How to Settle "What's for Dinner?" with a Family Vote

The question that never goes away

Somewhere around late afternoon, someone asks, "What are we eating tonight?" Three people say "anything is fine." Then each suggestion is met with a polite no. By the time a decision is made, half the evening is gone and the cook is tired of asking.

If you want the general routine behind a fair family decision, we wrote about it in How to End the "I Don't Know, What Do You Want?" Dinner Argument. This post is the hands-on version: how the vote works inside Degchi, tap by tap.

Starting a vote

Open the Family tab. You will see a card called What should we cook tonight? with the line "No vote yet for tonight" and a Start a vote button. (If you have not made a family yet, How to Set Up Your Family in Degchi covers that first.)

Tap Start a vote and a sheet opens with three choices:

• Meal: Lunch or Dinner.
• Pick 2 to 5 dishes: a counter shows how many you have selected. The dishes on offer come from what your pantry can make, or nearly make. Each one is marked Ready, or tells you what it still needs, for example "Need: yogurt".
• Closing time: 1 hour, 2 hours, or a clock time such as 5 pm or 7 pm.

Pick your dishes, choose a closing time and tap Start vote. Two to five options is a good range: enough choice to feel fair, few enough to decide quickly.

Voting, reminding and closing

Everyone in the family sees the same card. Each dish is a row. Tap the one you want and your avatar appears on it, with a bar and a count that grow as votes arrive. A line at the bottom shows progress, such as "2 of 5 voted · tap to vote", and the card shows when the vote closes and how much time is left.

Someone still scrolling their phone? Tap Remind others. It opens WhatsApp with a ready-made message, "Vote for tonight's dinner on Degchi!", so you can send it to the family chat in one more tap.

When it is time, the owner or a cook sees a Close vote button. Once it is closed, the card changes to a banner: "Tonight: Tandoori Chicken 🎉", for example. If the winning dish needs something you do not have, the card spells it out with a line such as "Missing: yogurt, on your list", so you know before you start cooking. A Start cooking button opens the dish in cook mode, and New vote clears the way for tomorrow.

What if most of the family dislikes a dish?

On any recipe page there is a Your taste row with a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down. Those reactions are kept for your household, and Degchi uses them. A dish that more people dislike than like is moved out of the "ready to cook" suggestions, even when every ingredient is in the cupboard. If such a dish does show up in a vote, a small line under it says so, for example "3 of 5 don't like this".

That is useful in a real home. The cook is spared from making something half the table will push around the plate, and the person who dislikes a dish does not have to argue about it again.

Two small buttons that help on busy days

• I'm not home today skips you in today's vote and in the "food is ready" message. Switch it on when you will be at work late or eating out.
• Food is ready sends a message to the family when the meal is on the table, so nobody has to shout up the stairs.

Why the options are always cookable

A vote is only as good as the options on it. Because Degchi builds the list from your pantry, the choices are things you can actually cook tonight, not a wish list that sends someone to the shop at 6 pm. The winning card names anything you are missing (Your Shopping List, Built from Your Pantry shows how the list works), and taste reactions quietly keep the family's least favourite dishes out of the way.

One practical note: to share votes across phones, each family member signs in with Google. The Family tab shows a banner, "Sign in to share your family's pantry, list and votes across phones," until that is done.

Want to see how requests and household chores fit in? Read on in Dish Requests and Weekly Helpers: Getting Everyone Involved. And if tandoori dishes are on your voting list, try tandoori chicken, chicken tikka or seekh kabab.

Try it with your family

Degchi is in beta and free to use. If you would like the nightly debate to take a minute instead of an hour, join the Degchi beta with your Gmail address and tell us how the vote works in your home.