Why I’m building Handled

I’m building Handled to be the best place for busy parents to decide what to eat, get the ingredients, and cook food their families will love.

Humans have been doing this loop for hundreds of thousands of years, but with two kids and a bewildering array of choices, I found it overwhelming. So I’m building Handled to, well, handle it. Handled makes the whole process as simple and mentally easy as possible for parents like me and my wife. If that sounds like you, give it a try — and let me know what you think or how I could make it better.

When I was single, it was simple. I cooked what I wanted. Sometimes I followed recipes, but more often I just grabbed what looked good while strolling through the store. I ordered delivery a lot — it was the halcyon era of VC-subsidized free delivery, before the apps cared about making money.

When I got married, it got slightly more complex, but not by much. We had different preferences, but it was easy to find the right mix. Plus, with two of us, we could trade off meals or cook together. Even kids didn’t change it much at first. We had less time, so probably leaned toward simpler recipes. But babies eat their own food anyway. (To be honest, I don’t remember that phase super well.)

As the kids got older, they started eating what we ate — but with strong, ever-shifting preferences they couldn’t always explain. Cauliflower was beloved for a while as “white broccoli” (my daughter’s words), until it suddenly wasn’t. Pasta and rice were safe, but only when prepared in oddly specific ways. Spicy was off the table. Bold flavors were suspect.

The loop that used to feel easy had gotten overwhelming. There were more mouths to feed, less time, and even less mental energy to decide what to make, how to get it, and then actually cook it.

Handled will make this loop easy again. To start, I’ve improved each step in a few small but high-impact ways:

• Deciding what to eat: Save recipes from anywhere — just snap a photo.
• Getting the ingredients: Automatically generate grocery lists from recipes, with items grouped by category to make shopping smooth.
• Cooking it: Recipes are broken into steps that actually make sense. Ingredients are shown with each step, so you’re not scrambling as the garlic goes from delightfully golden to bitter black.
• Eating it: I’ve got nothing here. Just enjoy it with the people you love.

What’s next — but not quite ready — is a meal planner. It’ll learn what you like, what your family likes, and what’s already at home. After a quick back-and-forth, it’ll help you craft a plan for the week. I want to remove as much mental stress from busy families like mine as I can.

—Max