What's for Dinner?
Allergies, autism, 5 profiles — how an AI agent puts inclusion on the plate
Claude · Prompt Engineering · Meal Planning
Monday, 4:30 PM. My wife and I are standing in the kitchen, looking at each other. "What's for dinner?" We have this conversation three times a week. And three times a week it ends the same: something with pasta. Or order pizza. Not because we can't cook. But because meal planning for our family is an optimization problem no cookbook solves.
When Food Gets Complicated
Our son is autistic. That doesn't mean he doesn't want to eat. It means textures play a role no recipe book can imagine. Nothing mushy. Nothing that mixes on the plate. Familiar shapes, predictable consistencies.
Son
Autism spectrum: familiar textures, no mixing, predictable meals
Daughter (1)
Vegetarian, lactose-free. No meat, no dairy.
Daughter (2)
Sensory sensitive: familiar textures, trusted shapes.
Mom
Low-carb, keto. Strict macro targets.
Dad
Heart-healthy, calorie-reduced. Plans for everyone.
Normal meal planners fail at the second family member. They don't know autism-friendly options. They don't know that "potatoes" doesn't mean "potatoes every day" but once or twice as a side.
An App That Knows Our Family
So I built FamilienKoch. An app where every family member has their own profile. Role, allergies, diet, preferences, dislikes — and when needed, autism-friendly options.
The AI behind it doesn't make random suggestions. It interprets semantically: "Italian" means two to three dishes in Italian style over the week, not pasta every day. And when my son accepts fish sticks on Tuesdays, then fish sticks are on the plan for Tuesday — because predictability matters more than variety.
From Plan to Shopping List in Seconds
9 Days, 61,000 Lines of Code
Traditional Estimate
- 18 months development
- 10-person team
- $2 million budget
- Waterfall or Agile
With AI Agents
- 9 evenings after work
- 1 person + Claude
- API costs (no comment)
- 13 iterations per day
Why This Matters
Not because of the technology. But because "What's for dinner?" is the question every family knows — but not every family has the same problem behind it. For most, it's convenience. For us, it's inclusion.
And yes — since then, Monday at 4:30 PM is more relaxed. We look at the plan instead of looking at each other.
— Philipp
More about our family and how AI changes everyday life — in "The World in a Thousand Colors."
Read more about the book