What Should I Eat?
Filter by meal and cuisine, or paste in your own shortlist. Either way, something gets decided.
Why deciding what to eat is so hard
The problem is not lack of options — it is too many of them. Psychologists call this choice overload: past a certain point, adding options makes deciding harder and satisfaction lower, because every choice now carries the cost of everything you did not pick. Food is a particularly bad case because it recurs daily, the options are near-infinite, and it is usually a negotiation with someone else. Removing the choice entirely, by handing it to something arbitrary, is a genuinely effective fix.
Breaking the "I don’t mind" deadlock
The stalemate has a predictable shape: both people genuinely have a preference, neither wants to impose it, and so both say they do not mind. Twenty minutes later nobody has eaten.
Two things break it reliably.
Narrow before you randomise. Each person names two options they would be happy with. Put those four into the box and let it choose. The result is now guaranteed acceptable to both, and nobody had to be the one who decided.
Use the disappointment test. When the answer appears, notice your reaction. Relief means take it. A small sinking feeling means you had a preference all along — and now you can just say what it was.
The paradox of choice, briefly
The best-known study is Iyengar and Lepper's supermarket jam experiment. A tasting table with 24 varieties attracted more passers-by than one with 6 — but shoppers who saw the 6 were roughly ten times more likely to actually buy.
Later work has found the effect is smaller and more conditional than the popular version suggests; it depends on time pressure, familiarity and how hard the options are to compare. But the everyday lesson survives: when a decision does not matter much, spending effort on it is pure cost.
Dinner on a Tuesday is exactly that kind of decision.
How to use the What Should I Eat?
- Filter by meal, cuisine and how much effort you are willing to spend.
- Or switch to my own options and paste the shortlist you are actually arguing about.
- Press decide. If you feel disappointed, you have learned what you wanted.
Frequently asked questions
Can I add my own options?
Yes. Switch to "my own options" and paste your list, one per line. Useful when the real argument is between three specific takeaways.
Will it suggest the same thing twice?
It avoids repeating the previous suggestion whenever there is an alternative available, so pressing "something else" always gives you something else.
How many dishes are in the list?
Around 45, spread across breakfast, lunch and dinner and a dozen cuisines, each tagged by how much effort it takes.
Does it account for dietary requirements?
Not directly. For anything specific — vegetarian, gluten-free, allergies — use your own options list, which gives you full control.
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Last reviewed September 4, 2026. Results are estimates for general information only.