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Heilsa

Heilsa for cooking for one

None of this is about coordinating with anyone. Cooking for one has a different problem: everything in the shop is sized for a household you do not have.

The Plan tab: tonight is Sticky Gochujang Chicken, marked Can make now, with a note that it uses the chicken thighs before they go. Tomorrow is Monday’s curry as leftovers, then Shakshuka on Thursday.

What’s used up?

  • SpinachSome leftAll gone
  • GarlicSome leftAll gone
Leftovers · About 2 platesKeeps 2 days

The cupboard is still an unknown

There is nobody else to blame for the second jar of harissa, and nobody to ask either. Cooking alone still means standing in an aisle trying to reconstruct your own kitchen from memory, and being wrong still costs the same. A pantry you can open on your phone is worth as much to one person as to four.

Everything is written for four

Recipes assume four and packs are sold for four. Tell Heilsa how many plates a meal is actually for and it works from that number rather than the recipe’s, so the shopping list and the pantry are reasoning about what you really cooked instead of what the page said.

Leftovers as a plan, not an accident

A recipe for four cooked for one makes three more meals whether you meant it to or not. Heilsa works from what came out of the pan rather than the written yield, and can put the rest into a later evening in the plan — with a limit on how old it is willing to suggest eating something.

A household of one, until it is not

Nothing here requires a second person. If a partner or a flatmate arrives later they join the same household, and the pantry, shopping list and recipes are already there rather than being set up again.

In the app

What you will use most.

  • The sheet for adding a dinner to Monday: leftovers from Sunday first, then Potato and Cheddar Frittata (you have everything for it) and two curries each missing one spice.

    Meal planning

    Dinner plans that start from the fridge

    Plan up to a fortnight of dinners. Heilsa ranks the choices by what needs using and what you already have, and leaves the deciding to you.

    Meal planning in detail
  • The Pantry wall: 49 foods at home, each a drawing with its name. A Use soon shelf at the top holds banana and chicken thigh, both today, and the leftover curry is under Made at home.

    Pantry wall

    A pantry that tells you what to use first

    Every food at home on one wall, each with its own drawing, and a Use soon shelf on top for whatever has the least time left.

    Pantry wall in detail
  • Monday on the You tab: the chickpea and spinach curry, about 482 kcal, and its food groups set beside the Eatwell Guide’s plate.

    What you ate

    See what the household eats

    The You tab adds up the plates you eat at home: food groups beside the Eatwell Guide, nutrition per plate, and the goals you chose, measured each week.

    What you ate in detail

Questions

Plain answers.

Is Heilsa worth it if I live alone?
The shared features are the ones you simply skip. Pantry, recipe coverage, planning and leftovers are all about what is in the kitchen rather than who else can see it, and none of them need a second person.
Can someone join my household later?
Yes. Invite them into the same household and the pantry, shopping list and recipes come with it. Nothing has to be rebuilt.

Also written for

Try it with your own kitchen

Heilsa comes to the App Store in November. Join now, through TestFlight, and your household keeps it free through 2027.

Install with TestFlight

iPhone with iOS 15.1 or later, in the UK and Switzerland. Somewhere else?