Bento
A mindful, flexible meal planner that makes weekly meal prep and eating healthy feel easy, not overwhelming.
What if meal planning felt simple again?
I wanted to design a solution that supports everyday home cooks who just want to eat well without the stress of cluttered apps and decision overload
Bento is a flexible meal prep tool that helps people plan, customize, and prep healthy meals with less effort. It’s built to make weekly cooking more manageable, efficient, and doable.
Tools:
Figma, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator
Why Bento
Problem
Meal planning can feel overwhelming and frustrating. Between too many decisions, rigid diet apps, and overly complicated prep routines, it’s no wonder people give up before they even get started.
Most of the existing tools feel like it’s only designed for fitness enthusiasts or meticulous calorie-counters and not for everyday people who just want to eat well without spending hours in the kitchen or obsessing over every detail.
Goal
I wanted to design a meal prep tool that feels practical, flexible, and approachable, something that helps people plan, adjust, and cook healthy meals without the usual stress.
With Bento, my goal was to create an experience that fits into real, busy lives that help people stay consistent, save time and money, and actually enjoy their weekly cooking routine.
The Research Behind Bento
Key Patterns & Insights
Ideation & Prototyping
User Testing
Feedback
What Worked Well
Clear visual hierarchy: All testers easily understood the flow from meal selection to prep. The visuals and simple language helped guide them without confusion.
Customizing sides felt intuitive: Participants liked how easy it was to skip or choose sides without navigating away.
Step-by-step cooking guide felt calming: Users appreciated that it told them exactly what to do, and in what order, without being overwhelming.
"This feels like I’m being walked through it, not managing it all myself."
— Test Participant
Changes I Made
✅ Added a gentle reminder or count at the bottom to show total meals selected
✅ Adjusted layout to visually separate steps into categories (e.g. starches, proteins)
✅ Made the ‘Edit Sides’ text more prominent and styled like a button for better visibility
Outcome
Working on Bento reminded me how powerful simple design can be. I learned that people don’t just want tools, they want experiences that feel calm and supportive.
Next, I’d love to explore smarter recommendations and AI guided cooking and fitness features to make meal prep and eating healthy even easier and convenient for our users.
