A random food generator can be a useful tool to help you find meal plans and find recipes. They can greatly benefit anyone, ranging from people learning to cook who want recipes at their skill level to those who have bigger families and need something with the appropriate portion sizes.
As the name implies they randomly generate food or recipes, sometimes in list form and sometimes singularly, either with some or no entered search criteria.
They can be found in a variety of places. Aside from countless websites, there are also many apps.
Some of these sites exist as part of a bigger ‘random generator’ theme, not meant to make actual suggestions and strictly for entertainment purposes. Others are made with the intention of helping people choose food to make or include in their meal planning.
What To Look For In A Random Food Generator?
There are a few things you might want to take into consideration when looking for the right random food generator for you.
How many options/results do you want?
Some random recipe generators will give you one result while others will give you a list of options to choose from. If you’re looking for ideas, a list of recipes might be better for you. If you know what you want and just need a recipe, then a singular random recipe generator will work best.
How specific do you want the results to be?
Do you want allergen-free recipes only or vegan friendly recipes only? If your dietary restrictions are more general, some generators can be more useful.
For example ‘ingredient-based’ random food generators that give you multiple options for dishes using what you have on hand.
Does the website/app allow ratings and reviews?
This is something to take into account especially if this is your first time using a random food generator. Sometimes people will post their thoughts on whether or not they liked the dish, what they would change, and so on.
Different Kinds Of Random Food Generators
There are various kinds of random food generator that you can use to help you in your meal planning, based on what sort of food you’re looking for.
Random Food Cuisine
A generator that finds recipes based on origin such as French, Mexican, Indian, etc. Random recipe generator like this are great for people looking to learn more about cultures through food, expand their cooking skills, or just try something new.
Specific Meal Generator
These will narrow down their search by whether or not something is meant for breakfast, a snack, and so on. These are excellent for when you only need to meal plan for a few days and so the ingredients themselves, or the cost of the ingredients, aren’t that great a decisive factor for you. You can search for “what should I eat for dinner generator” or “what do I want for dinner generator” and you’d be surprised on the meal recipe suggestions!
Random Recipe Generator with Dietary Restrictions
While many generators include the option to note whether or not you’re looking for things that are gluten-free, allergen-free, and so on, some will find dishes that are unique to an entirely gluten-free diet.
Others will look for dishes that are vegan friendly, part of a paleo diet, etc. Some exist that narrow down based on the cholesterol level, sodium level, caloric content, heart-healthy food, or foods good for pregnancy/breastfeeding.
Ingredient-Based Random Food Generator
This is the most useful sort of random food generator when you’re first starting out your journey into meal planning and have a lot in your kitchen to work with but don’t know where to start. Or perhaps you have something nearing its expiration date and need to find a way to use it soon.
Whether it’s a way to put that leftover chicken to good use or a healthy dessert before your strawberries go bad, this is a great place to look as you learn the ins and outs of meal planning.
While a random food generator can’t do your meal planning for you, it can give you some great ideas to work with- whether you’re looking for new recipes to try, want to get better at cooking by trying dishes from different cultures, or are just looking for a way to use up what’s in your fridge before it goes bad.
With all the different kinds of random food generators available, you’re sure to find one that suits your needs! So why not give it a try? Who knows- maybe you’ll find your new favorite recipe! Bon appetit!
Take advantage of our Nutiro Ultimate Guide on How to Meal Plan that gives you the flexibility to enjoy other meal planning options such as keto, paleo, vegan, gluten-free, etc.