Cook Later — Hackathon Submission

Inspiration

We've all been there: scrolling TikTok at midnight, saving recipe after recipe with the best intentions. "I'll definitely make this tomorrow." Tomorrow never comes. Those saved videos pile up—100, 200, 500 recipes—and we've made exactly zero of them.

The gap between "I want to make this" and "dinner is ready" is huge. You have to rewatch the video, pause constantly, scribble down ingredients, figure out quantities, then somehow remember it all at the grocery store. No wonder we just order takeout instead.

We built Cook Later because we were tired of saving recipes we'd never make.

What it does

Cook Later turns any recipe video into an organized grocery list in seconds.

1. Paste a link from TikTok, YouTube, or any recipe website
2. AI extracts the full recipe—ingredients, quantities, and instructions
3. Get a grocery list automatically organized by store aisle
4. Cook whenever you're ready (your recipes are saved offline)

That's it. No more pausing videos mid-cook. No more forgetting ingredients at the store. Just paste and cook later.

How we built it

• Expo + React Native for cross-platform mobile development
• Google Gemini API for multimodal AI that can process video content and extract structured recipe data
• SQLite for local-first storage (your recipes work offline)
• RevenueCat for subscription management
• Supabase for cloud sync (Pro feature)

The magic is in the AI extraction. Gemini processes the video content, identifies ingredients and instructions, standardizes quantities, and categorizes items by grocery store section—all from a single URL paste.

Challenges we ran into

Instagram said no. We originally planned to support Instagram Reels, but their API restrictions made reliable recipe extraction impossible. We pivoted to focus on TikTok, YouTube, and recipe websites—which honestly covers 90% of where people find recipes anyway.

Video processing is messy. Recipe creators don't follow standards. Some list ingredients at the start, some at the end, some never explicitly state quantities ("a handful of cheese"). We spent a lot of time tuning our prompts to handle real-world chaos gracefully.

Balancing free vs. paid. We wanted the app to be genuinely useful for free users while building a sustainable business. Landing on "5 lifetime extractions" felt right—enough to get hooked, clear upgrade path when you need more.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• The elevator pitch writes itself: "Stop saving recipes you'll never make. Paste the video, get a grocery list, cook later!" The app name is the call to action.

• It actually works. Paste a chaotic 60-second TikTok with fast cuts and background music, get a clean recipe with organized grocery list. Every time.

• Grocery lists organized by aisle. A small detail that saves real time in the store. Dairy together, produce together, no more zigzagging.

• Offline-first architecture. Your recipes live on your device. No internet required to cook dinner.

What we learned

• Constraints force creativity. Losing Instagram hurt at first, but it made us focus on doing TikTok and YouTube really well instead of doing three platforms poorly.

• The problem matters more than the features. Cloud sync, export, categories—all nice. But "I saved 100 recipes and made zero" is the hook. Lead with the problem.

• AI costs change the business model. Unlike traditional apps, every extraction costs us money. Subscription isn't a greedy choice—it's the only sustainable one for AI-powered tools.

What's next for Cook Later

• Meal planning: Select recipes for the week, get one combined grocery list
• Pantry tracking: Check off what you already have, only shop for what you need
• Smart substitutions: AI suggests swaps based on dietary restrictions or what's in season
• Share collections: Send your favorite recipe collections to friends
• Widget support: See your saved recipes right from your home screen

The vision: Cook Later becomes the bridge between "that looks good" and "that was delicious"—for every recipe you'll ever save.

Built With

• expo.io
• gemini
• react-native
• revenuecat
• sqlite
• supabase