‘Inflation Cookbook’ Scans Prices To Suggest Recipes With Savviest Ingredients

Deciding what to cook for dinner on a day-to-day basis is challenging enough, and the added strain of price hikes makes it even more stressful. Canadian food delivery marketplace SkipTheDishes has volunteered to assume some of the hassle, though instead of pushing meal deliveries in these difficult times, it’s launched the Inflation Cookbook so families can tuck into healthy and nourishing food while stretching their dollar.

The Inflation Cookbook, the first of its kind in Canada, is accessible on mobile web browsers via the dedicated inflationcookbook.com website. The tool harnesses data analytics technology to monitor the prices of the top 10 ingredients in upwards and downward trends weekly.

Then, using artificial intelligence, it recommends recipes incorporating the most affordable and nutritious items available, with curation by a top nutritionist and chef.

The service is powered by the brand’s grocery delivery offshoot Skip Express Lane, in partnership with creative network Dentsu Creative Canada, which notes that over eight million Canadians have been skipping meals recently to cope with the rising cost of food.

At present, the service tracks the prices of over 400 items ranging from produce to whole grains, dairy items, and select proteins.

The cookbook’s findings are regionally dictated and aren’t skewed by brand names, enabling people in all provinces to discover and prepare the most price-savvy dishes. Home cooks can also filter recipes down to their grocery budget, household size, and dietary restrictions.

Dentsu stresses that the initiative isn’t just about helping shoppers keep within their budgets but also about empowering them to make wiser choices. 

The concept is similar to a digital cookbook recently introduced in London, called the Yellow Sticker Cookbook, which captures clearance food items and ingredients at home scanned in by users and generates recipes to stave off food waste.

Addressing the food scarcity problem, SkipTheDishes is also donating excess food from its 23 grocery fulfillment centers to food banks across the country, in collaboration with Food Banks Canada, and has pledged US$100,000 to the charity to feed more mouths nationwide.

[via MobileSyrup and Ad Age, images via various sources]