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Наталя ХандусенкоStartup
13 May 2026, 10:27
2026-05-13
No AI — just real experience in the kitchen: Ukrainians launch “capsule” meal prep app. How Mealpreper Guide helps fill the fridge for several days with one meal
Two IT professionals and a former Support Specialist, now a food blogger, have launched a startup called Mealpreper Guide — an app for “capsule” meal preps that take into account variety and balance. Unlike personalized meal kits and shopping lists generated by AI services, Ukrainians offer a product that takes into account the nuances of cooking: co-founders actually “run out” the menu in a real kitchen and eat what they sell themselves.
Two IT professionals and a former Support Specialist, now a food blogger, have launched a startup called Mealpreper Guide — an app for “capsule” meal preps that take into account variety and balance. Unlike personalized meal kits and shopping lists generated by AI services, Ukrainians offer a product that takes into account the nuances of cooking: co-founders actually “run out” the menu in a real kitchen and eat what they sell themselves.
Co-founder Tetyana Gajovych has not only many years of experience in IT, but also restaurant management. However, it was her passion for cooking that led to the creation of Mealpreper Guide.
Mealpreper Guide co-founder Tetiana Gajovych
I was selling ready-made menus in PDF format through Buy Me a Coffee. Everything was going well until I ran into a classic scaling problem: PDFs are designed for two people. What if you cook only for yourself? Or do you have four children and a dog who also wants a balanced diet? Plus, I had the ambition to take the product beyond my Instagram — to new markets and countries.
After a family brainstorming session, my husband and I decided to create a mobile app. So Dmytro Bruso pitched the idea to his friend from the IT industry, Pavlo Naumenko. UI/UX designer Alla Udut (Dumnich) joined the team, and work began in earnest.
The company was founded in 2024: actual development started in April, and in October, a closed beta testing was launched, which involved Tatyana's Instagram followers.
After analyzing the test results, they realized that the launch would have to be postponed — too many bugs were found. According to the team, this was their best decision in the entire history of the project. The full release of the application took place only in May 2025.
How Mealpreper Guide works
Mealpreper Guide is a capsule meal prep that gives you a maximum of different dishes from one set of ingredients.
You cook the components separately: protein, vegetables, grains, sauce. From this designer, you can assemble 9 different plates within 3-4 days. One cooking, and the refrigerator is full.
In practice, it looks like this: you choose a menu, get a shopping list for the required number of people, and then the cooking mode guides you step by step with timers and parallel tasks. No "what next" and no ten tabs open in the background.
The startup honestly admits that the first two or three times cooking takes longer than stated — 3 hours instead of the stated 1:45. This is because users need to get used to the format.
The team intentionally doesn't use artificial intelligence. Each menu is prepared by hand and goes through several iterations of testing in their home.
“There is one big problem with AI: it doesn’t cook or eat, so often what is generated there just sounds cool. I want a person who has already invested time and money into cooking to get it right and it turns out delicious — that’s why I don’t do anything except check it with my hands and test it on my own people,” explains Tetyana.
The developers are still considering the possibility of implementing AI in the future, but are looking for an ecological application for it in the product, which will definitely not involve recipe generation.
Development cost, monetization and cooperation with Fozzy Group
Since the startup was launched, the founders have invested $13,000 of their own funds. The bulk of the money goes to operating expenses: hosting, service subscriptions, and design (Alla outsources). The co-founders do the development and content creation themselves.
The project is monetized through annual and monthly subscriptions. The team adheres to the principle of "value first, payment later," so one menu is available for free every month — without card binding or intrusive reminders.
"I know from my own experience: before a person believes that systemic milprep will change their week, they have to get to the end once and feel that the refrigerator is full, the plates are different, and no one is in a hurry. After that, the question of whether it is worth paying is resolved much easier," says Tetyana.
The startup has already participated in Google for Startups and the Fozzy Venture Studio accelerator. The next step will be to attract external funding once the project finally proves the effectiveness of its unit economics.
Also, as part of the acceleration with Fozzy Group, the startup is testing product delivery via Silpo across Ukraine. The user creates a shopping list in Mealpreper Guide, and the application helps to complete it through a partner. If the pilot shows good results, this will open a full-fledged second revenue stream.
What stage is the project at now and what are the plans?
Mealpreper Guide currently has about 4,000 registered users, of which 600 to 800 are active during the month. These results were achieved without paid advertising campaigns. The majority of users (approximately 80%) are from Ukraine, the rest are mainly from Europe and Canada. The plan is to increase the audience to 10,000 by the end of 2026 on their own.
Regarding technical improvements, the team currently has three priorities:
Menu builder. The team plans to transfer a database of about 200 proven recipes from Buy Me a Coffee into the app. The next step will be to connect AI, which will create balanced combinations exclusively from this proven recipe pool.
Delivery integration. If the product delivery pilot shows good results, this will open up a second revenue stream, and the shopping list from the app can be converted into an order in a few clicks.
The “anti-milprep” format. Tetyana has a separate series of recipes for large family feasts and holidays. The idea is to prepare for three or four evenings for an hour, and on the day of the guests’ arrival, simply take everything out of the refrigerator and set the table in 30–40 minutes, without exhausting yourself. The team is partially reworking the data structure in version 2.0 for this format.
