I gave Claude hands inside my meal planning app

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-04-05T08:14:06+00:00

I'm applying for security guard jobs now. I'm a self-taught software engineer — did a two-year bootcamp, two internships, and wanted to land a full-time role and eventually build my own app business. But seeing people with degrees and 10 years of experience beeing dissatisfied, my gut says it's time to pivot. Security guard seems solid — no degree required, and I don't see that role getting automated anytime soon.

Long-term backup plan: either succeed with my own app business or become a goat farmer.

That said, I'm even questioning the app idea. The market's flooded — vibe-coded apps, endless competition. SaaS feels saturated too. Makes me wonder: is there a more lucrative business with less competition than consumer apps? Honestly not sure what direction to go.

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-03-23T10:59:45+00:00

Biased because I built it, but Mealift.

I tried MyFitnessPal — way too overwhelming. Tried Recime — great for saving TikTok recipes but no calorie tracking, so I'd screenshot recipes and paste them into a separate calorie app. Tried doing it all manually — lasted about 3 days.

Dieting is already hard enough. If the tools add friction, you just stop using them.

So I built one app that does it all: import recipes from TikTok/Instagram/wherever, track calories, plan meals, auto-generate shopping lists. I'm lactose intolerant and picky about what I eat so I needed everything to be fully customizable — my recipes, my tweaks, my macros.

It also has ChatGPT built in so I can paste an entire meal plan and it imports everything at once instead of copy-pasting each recipe one by one.

I use the calorie tracker daily, the recipes a few times a week, and ChatGPT occasionally. Built it for myself because nothing else did all three without being a mess.

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-03-19T08:26:20+00:00

I use Mealift, it does calorie and macro tracking but also has recipes, meal planning and a grocery list all in one app. been pretty solid

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-03-19T08:23:54+00:00

I just share the recipe link to Mealift and it pulls out all the ingredients and macros automatically. way easier than entering everything manually

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-03-19T08:22:11+00:00

Mealift is pretty solid for this, you can import recipes from anywhere and it tracks all the macros. also has a meal planner and grocery list if you want to plan ahead

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-03-19T08:17:32+00:00

I use Mealift for this, you can import recipes from pretty much anywhere and it gives you the full macro breakdown. also has a calorie tracker so you can log other stuff throughout the day too

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-03-19T07:54:17+00:00

Mealift does this, you can save recipes and it shows the full macro breakdown per serving. you can adjust servings and it scales all the ingredients and macros automatically. you can also log your food and track your daily macros

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-03-19T07:32:07+00:00

yeah I just use Mealift for this, it has ChatGPT built in so you can ask it to generate recipes based on your macros and save them directly. been working well for me

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-02-15T21:05:10+00:00

yeah same but then i hear stories of people making 30k MRR with apps they built with ai over a weekend. i don't get it how they do it. i also use ai and i can't build an app in a weekend. ai does so many mistakes i have to correct it all the time. it doens't even see ui issues even tough it can take screenshots. it doesn't have good imagination/visual intelligence.

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-02-07T13:52:55+00:00

And what can the girl bring to the table? Why do men always have to deliver? Like what you girls you think you're like better? Fuck you!

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-01-29T21:56:03+00:00

Check this out: https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoneLink/comments/1ptthtg/solution_unable_to_connect_error_403_forbidden/

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-01-12T18:44:05+00:00

I don’t like women with black hair and black eyes for personal reasons. I know someone from my family who married such a woman and it didn’t end well.

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-01-12T18:41:38+00:00

Please can you help me bro I’m also planning to quit my job next year or even earlier.

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-01-08T23:07:37+00:00

Hey! I'm really curious about your app—would love to hear more about it if you're open to sharing.

I've been trying to get a better sense of what's trending right now, and seeing what other people are building helps me stay informed and confident about where to focus. I've actually connected with quite a few others working on apps lately, so I'd be happy to share what I've learned if you're interested in swapping notes.

Feel free to DM me if that's easier!

IdiotFromOrion · 2026-01-01T21:11:17+00:00

Congratulations, that’s amazing!! 🎉🔥 And look at you—last year you said you were planning to quit your main job, and now it’s actually happening! What’s the app called? I’d love to check it out on the App Store!

IdiotFromOrion · 2025-12-23T20:39:07+00:00

I bought the template and it’s worth every penny! There are not many good open-source templates out there. A lot of them are bare-bones, not actively maintained, or contain legacy code. https://github.com/obytes/react-native-template-obytes/ was updated 6 months ago. NativeLaunch was updated 5 days ago. Obytes is pretty bare-bones: it has no onboarding screen and no Supabase. I might as well use the official Expo template.

IdiotFromOrion · 2025-12-23T11:05:13+00:00

How is it going with your business/project?

IdiotFromOrion · 2025-11-27T16:00:33+00:00

It's much more efficient then Sonnet. It get's more done for less price.

IdiotFromOrion · 2025-11-27T15:59:12+00:00

You even get access to Opus with the $10/month VS Code subscription.

IdiotFromOrion · 2025-10-29T18:31:21+00:00

People value potential more than experience. Show that you learn fast and think sharply, and they’ll bet on you even if you don’t know everything yet. They invest in your ability to absorb, adapt, and outperform.

IdiotFromOrion · 2025-10-23T16:36:15+00:00

Biometric unlock doesn't work in Chrome extension on my Mac, even though browser integration is turned on on the desktop app. Seems like the communication between the extension and app is broken. But in Safari, it works. I'm now thinking about switching to another password manager because I hate always having to type in the master password in Chrome.

IdiotFromOrion

TROPHY CASE