KainaFam User's Manual

Welcome to Kain Na, Fam!—a smart, interactive Filipino meal planner and grocery checklist assistant designed to help families locally and overseas plan dinners, reduce food waste, manage budgets, and make delicious Pinoy home cooking easy.

Accessing the Application

To access the system, open your web browser and navigate to the application address:

Access and Registration

• Landing Page: Click Open Planner or Tayo nang Magplano! (Free) to open the meal planning dashboard.
• Authentication: If you are not logged in, you will be automatically redirected to the Sign In screen. Enter your email and password to log in.
• Registration: New users can click Sign Up Here to register. Be sure to select your active Country and Dietary Preference so the application can automatically pre-select your local currency and filter recipes matching your diet.

Once you enter the main planner application, you will find three main tabs that drive the system:

• Meal Planner: Displays the calendar grid of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, the portion control widget, and dietary filters.
• Grocery List: An interactive weekly checklist with budget summaries, currency buttons, and sharing options.
• Prep & Budget Hacks: Useful cooking shortcuts, leftover recycling guides, and ingredient substitutions for overseas Filipinos.

By default, the system loads the **Standard Plans** mode, providing 4 pre-designed weekly rotations:

1. Select a Week: At the top, choose one of the pre-designed weeks:
   • Week 1: Classic Comforts (Eggplant Omelet, Adobo, Sinigang na Baboy)
   • Week 2: Everyday Favorites (Tosilog, Menudo, Pinakbet)
   • Week 3: Hearty & Homestyle (Longganisa, Caldereta, Tinola)
   • Week 4: Pinoy Feast Specials (Corned Beef, Bicol Express, Sinigang na Hipon)
2. Select a Day: Click on **Day 1** through **Day 5** tabs to update the menu cards below.
3. Excluding Meals: On each card, you can click on the toggle to exclude that meal from your calendar. This will instantly subtract all its ingredients from your **Grocery List** so you only buy what you plan to cook.
4. View Recipes: Click on any meal card to open a full recipe overlay detailing preparation shortcuts, kid/teen appeal pro-tips, step-by-step instructions, and an interactive cooking checklist.

If you want to construct your own custom schedule from scratch according to your own menu:

1. Toggle Custom Mode: At the top right of the week selector card, click **My Custom Plan (4-Day)**.
2. Open Customizer: Click **Customize Menu** (or select the customized tab if first time). A configuration form will slide open.
3. Build Your Menu: For **Day 1** through **Day 4**, select a dish for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner using the dropdown menus. You can choose from **40+ traditional Filipino recipes** already loaded in the database.
4. Apply Plan: Click **Save & Apply Plan**. The planner dashboard will refresh to show exactly your custom 4-day calendar. All portion scalers, recipe cards, and grocery totals will recalculate based on your choices!

No more manual math when multiplying ingredients! The planner scales ingredients on the fly:

1. Locate the **Portions (Family Members)** control panel on the **Meal Planner** tab.
2. Use the **`+`** or **`-`** buttons to adjust the number of members (from 1 up to 12).
3. The ingredient quantities inside the recipe detail cards and the total weights on the **Grocery List** page will scale instantly to match your family size.

Navigate to the **Grocery List** tab to review the aggregated shopping list:

• Categorized Items: The list is automatically divided into standard supermarket aisles: *Meat & Seafood*, *Produce*, *Pantry & Canned*, and *Dairy & Bakery*.
• Checking Items Off: Tap or click any item's checkbox to cross it off. Crossed-off items are greyed out and automatically deducted from the total **Estimated Grocery Budget** summary on the right.
• Resetting the List: Click the **Reset List** button to restore all checkmarks to unchecked status for a new shopping run.

Managed in the right sidebar of the **Grocery List** tab, budgets scale dynamically to where you live:

• Currency Selection: Choose your currency:
  • **₱ PHP**: Philippine Peso (local markets)
  • **$ USD**: US Dollar (supermarket averages)
  • **NZ$ NZD**: New Zealand Dollar
  • **A$ AUD**: Australian Dollar
  • **S$ SGD**: Singapore Dollar
• Dynamic Conversions: The system uses the active exchange rate values to translate the base Philippine market prices into your local currency, providing a realistic cost estimate for your weekly grocery load.