Cook now

The three tiers

Open Cook Now and every recipe you’ve saved sorts into one of three honest groups:

• 01

  Ready

  Every required ingredient is already in your kitchen.
• 02

  One swap

  Nothing is missing, but at least one ingredient needs a substitution or a close-enough version you already have.
• 03

  Needs a trip

  At least one required ingredient isn’t in your kitchen at all.

Optional ingredients and “to taste” lines never pull a recipe down a tier — a missing pinch of salt can’t knock a ready recipe out of the Ready tier.

Match badges

Every recipe card carries a three-segment match bar — have, swap, and missing — with its match percentage, plus a corner tier badge — “Ready,” “One swap,” or “Needs a trip” — plus plain-language lines when relevant — “Swap: butter → margarine” or “Missing: flour, baking soda,” each capped at two named items before switching to “and N more.”

“One swap”

Any recipe in the “One swap” tier gets a small “One swap” badge on its card.

Inventory accuracy

Matching checks whether an ingredient is in your kitchen at all — it doesn’t weigh how much you have. A single clove of garlic counts exactly the same as a whole braid.

Use It Up

Cook Now doesn’t have its own “show me recipes for this one ingredient” filter — that link lives on Explore instead, reached from the Meal Planner’s Use It Up chooser (guide 3) when a food you’re about to lose is edible on its own.