Can Springhouse Finally Solve the ‘What’s in My Fridge?’ Problem?

Jay Lee and Springhouse want to help us figure out what’s for dinner.

Not only that, but they want to do so by keeping an up-to-date inventory of what’s in our fridge, so we can plan around the food we already have and know what we may need to run to the store for, or order through our favorite grocery delivery service.

Of course, the questions of what’s for dinner and what’s in our fridge aren’t new. In fact, both have been a focus of the technology, appliance, and food industries for much of the past two decades. But surprisingly, no one has really solved the problem of tracking what’s in our fridge and pantry in a way that most people actually find useful or easy. If you want proof, look no further than the home itself: it remains the single largest source of food waste.

It’s not for lack of trying. Over the past decade-plus, a wave of apps has tackled pantry tracking. In the early 2010s, apps like Out of Milk billed themselves as shopping list tools with built-in “Spice Rack” features. Dedicated pantry and fridge trackers like NoWaste followed. Appliance brands also got into the game, rolling out fridges with smart cameras, oven-based computer vision systems, and, more recently, built-in barcode and QR code scanners.

And yet, despite all this effort, most of us still open the fridge and don’t really know what’s inside, or head to the grocery store only to come home with items we already have.

In fact, it was this exact experience that led Lee to try to tackle the problem himself.

“I had gone to the supermarket, and I bought a tub of sour cream following a recipe. I came home and there was an unopened tub of sour cream in our refrigerator, which was about to expire,” Lee said on the latest episode of The Spoon Podcast.

Like most of us (including me, seemingly every time I go shopping), Lee had double-bought an ingredient. But this time, he said, it stuck.

“For some reason, that moment, it broke me. And I went down the rabbit hole searching for a solution and realized there was none.”

To be fair, there have been solutions — or at least attempts. Companies like Plant Jammer built apps designed to suggest recipes based on what’s already in your fridge. But, as history shows, nothing has really stuck or taken off in a big way. (Plant Jammer, for its part, has since shut down.)

Springhouse’s answer is what Lee calls a “kitchen intelligence platform.” Unlike traditional recipe apps, which start with a dish and send you to the store, Springhouse works in reverse.

“Using what you have, your exact inventory, your taste preferences, the equipment you have on hand, we’re going to offer you up personalized cooking instructions to serve dinner,” Lee said.

The challenge, of course, is inventory capture — the very friction that has sunk so many apps before it. Lee acknowledges that history.

Springhouse is attempting to reduce that friction through multiple inputs: computer vision during grocery unpacking, voice logging, and receipt capture. The goal, Lee says, is full visibility without turning it into another household chore. The app will also learn how you cook by building what Lee describes as essentially a digital twin of your kitchen.

“Springhouse is going to have persistent context. We’re essentially creating a living model of your kitchen, your preferences, the ingredients you have on hand, even the equipment you have on hand,” he said.

The idea may not be new. The question is whether better AI, better design, and a clearer value moment can finally make it stick. I’m hoping it can, as I’d love a good technology solution to help me better manage my food, as well as keep me from buying doubles of avocados every time I go to the grocery store.

Springhouse plans to launch on iOS in Q2 2026.

You can watch my full interview with Jay below:

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