How we score our recipes

Price

Per-ingredient prices come from a mix of retailer UPC snapshots, receipt observations, and marked estimates. Each recipe receipt labels the source and age of the underlying quote. When a UPC is unavailable at a retailer, we mark the gap rather than presenting it as a live store price.

HEI-2020 (nutrition score)

The Healthy Eating Index 2020 is the USDA's scoring system, on a 0-100 scale. The American national average is 58. We compute HEI for each recipe from USDA food-composition data mapped to its ingredients.

Inflammation score & AIP eligibility

Each ingredient is classified for inflammatory potential and for AIP (autoimmune protocol) eligibility, including reintroduction phases. The score and AIP tag are deterministic from the ingredient list.

Pantry coverage

We estimate how many of the recipe's ingredients an average US household already has on hand, based on USDA consumer purchase data. Signed-in users see their actual pantry coverage.

Plan fit

Plan fit is measured against the USDA Thrifty food plan baseline ($231/week, family of 4) and leftover-fit signals from real households using Hestia's meal planner.