First and foremost a piece of software needs to be written for the iPhone and iPod touch which is aimed at students, to help them eat more healthily have a better diet and make the most of the ingredients they have.
The app will display a list of all the ingredients needed and step by step instructions on how to cook them. It will also have a toggle bar that adjusts the ingredients ratio, depending on how many people are being cooked for. A picture of the dish will also be displayed allowing the user to see what it should look like. Also, helpful information about the dish will be made available if possible, such as this is good if you are on a diet, and how many calories the dish should contain.
The app will have a database full of recipes, starters, main courses and deserts for both meat eaters and vegetarians. The user will be able to search for recipes by ingredients, for example using what they have left in the fridge e.g. carrots onions and celery and the app might display a vegetable soup. Or the user may search by genre e.g. Indian, Chinese or Italian cuisines. Or the user may search by time taken to cook the dish, e.g. if the user is in a rush and only has 10 minutes to cook a dish then beans on toast might be recommended. Finally the user may search by rating. Once a user has cooked a dish, they can give it a rating out of 5 allowing the app to recommend similar dishes, or just display the most popular ones. Attempts must be made to make the software as clear, easy and as fun to use as possible, by having a black and white colour scheme, large buttons, clear instructions, and making the most of the physical aspects of the iPhone such as using the accelerometer.
The app will have a timer, which can warn the user when to check their cooking.
A shopping list feature allowing the user to be able to select the ingredients they don’t have from a list of ingredients needed and use this in a supermarket as a shopping reminder.
The user will be able to add their own recipes to the app. This will allow them to share their favourite recipes with others, and it will also act as a reminder of measurements for example. Users with the app installed will have the ability to invite friends to a meal.
Finally the app will have a unit converter, between kilograms and ounces, between litres and pints and between centigrade and gas mark.
A few small features may be added later, but this is the core concept.
Only a few recipes 10 will need to included in the app, I will add other othes. There is currently a free recipe example that can be downloaded from the iphone developer program (IphoneCoreDataRecipes) which could be a good starting point as it has a unit converter as well.
The code will have to be very well commited, this is essential, every feature must be explained how it is done. In good english.
If you have any questions email me
Thanks