Suggest me What to Eat

What this tool does

Here is a question you answer every single day, often more than once: what should I eat. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, the snack in between, each one needs a decision, and by the end of the day you are tired of making it. This tool makes the call for you. It pulls a meal idea at random from a long list, so the question is settled in a second and you can go eat.

Press the button for an idea. Press it again if the first does not fit. Ask for a few at once when you would rather glance over a small set than take the first thing offered.

How to use it

1. Number / Quantity. How many ideas to show at once, from 1 to 100.
2. Generate. Pulls a fresh idea, or a fresh set if you asked for more than one.
3. Starts with, Contains, Ends with. Optional filters that narrow the list before it picks. Leave them blank to use everything.
4. Copy. Drops what is on screen onto your clipboard as a plain list.

An idea is already on screen when the page opens, so there is nothing to set up first.

How it works

A fixed list of foods sits behind the tool, and each press pulls one at random, with no repeats inside a single set when you ask for several.

The filters help when you have a rough idea. Contains keeps any line with your text in it, so typing soup brings up Tomato Soup, Vegetable Soup, and Onion Soup, and typing an ingredient you have narrows it to what you can cook tonight. Starts with goes by the first letter, ends with by the last.

What it draws from

It pulls from a broad spread of foods and dishes, from quick standbys like Fried Eggs, Macaroni, and Baked Potatoes to fuller plates and a good number of sides, soups, and sweets. The range is wide on purpose, because the point is to jog loose an idea you would not have landed on while staring into the cupboard.

If you also use the Random Food picker, you will notice the same shelf behind both, since a good meal idea is a good meal idea. This one is framed around the everyday what-do-I-make question, and the filters are there for the evenings when you half-know what you want.

Why the daily decision is so tiring

It is not your imagination that deciding what to eat wears you out. It is a decision you repeat constantly, and repetition is the problem. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Kathleen Vohs, Roy Baumeister, and their colleagues found that making one choice after another drains the same mental energy you use for focus and self-control. The food question lands again and again, so by dinner you are deciding on an empty tank.

There is a second twist, which the psychologist Barry Schwartz described in The Paradox of Choice: when there are many options, we not only struggle to pick, we second-guess whatever we chose. Letting the tool decide removes both halves at once. You did not labour over it, so there is nothing to regret, and the call is made before the tiredness gets a say. On an ordinary weeknight, that is worth more than holding out for the perfect meal.

Questions people ask

Is it free, and is anything saved?

It is free with no sign-up, and nothing you generate is stored. The picks happen in your browser, so copy one if you want to keep it.

Can it give me a few options?

Yes. Set the quantity to the number you want, up to 100, and press Generate to see that many different ideas at once.

Can I narrow it to a meal or an ingredient?

Type a word into the Contains box, like soup or an ingredient you have, and the list trims to lines that include it. Leave it blank to keep the pick fully random.

How is this different from the Random Food tool?

They share the same shelf and the same job. This one is framed around the daily what-should-I-eat question, so use whichever wording you reach for, and the result is the same either way.

References

1. Kathleen Vohs, Roy Baumeister, and colleagues, "Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2008, on how repeated choosing drains attention. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18444745/
2. Barry Schwartz, "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less", his talk on how more options can lower satisfaction. https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice