FoodBase

A plain-text, markdown-first food vault schema for personal meal planning, grocery management, and nutrition tracking. No proprietary database. No lock-in. Works with any text editor — and with AI.

This repository is a blank template. Clone it, open it in Obsidian, and start filling in your own food data. Each folder contains one sample file showing the expected format.

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Philosophy

The vault is the source of truth. Apps are replaceable skins on top of it.

All data lives as plain markdown files with YAML frontmatter. This means:

• Works with any markdown editor (Obsidian, iA Writer, VS Code, or just a text editor)
• Syncs via iCloud, Dropbox, Git, or anything else that handles files
• Readable by humans and AI alike — no custom query interface needed
• Never breaks because a SaaS product shut down or changed its API

The schema is designed to be Obsidian-compatible (including Obsidian Bases for filterable table views), but it requires nothing from Obsidian specifically. Every file is just a markdown file.

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Vault Structure

FoodBase/
├── recipes/            # Full recipes with ingredients and instructions
├── food-nutrition/     # Individual food/ingredient items with macros
├── dog-food-nutrition/ # Pet food items with caloric density data
├── pantry/             # Home inventory by location (pantry/fridge/freezer)
├── menu-ideas/         # Browsable meal idea cards
├── menu-plan/          # Weekly meal plans (one file per week)
├── groceries/          # Weekly grocery lists (one file per week)
├── templates/          # Blank templates for each file type
├── recipes.base        # Obsidian Bases view for recipes
├── food-nutrition.base # Obsidian Bases view for foods
├── dog-food-nutrition.base
├── pantry.base
├── menu-ideas.base
├── menu-plan.base
└── groceries.base

---

Schemas

Recipe (recipes/)

Filename convention: kebab-case-title.md Template: templates/recipe.md

---
title: Classic Roast Chicken
category: dinner          # breakfast | lunch | dinner | snack | dessert | side | appetizer | drink | dog
cuisine: american         # italian | mexican | american | asian | mediterranean | other
servings: 4
prep_time: 20 min         # e.g. "15 min", "1 hr", "8 hrs 15 min"
cook_time: 1 hr 30 min
total_time: 1 hr 50 min   # prep_time + cook_time
tags: [chicken, weeknight]
nutrition: "[[food-nutrition/whole-milk]]"   # link to a food-nutrition file
source: https://example.com/recipe           # URL or book reference
---

## Ingredients

- [ ] 1 whole chicken (3.5–4 lbs)
- [ ] ...

## Instructions

1. [ ] Preheat oven to 425°F...
2. [ ] ...

## Notes

Optional notes, substitutions, or variations.

Notes on prep_time: Always account for all knife work and ingredient preparation implied by the recipe. "20 min" means 20 minutes of actual hands-on prep, including chopping, peeling, and measuring — not just mixing.

---

Food / Ingredient (food-nutrition/)

Filename convention: kebab-case-title.md Template: templates/food-nutrition.md

---
title: Whole Milk
brand: Generic            # omit if not applicable
category: ingredient      # breakfast | lunch | dinner | snack | beverage | condiment | ingredient
serving: 1 cup (244ml)    # describe the serving unit clearly
calories: 149
protein: 8                # grams
carbs: 12                 # grams
fat: 8                    # grams
fiber: 0                  # grams
sugar: 12                 # grams
---

The food-nutrition.base view sums all macro columns — useful for reviewing what's in a given meal or recipe if you link items together.

---

Dog Food (dog-food-nutrition/)

Filename convention: kebab-case-title.md Template: templates/dog-food-nutrition.md

---
title: Sample Chicken & Rice Formula
brand: Sample Brand Co.
qty: 13608              # total package weight in grams
upc: 000000000000
kcal_per_gram: 3.6
kcal_per_cup: 349
kcal_per_kg: 3600
kcal_per_treat:         # for treat items only; leave blank for kibble
---

---

Pantry Item (pantry/)

Filename convention: kebab-case-title.md Template: templates/pantry-item.md

---
title: Kosher Salt
category: spices          # produce | protein | dairy | dry-goods | canned | frozen | condiments | spices | snacks | beverages
location: spice-rack      # pantry | fridge | freezer | spice-rack
brand: Diamond Crystal
quantity: 1
unit: pkg                 # g | oz | lbs | cups | count | pkg | L | ml
expires:                  # YYYY-MM-DD; leave blank if not applicable
---

The pantry.base view sorts by location, giving you a quick view of what's on hand in each area of your kitchen.

---

Menu Idea (menu-ideas/)

Filename convention: kebab-case-title.md Template: templates/menu-idea.md

---
title: Roast Chicken with Vegetables
category: dinner          # breakfast | lunch | dinner | snack | dessert
cuisine: american
tags: [chicken, one-pan, family-friendly]
last_made: 2026-01-10    # YYYY-MM-DD; update after making the meal
recipe: "[[recipes/classic-roast-chicken]]"   # optional link to recipe file
source: https://example.com/recipe             # optional URL or book reference
---

Menu ideas are intentionally lightweight — they're discovery cards for browsing, not full recipes. Link to a recipes/ file when one exists.

---

Menu Plan (menu-plan/)

Filename convention: YYYY-Www.md (ISO week number format, e.g. 2026-W01.md) Template: templates/menu-plan.md

---
week: 2026-W01
starts: 2026-01-03   # date of the Saturday that starts the week
---

## Saturday
- Note: Optional note for the day.
- Weather: 38°F, partly cloudy
- Meal: Roast Chicken with Vegetables

## Sunday
- Note:
- Weather: 42°F, sunny
- Meal: Leftover chicken tacos

One file per week. The week runs Saturday–Friday. Weather is optional but useful for contextualizing meal choices in retrospect. The menu-plan.base view sorts by starts descending to show most recent weeks first.

---

Grocery List (groceries/)

Filename convention: YYYY-Www.md — matches its corresponding menu plan week Template: templates/grocery-list.md

---
week: 2026-W01
generated: 2026-01-03   # date the list was created or last updated
---

### Produce
- [ ] Baby potatoes (1 lb)
- [ ] Carrots (3–4 medium)

### Protein
- [x] ~~Chicken thighs (2 lbs)~~   # strikethrough = purchased

Workflow convention: Check items off as you shop. Items marked with strikethrough (~~text~~) are purchased. When creating next week's list, carry over any unchecked items from the prior week.

---

Obsidian Bases

Each .base file at the root of the vault defines a filterable, sortable table view over its corresponding folder. Open these in Obsidian to browse and filter your data.

File	Covers	Key columns
recipes.base	recipes/	category, cuisine, servings, prep, cook, tags
food-nutrition.base	food-nutrition/	brand, category, serving, macros (summed)
dog-food-nutrition.base	dog-food-nutrition/	brand, qty, kcal/g, kcal/cup, kcal/kg
pantry.base	pantry/	category, location, brand, quantity, expires
menu-ideas.base	menu-ideas/	category, cuisine, tags, last_made
menu-plan.base	menu-plan/	week, starts (sorted newest first)
groceries.base	groceries/	week, generated (sorted newest first)

Obsidian Bases requires Obsidian v1.8 or later.

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Getting Started

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Open the folder as a vault in Obsidian (Open folder as vault).
3. Browse the .base files to see the table views — they'll be empty until you add content.
4. Use the templates in templates/ as your starting point for each new file.
5. Start with food-nutrition/ and recipes/ to build your core database, then populate menu-ideas/ as you accumulate meals you like.

---

Naming Conventions

Type	Convention	Example
Recipes	kebab-case-title.md	classic-roast-chicken.md
Foods	kebab-case-title.md	whole-milk.md
Dog food	kebab-case-title.md	sample-chicken-rice-formula.md
Pantry items	kebab-case-title.md	kosher-salt.md
Menu ideas	kebab-case-title.md	roast-chicken-with-vegetables.md
Menu plans	YYYY-Www.md	2026-W01.md
Grocery lists	YYYY-Www.md	2026-W01.md

---

License

CC0 1.0 Universal — public domain. Use this schema for any purpose, without restriction.