The quick guide
How to use Chive.
A practical walkthrough of every part of the app — how to add things, cook from what you have, and keep it all in sync. Jump to any section from the bar above.
Shop
Track
Cook
Repeat
How Chive works
A complete kitchen system.
Shop
A list that works for you. Quick-add with Siri, auto-sorted by aisle, price estimates from your store, and send your list to the Instacart® app in one tap.
Track
A pantry built as you shop. Every item lands with best-before dates, photos, and nutrition.
Cook
Recipes that know your kitchen. Ask what you can cook tonight, import from anywhere, check against your pantry.
Repeat
Every item used or expired gets tracked for your list, so it’s ready before you are.
Each step feeds the next, and the more you use it, the more powerful it becomes.
Setup
How to set up your kitchen.
The first time you open Chive, a quick wizard gets you ready — then a guided tour walks you through one full loop on a sample kitchen, so you can see how it fits before adding your own.
1
Pick your region
Canada, US, or Australia. Currency, units, and dates all match automatically.
2
Name it and pick your preferred stores
So price estimates and product names are right for where you actually shop.
3
Set up your zones
Fridge, freezer, pantry, and spice rack come ready. Add custom zones for pets or a garage freezer, each with its own icon and colour. You can also choose what type of items land in each zone from Settings (more on that later).
4
Bring your data (optional)
Import from Paprika, Kitchen Pal, or a spreadsheet — or skip and start fresh.
Shopping list
How to build your list and finish shopping.
Your list fills itself as you cook and run low — here's how to work with it.
Add to your list by typing in the search bar at the top of the Shopping list, hands-free with Siri, or with the iOS widget.
Tap the checkbox to check items off as you shop.
Press and hold an item for more options — select all, rename, change quantity, or delete.
Swipe either direction on an item to remove it from your list.New
Select (or Select All) from press-and-hold to check off or delete several at once.
Shopping in person? Tap off items as you go, then select Finish Shopping → this adds items from your list to your pantry, with the option to scan your receipt to track prices and pick up additional items you may have purchased that weren’t on your list.
Select Shop on Instacart® at any time to shop your entire list via Instacart. When you return to the app, you’ll be prompted to confirm Chive moving items from your shopping list to your pantry.
Add the iOS widget: on your home screen, long-press → tap +, search Chive, and choose the small widget. A great way to add things to your list on the go.
Pantry · adding
How to add items to your pantry.
Tap the + in the centre of the bottom bar to add items to your pantry.
Search & Add — type to find or create a product.
Scan Barcode — scan one item or a whole batch in series by following the prompts.
Scan Receipt — scan the whole receipt, with prices captured.
Snap Items — photograph your counter and Chive identifies everything in the photo.
The same + can also quick-add items straight to your grocery list.
Pantry · managing
How to manage your pantry.
Everything you buy lands in the right zone with a best-before date. Here's how to keep it current.
Tap an item to reveal its quick actions.
Press and hold an item for full details — photo, price history, and nutrition.
Use + / − as you use things up; − on the last one marks it empty (with undo).
Restock adds the item back to your shopping list.
Low marks it running low and puts it on your list.
Select to bulk-restock or remove several items at once.
Move items between zones in bulk.New
Expiring food
How to stay on top of expiring food.
Chive nudges you at the right times, so food gets eaten instead of tossed.
Turn on reminders in Settings → Notifications — expiry and low-stock alerts, with your own days-of-warning.
Daily glance — from the expiring banner, keep, toss, or add an item to your list in a tap.
Weekly review — pick a day and time, swipe through what’s expiring (Keep / Used up), and seed next week’s list.
See what’s expiring and act on it
Cook
How to cook from what you have.
Chive connects your pantry to real recipes. Here's how to use them.
On any recipe, tap “Do I have everything?” to see what you have, close matches, and what’s missing — then add the rest, scaled to your servings.
Ask “what can I make right now?” for ideas from what’s in your kitchen.
Modify — tap the chat icon while any recipe is open to modify the recipe: “make it vegetarian,” “make it healthier,” or whatever you request — then review it and Save as new version, Replace the original, or Revert.
Tap Start Cooking for step-by-step mode — swipe between steps, tap a time to start a timer. Tap the chat icon while cooking to ask Chive anything about your recipe or related techniques, or press & hold the chat button to ask hands-free.
When you’re done, Log This Cook — rate it and save leftovers; Chive marks what you used, updates your pantry, and offers to restock.
Recipes · import
How to import recipes from anywhere.
See a recipe you like? Import it into Chive as a clean, cookable card — from a reel, a link, or a cookbook.
From social (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest) — tap Share on the post and choose Chive, or paste the link.
From any website — paste the link and tap Import Recipe.
From text — paste a caption, email, or note and tap Extract Recipe.
From a cookbook — photograph the page, tap Keep page, repeat for more, then Done.
Chive formats it with scaled ingredients and per-serving nutrition, and keeps the original link so you can re-watch the reel while you cook.
Import didn’t go through? Retry from the import inbox — Chive re-fetches it on your device.
Import from anywhere
Any linkPasted textCookbook photoA screenshot
One clean recipe cardPlan
How to plan your week with Up Next.
Line up the meals you want to cook and shop for them all at once.
Add to Up Next — tap the pot icon on any recipe to queue it.
Switch between a simple Queue and a 7-day Week view, depending on your preference — the week view lets you assign recipes to specific days for more comprehensive meal planning.
Tap Add to list to add everything you’re missing across all planned meals to your shopping list — automatically deduplicated across your selected recipes.
Auto-spread lays your queued recipes across the week in one tap.
Cook a meal and it drops off your plan automatically.
Queue up what you’ll cook
Assistant
How to use the assistant.
Chive’s assistant can see your pantry, recipes, and the preferences you choose to share, so it answers questions a general chatbot can’t.
Tap the chat bubble to type; press and hold to talk and tap to send. Answers can be read back.
Ask it to add ingredients — deduped, scaled, and aisle-sorted (it checks with you first).
Technique help — “how do I get a good sear?” — even hands-free while you cook.
Personalize it in Settings → Chat Personalization (“we’re vegetarian,” “family of four”).
What can I cook tonight with what I have? Add the ingredients for mushroom risotto to my list. How do I get a good sear on a steak? Help me organize my recipes into collections.
Share
How to share your kitchen.
Chive shares your whole kitchen — pantry, list, and recipes — not just the list.
In Settings → Household, tap Generate & Copy Invite Link (links expire in 7 days).
Everyone shares the same pantry, list, and recipes, live.
Transfer ownership or remove members anytime.
In more than one kitchen? Switch households from the top of the app.
Settings
How to make Chive yours.
A few settings worth a minute.
Zones — create, reorder, recolour, and re-icon your storage spots.
Default assignments — set which zone each category lands in automatically.
Allergens & diets (beta) — flag what you avoid; it surfaces across recipes and chat.
My Stores — turn on up to five retailers for prices (in the US, find your nearest Kroger).
Appearance — light, dark, or system; four text sizes; haptics on iOS.
Region & units — country, currency, metric/US, °C/°F, date format.
Import / Export — bring data in from Paprika, Kitchen Pal, or CSV; export anytime.
Everything in one place
That’s the loop
Now go make dinner. Chive’s got the rest.
Shop from a list, track what you buy, cook what you have, and let the list refill itself. Each step feeds the next.
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