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Meal planner: cost tracking, leftover recipes & nutrition diary in Google Sheets

takumatakuma
359 views
2/3/2026
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Who's it for

This template is for home cooks, small restaurant owners, or anyone who wants to streamline their meal planning, ingredient cost tracking, leftover management, nutritional analysis, and social media promotion. It's ideal for those looking to optimize their kitchen operations, reduce food waste, maintain a healthy diet, and efficiently share their culinary creations.

How it works / What it does

This advanced workflow acts as a comprehensive culinary assistant. Triggered by a new menu item, it performs several key functions:

  • Cost and Ingredient Tracking: A "Menu Agent" uses AI to analyze your input (e.g., a recipe or dish) and extract a detailed list of ingredients, their associated costs, unit prices, and total cost, then logs this into a Google Sheet as a "Recipe List."
  • Leftover Management: A "Leftovers Agent" identifies any unused ingredients from your planned dish and suggests three new recipes to utilize them, helping to minimize food waste. This information is also recorded in a Google Sheet.
  • Nutritional Diary: A "Nutritionist Agent" generates a diary-style entry with dietary advice based on the meal, highlighting key nutrients and offering personalized suggestions. This entry is appended to a "Diary" Google Sheet.
  • Social Media Promotion: A "Post Agent" takes the nutritional diary entry and transforms it into an engaging social media post (specifically for X/Twitter in this template), which is then sent as a direct message, ready for you to share with your followers.

How to set up

  1. Webhook Trigger:
    • The workflow starts with a Webhook. Copy the webhook URL from the "Webhook" node. You will send your menu item input to this URL.
  2. Google Sheets Integration:
    • You need to set up a Google Sheets credential for your n8n instance.
    • Create a Google Sheet document (e.g., "Recipe List"). Within this document, create three sheets:
      • "Recipe: This sheet will store your menu items, ingredients, costs, etc. Ensure it has columns for Date, Item, Ingredients, Ingredient Cost, Unit Price, Quantity, Total, Cost, and Leftover Ingredients.
      • "leftovers" (Leftovers): This sheet will store suggested recipes for leftover ingredients. Ensure it has columns for Date and Ingredients.
      • "diary" (Diary): This sheet will store your nutritional diary entries. Ensure it has a column for Diary.
    • In the "Append row in sheet", "Append row in sheet1", and "Append row in sheet2" nodes, replace the Document ID with the ID of your Google Sheet. For "Sheet Name," ensure you select the correct sheet (e.g., "レシピ", "diary", "leftovers") from the dropdown.
  3. OpenRouter Chat Model:
    • Set up your OpenRouter credentials in the "OpenRouter Chat Model" nodes. You will need your OpenRouter API key.
  4. Twitter Integration:
    • Set up your Twitter credentials for the "Create Direct Message" node.
    • In the "Create Direct Message" node, specify the User (username) to whom the direct message should be sent. This is typically your own Twitter handle or a test account.

Requirements

  • An n8n instance.
  • A Google account with Google Sheets enabled.
  • An OpenRouter API key.
  • A Twitter (X) account with developer access to send Direct Messages.

How to customize the workflow

  • Input Data: The initial input to the "Webhook" node is expected to be the name of a dish or recipe. You can modify the "Menu Agent" to accept more detailed inputs if needed.
  • Google Sheets Structure: Adjust the column mappings in the Google Sheets nodes if your spreadsheet column headers differ.
  • AI Agent Prompts: Customize the System Message in each AI Agent node (Menu Agent, Leftovers Agent, Nutritionist Agent, Post Agent) to refine their behavior and the kind of output they generate. For example, you could ask the Nutritionist Agent to focus on specific dietary needs.
  • Social Media Platform: The "Create Direct Message" node is configured for Twitter. You can swap this with another social media node (e.g., Mastodon, Discord) if you prefer to post elsewhere, remembering to adjust the "Post Agent" system message accordingly.
  • Output Parser: The "Structured Output Parser" is configured for a specific JSON structure. If you change the "Menu Agent" to output a different structure, you'll need to update this parser.

n8n AI-Powered Google Sheets and X (Twitter) Automation

This n8n workflow demonstrates a powerful integration of AI agents with Google Sheets and X (formerly Twitter). It acts as a flexible framework for processing data from a Google Sheet, applying AI-driven logic, and then posting the results to X.

What it does

This workflow is designed to:

  1. Receive a Trigger: It starts by listening for an incoming webhook, which can be triggered by various external events or scheduled tasks.
  2. Interact with Google Sheets: It connects to a Google Sheet, likely to read or write data, although the specific operation is not defined in the provided JSON (it's a generic Google Sheets node).
  3. Process with an AI Agent: The core of the workflow uses an "AI Agent" (powered by LangChain) to perform complex, conversational, or decision-making tasks. This agent can interpret input and decide on actions.
  4. Utilize an OpenRouter Chat Model: The AI Agent leverages an "OpenRouter Chat Model" as its language model, allowing it to generate human-like text, answer questions, or follow instructions.
  5. Parse Structured Output: A "Structured Output Parser" ensures that the AI agent's responses are formatted into a usable, structured format (e.g., JSON), making it easier for subsequent nodes to process.
  6. Post to X (Twitter): Finally, the processed and AI-generated content is posted to X (formerly Twitter), enabling automated social media updates or responses.

Prerequisites/Requirements

To use this workflow, you will need:

  • n8n Instance: A running instance of n8n.
  • Google Sheets Account: Configured Google Sheets credentials in n8n.
  • X (Twitter) Account: Configured X (Twitter) credentials in n8n.
  • OpenRouter API Key: An API key for OpenRouter to use their chat models.
  • Understanding of LangChain Concepts: Familiarity with LangChain agents and output parsers will be beneficial for customizing the AI agent's behavior.

Setup/Usage

  1. Import the workflow: Download the provided JSON and import it into your n8n instance.
  2. Configure Credentials:
    • Set up your Google Sheets credentials.
    • Set up your X (Twitter) credentials.
    • Configure the OpenRouter Chat Model node with your OpenRouter API key.
  3. Configure Nodes:
    • Webhook: Activate the webhook and copy its URL. This URL will be used to trigger the workflow.
    • Google Sheets: Specify the Google Sheet ID, sheet name, and the operation you want to perform (e.g., "Read Sheet," "Append Row," etc.).
    • AI Agent: Configure the agent's prompt, tools, and memory based on your specific use case. The "Structured Output Parser" will help define the expected output format.
    • X (Twitter): Define the message or content to be tweeted, which will likely come from the output of the AI Agent.
  4. Test the Workflow: Manually trigger the webhook or set up an external system to send data to it to test the end-to-end functionality.

This workflow provides a robust foundation for building intelligent automations that combine data manipulation, advanced AI processing, and social media interaction.

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