticism is the absence of an option to input dietary preferences, hindering the creation of personalized meal plans for users with specific dietary needs or restrictions. This limits the product's usability and appeal to a broader audience.

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Relevance

Lolo, GPT-4 based Food Tracker

06 Aug 2023 Artificial Intelligence Food & Drink

Hi, HN.Long time reader, first time writer here.This product has been a dream of mine for many years.Someone wise once said, “We are what we eat,” and although it’s a bit of a stretch, I always wondered who we are considering the food environment today.Food is everywhere, and living a casual city life, it’s hard to find yourself more than a hundred steps from a food source. The last time, I was surprised to find a food shelf in a bookstore. (I thought it was about “food for the soul”)An even bigger problem is the contents of that food. It raises a lot of questions about the worst traits of capitalism and human exploitation.So, I believe it’s always good to push back on this and make tools that facilitate mindful eating.I tried many food trackers over the years, but was never satisfied - it’s just too much hassle. All these interfaces, lists, lists, lists. It takes hours to keep your food diary.I imagined a good one, where you can just type what you eat, without any effort, but it just wasn’t possible. There was no such tech to make it. Until GPT-4 came on stage.When I tested it, I was like, “We can really do it now!”So, first, we bootstrapped a simple telegram bot and gave it to ten friends.Many seemed to like it, so we invested in developing it further and finally released it as an iOS app.So, this is the story of Lolo - a food tracking chat bot.We would be happy to hear what you think and gather any feedback.You can try it out with a free trial (ATTENTION: make sure to cancel the trial right away to avoid unintentional charging).Most painful limitations= It’s only relying on GPT-4 knowledge currently, no external database connected= No barcode scanner (and it’s not that good with branded items, especially rare ones)= No long-term memory about food, it only remembers the current day.= As a consequence, there are discrepancies in nutrition values. We found that usually its errors kind of balance each other on the scale of days, but if you need pro-level accuracy this is definitely not for you. Also, the stricter the inputs the better the outputs. So if you write “I had some meat” it will log something, but “200g roasted chicken breast” will get your closer to the truth.Of course, many of those are fixable and in the roadmap. Nonetheless, I find it quite usable for my everyday casual food tracking.Also, for those wondering what’s under the hood I posted a separate article here https://medium.com/@mkuliasov/building-ai-assistants-on-the-...If you have any questions or ideas feel free to get in touch on Twitter. https://twitter.com/@mkuliasov or https://t.me/mikky_aThank you!

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