Frequently Asked Questions About Pare
Everything you need to know about Pare — the free way to plan meals, track your pantry, and cook what you already have.
Is Pare really free?
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Yes. Pare is completely free to use — every feature, including the pantry tracker, recipe import, meal planner, and smart shopping lists. There are no subscriptions, no trials, and no hidden fees.
Do I need to create an account to use Pare?
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No account or signup is required. Pare works instantly the moment you open it — your pantry, recipes, and meal plans are saved to your session so you can start planning right away without handing over an email address.
How does Pare work?
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Add the ingredients you already have to your pantry, import or save recipes you love, and Pare shows you what you can cook right now. From there you can plan meals on a calendar and generate a shopping list for anything you are missing.
Can I import recipes from any website?
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Yes. Paste a recipe URL from almost any cooking site and Pare automatically pulls in the title, ingredients, instructions, and cooking times. You can also paste raw text or a CSV, or add a recipe manually.
What is the "What Can I Cook?" feature?
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It matches the ingredients currently in your pantry against your saved recipes and ranks what you can make right now — highlighting recipes you can cook with zero additional shopping and those that need just one or two extra items.
How does the pantry tracker work?
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You add items to your pantry with quantities and optional expiry dates. Pare keeps a running inventory, warns you about items nearing their expiry, and uses that inventory to power recipe matching and shopping lists.
Can Pare scan my grocery receipts?
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Yes. Pare can read a photo of your grocery receipt and automatically add the items to your pantry, so you do not have to type everything in by hand after a shopping trip.
How does Pare create shopping lists?
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When you plan meals or pick recipes, Pare compares the required ingredients against what is already in your pantry and builds a shopping list of only what you are missing — no duplicates, no waste.
Does Pare support meal planning?
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Yes. You can assign recipes to days on a calendar-based meal planner, then generate a single consolidated shopping list for the whole plan.
Which grocery delivery services can I order from?
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Pare links your shopping list out to popular grocery and delivery services including Instacart, Amazon Fresh, DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Safeway, so you can order the items you need in a couple of taps.
Is my data private?
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Yes. Pare does not require an account, and your pantry and recipe data stays tied to your own session. We do not sell your personal data. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Does Pare work on my phone?
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Absolutely. Pare is a mobile-optimized web app that works in any browser on your phone, tablet, or computer — nothing to download or install.
How does Pare make money if it is free?
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Pare earns a small commission when you choose to order groceries through the delivery partners we link to, at no extra cost to you. That is what keeps the app free for everyone.
Can Pare help me reduce food waste?
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That is one of the core ideas behind Pare. By tracking what is in your pantry, flagging items before they expire, and showing you recipes that use what you already have, Pare helps you cook what you own before it goes bad.