Automated Dinner Menu Generation Plan
This workflow automatically generates a dinner menu every Friday evening by calling the API of an open-source recipe management system to retrieve recipes from specified categories. It randomly selects a set number of dishes and assigns specific dates for each dish. This process simplifies the complexity of traditional menu planning, saves time, and enhances the efficiency and variety of meal arrangements, making it suitable for families, catering managers, and those looking to improve convenience in their lives.
Workflow Name
Automated Dinner Menu Generation Plan
Key Features and Highlights
This workflow is automatically triggered every Friday at 8 PM. It calls the API of the open-source recipe management system Mealie to retrieve a list of recipes under a specified category, then randomly selects a configured number of recipes to generate a dinner menu plan for the upcoming days (with configurable start date offset). Finally, the menu plan is submitted back to the Mealie system, enabling fully automated menu planning.
Core Problem Addressed
Traditional menu planning is often tedious and time-consuming. This workflow automates the retrieval and random selection of recipes, helping users effortlessly generate well-structured dinner plans. It avoids repetition and last-minute decisions, thereby improving the efficiency and diversity of meal arrangements.
Application Scenarios
- Families or individuals who want to plan their weekly dinner menus in advance
- Food service managers needing to automatically generate multi-day menus to save labor
- Users managing recipes and menus with the Mealie system
- Households or catering providers seeking to enhance convenience through automation tools
Main Process Steps
- Scheduled Trigger: The workflow automatically starts every Friday at 8 PM.
- Load Configuration: Parameters such as Mealie instance URL, recipe category ID, number of menus to generate, and start date offset are loaded.
- Fetch Recipes: The workflow calls the Mealie API to obtain the list of recipes under the specified category.
- Random Selection: A custom code node randomly selects the required number of recipes and assigns specific dates to each.
- Create Menu Plan: The generated menu plan is sent to the Mealie system via an HTTP POST request to update the menu data.
- Manual Trigger Support: Manual triggering is supported for testing and immediate execution convenience.
Involved Systems or Services
- Mealie: An open-source recipe and menu management system that provides API support for menu creation and recipe queries.
- n8n: An automation workflow platform used to orchestrate scheduling, HTTP requests, code execution, and manual triggers.
Target Users and Value
- Users relying on Mealie for recipe and menu management, enhancing automation and intelligence in menu planning.
- Homemakers, singles, catering professionals, and others who regularly generate menus, saving time and effort.
- Automation enthusiasts and technical users who can implement complex menu management workflows with simple configuration.
This workflow leverages flexible configuration and scheduled execution to help users efficiently and intelligently automate dinner menu generation, optimizing both daily life and work processes.