Recipe apps have a blind spot. They're great at showing you what to cook and how to cook it, but they stop there. After you finish cooking, your pantry inventory is out of date. The eggs you used aren't deducted. The chicken you finished isn't removed. You're left manually updating everything, which most people simply don't do.

This gap between "cooking" and "tracking" is why pantry apps lose accuracy over time. The inventory drifts further from reality with every meal until it's unreliable enough that people stop checking it.

What Cook Mode Does Differently

Step-by-Step Guidance

Cook Mode walks you through each recipe step by step. Instead of scrolling through a long recipe page while your hands are covered in flour, you see one step at a time with large, readable text. Tap to advance to the next step when you're ready.

Built-In Timers

When a step says "simmer for 15 minutes," you get a timer right there. No switching to the clock app, no setting a separate timer. The timer lives inside the step, and you can see the countdown while previewing the next step.

Next-Step Previews

While you're waiting for something to boil or bake, Cook Mode shows you what's coming next. This lets you prep ahead — you can chop the onions for step 4 while step 3's timer is running.

Automatic Inventory Deduction

This is the feature that closes the gap. When you finish cooking a recipe in Cook Mode, the ingredients are automatically deducted from your pantry inventory. Used 3 eggs? They're subtracted. Used half the chicken? It's updated. Your inventory stays current without any manual work.

Why Automatic Deduction Matters

An accurate pantry inventory is the foundation everything else depends on. Recipe matching only works if the app knows what you actually have. Expiration alerts only matter for items that are still in your kitchen. Grocery lists should reflect what you've actually used, not what the app thinks you still have. Automatic deduction keeps the whole system honest.

Real-World Use Cases

Weeknight Cooking

You get home tired, open the app, and see recipes you can make with what's in the fridge. Tap one, enter Cook Mode, and follow the steps. Dinner's done, inventory's updated, and you didn't have to think about tracking.

Batch Cooking

Double a recipe for meal prep. Cook Mode scales the ingredients, walks you through each step, and deducts the correct amounts from your pantry. Freeze the leftovers and you've got meals for the week.

Meal Prep Days

Use the meal planner to set up the week, then cook everything on Sunday. Cook Mode handles each recipe in sequence, deducting as you go. By the time you're done, your pantry reflects exactly what's left.

Part of a Bigger System

Cook Mode connects to PantrySmart's meal planner and grocery list. Plan your meals for the week, cook them with step-by-step guidance, and the app automatically generates a grocery list for anything you've run out of. It's a closed loop: plan, cook, track, restock. Available free on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.