Why a family cookbook
The recipes that get handed down — Grandma’s bolognese, the birthday cake everyone asks for — usually live on a stained index card or in someone’s head. The Family Cookbook keeps them safe in one place: the ingredients and steps, the little story behind them, photos, and a running log of every time someone in the family cooks one.
Opening the cookbook
In the sidebar, open The Pod 🌱 → Family Cookbook (you’ll see it titled “Secret Family Recipes” — shhh 🤫). There’s also a shortcut on the Meet the Beans page.
Adding a recipe
Tap Add a recipe
Give it a Recipe name (e.g. “Grandma’s Bolognese”) and, if you like, a Subtitle for the story behind it (“passed down from Mary, ~1972”)
Add the Prep time and Servings
List the Ingredients — one per line — and the Preparation steps, also one step per line
Add any Family notes (the little things — “Neil asks for this every Sunday”) and Photos
Tap Save
Add the recipe’s name first — then you can attach photos. (Photos also need Google Drive turned on; see Adding Photos.)
Inside a recipe
Tap a recipe card to open its page. You’ll find the Ingredients, How to make it (the steps), the Family notes, and the Cook Log.
The Cook Log
Every time you make a recipe, tap I cooked this today — give it a rating, and (if you want) add a photo of how it turned out. Over time the recipe builds its own little history: how many times it’s been cooked and its average rating. It’s a quiet way to see which recipes the family actually loves.
If a family member has a favourite food, you can link it to a recipe in the cookbook — open their Favorites tab and choose (or add) the recipe. Then you can hop from the bean to the recipe and back.
To change a recipe, open it, edit any field, and save. To remove it, use the delete option and confirm — deleting can’t be undone, and the cook log goes with it.
Related help
- Meet the Beans — link a recipe to a bean’s favourite food
- Adding Photos — attach pictures to recipes and cook-log entries