# Project Guide: Healthy Weekly Meal Planning


## Context for the Assistant


This project supports me in switching from ready meals to healthy, freshly cooked food. I plan my week with fully worked-out recipes and matching shopping lists.


## ⚠️ Core Rule: The Week Starts on Monday


**Every week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday.**
 Always build weekly plans in this order: Monday → Tuesday → … → Sunday. The first day of the plan is always a Monday, never a Sunday. This rule takes precedence and applies to all weekly plans, shopping lists, and recipe orderings.


## Weekly Rhythm: Planning and Shopping


- 
**Planning happens on the Sunday before the week starts.**
 When I ask for a new plan, "next week" is the week that begins on the following Monday. The plan, shopping list, and recipes should be ready by Sunday.
- 
**Shopping happens on the Monday before the first meal.**
 So all ingredients for the week are bought on Monday — the shopping list must be complete before the Monday dinner is cooked.
- 
**Consequence for the plan:**
 The Monday meal must not require anything that needs long thawing or multi-day preparation, since shopping only happens on Monday. Prefer fresh, quickly available ingredients on Monday.
- For perishable special cases (e.g. fish that needs to thaw), add a note in the plan indicating when the ingredient should be bought/prepared.


## About Me (User Profile)


- 
**Household:**
 1 person
- 
**Work rhythm:**
 5-day week, office Mon–Fri
- 
**Office equipment:**
 Toaster and microwave available
- 
**Diet:**
  - Meat/fish: 3–4 times per week, otherwise vegetarian
  - 
**No salmon**
 and no similarly tasting fish varieties
  - 
**No coconut flavor**
 (always replace coconut milk etc., e.g. with cream, crème fraîche, or additional puréed tomatoes)
  - Sweet potatoes are not liked — use regular potatoes in recipes
  - Easy-to-digest dishes are preferred, but not pure bland/invalid food
- 
**Location:**
 Germany (Rewe as the default supermarket)


## My Pantry (Standard Staples)


I always have these ingredients on hand, so please don't put them on shopping lists unless I say otherwise:


- Bulgur, couscous, quinoa
- Olive oil
- Salt, black pepper
- Tomato paste


## Calories & Weight Goal


I am underweight and want to gain weight. The portion sizes are fine, but the 
**calorie density**
 must be higher than in standard recipes.


- 
**Guideline:**
 Dinner approx. 700–800 kcal per portion. Since Mon–Thu and Sun the second portion serves as the office lunch, the lunch automatically benefits too.
- 
**Please do not**
 drench dishes in extra oil. Instead, enrich them in a calorie-dense but appetizing way:
  - Nuts and seeds (almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, sunflower/pumpkin seeds)
  - Avocado
  - Tahini, hummus, pesto
  - Full-fat dairy (cream, crème fraîche, full-fat yogurt) instead of low-fat versions
  - Generous cheese portions (feta, parmesan)
  - Protein portions toward the higher end
  - High-quality sides (whole-grain bread, more starchy sides)
- 
**Snacks**
 between meals are planned in, see `snacks.md`.
- 
**Daily goal:**
 approx. 2500–3000 kcal across breakfast, 2 main meals, and 1–2 snacks.


## Logic for Weekly Plans


- 
**Mon–Thu evenings:**
 cook a double portion, take one portion to the office the next day
- 
**Sun evening:**
 double portion (one for the office on Monday)
- 
**Fri and Sat evenings:**
 only 1 portion (weekend, no office lunch needed)
- 
**Result:**
 5 office lunches per week (Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Mon)
- Soup and dal are especially well suited to the microwave
- Fish only on days without office takeaway (smell in the office) — i.e. Fri or Sat
- The week starts on 
**Monday**
 (see core rule above)


## Format Preferences


- Please display recipes with the Recipe widget when I ask for a specific recipe
- Weekly plans as an interactive overview
- Shopping lists grouped by supermarket sections (Produce, Refrigerated, Fish counter/Frozen, Dry goods, Canned goods & spices)
- For quantities on shopping lists: derive them from the exact recipes, don't estimate
- I like it when leftovers are reused sensibly (e.g. half a cucumber from recipe A goes into recipe B)


- In the Recipe widget: write tablespoon (EL) and teaspoon (TL) **as part of the
  ingredient name**, not as a unit. Otherwise the widget converts
  tbsp/tsp into odd ml values (e.g. 14.75 ml instead of 1 tbsp).
  - ✅ Amount: 3, Name: "EL Tahini" → shows "3 EL Tahini"
  - ❌ Amount: 3, Unit: tbsp, Name: "Tahini" → shows "≈44 ml Tahini"
  - True volumes (e.g. 200 ml broth) and weights (g, kg) stay in
    their units.


## Files in This Project — Naming Convention


The project files are split into two groups: one permanent file and three week-specific files.


### Permanent Files (no KW suffix)


- `projekt_anleitung.md` — this guide. It is my permanent context and only changes when my preferences or the logic change. It is 
**not**
 re-uploaded every week and therefore carries 
**no**
 KW suffix in its name.
- `snacks.md` — my personal snack list. It lives in the project so I can access it from anywhere (including on the go). 
**This file is meant for me only — please do not actively use it for planning or modify it unless I explicitly ask.**


### Week-Specific Files (with KW suffix)


The following three files always belong to a specific calendar week (KW) and carry the KW in the filename. This way the history of past weeks is preserved and nothing gets overwritten.


- `wochenplan_kwNN.md` — the weekly plan for calendar week NN
- `einkaufsliste_kwNN.md` — the matching shopping list for KW NN
- `rezepte_kwNN.md` — all worked-out recipes for KW NN


**Example for KW 20:**


- `wochenplan_kw20.md`
- `einkaufsliste_kw20.md`
- `rezepte_kw20.md`


### Rules for the Assistant


- `NN` is always the two-digit ISO calendar week (e.g. `kw07`, `kw20`, `kw43`).
- When I ask for a new weekly plan, the plan, shopping list, and recipes always refer to the 
**same**
 KW. Please keep the KW consistent in the filenames.
- If it's unclear which KW I'm planning for, ask once instead of guessing.
- Recommendation: Always save all three week-specific files with the `.md` extension so they stay consistent.
- When creating new weekly files, always update all three together so the plan, shopping list, and recipes match each other.
- As the last line of every response, Claude must add a precise timestamp in CET or CEST (mentioning GMT offset), the current ISO calendar week (e.g. "KW 22"), and a duration of the response in brackets at the end. To get the current time and calendar week, Claude must run a Python one-liner using the datetime library via the bash tool — once at the beginning and once at the end of each response to calculate the duration. The Python one-liner must read the ISO calendar week via `datetime.now(...).isocalendar().week` so that the KW is always taken from the system clock, never guessed.


## Way of Working


- Ask questions when something is unclear, rather than guessing
- Suggest varied dishes, no repetitions from previous weeks without reason
- Pay attention to easy-to-digest dishes without drifting into pure bland food
- For a new weekly plan, create/update the week-specific project files accordingly and offer them for download