What gets stored on your device

Google AdSense and profitableratecpmnetwork.com show display ads on most pages so the site can stay free. Cook Mode has none. AdSense (ca-pub-1293315231352902) and profitableratecpmnetwork.com can set advertising cookies. We also use Google Analytics to count page visits (measurement ID G-1XF3EVT1F8), plus cookie-free Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights for page path and page speed. There are no social pixels that follow you around the web.

What we do use is your browser's own storage, which is where your pantry, plans, saved recipes and cooking journal actually live. That is not tracking; it is how the site remembers your kitchen without us holding a copy of it.

A cookie is a small file your browser sends back to the site with every request. We use one only to keep you signed in.

Local storage is a bigger box your browser keeps on your device and does not send anywhere. Almost everything below is local storage, which is why your pantry stays on your phone rather than on our servers.

These cannot be turned off, because without them the feature simply stops working.

• Sign-in cookie. Set by our sign-in system (Auth.js) when you log in, so you stay logged in as you move between pages. It also sets short-lived cookies that protect the login form from being abused. If you never create an account, you never get one.
• Your pantry, fridge scans, shopping list, Chef conversations, saved recipe adaptations and food preferences. Stored locally under iwsf:intel:v1.
• Cooking journal, passport stamps, achievements, profile and notification settings. Stored locally under iwsf:journey:v1. If you are signed in, the key includes your email address so two people sharing a device do not see each other's journal.
• Meal plans. Stored locally under iwsf:plan:v1.
• Quiz progress — iwsf:quiz:v1 — including which recipes you have practised.
• Saved recipes, recently viewed recipes, shopping items and measurement units — iwsf:saved, iwsf:recent, iwsf:shopping, iwsf:units.
• Light or dark theme — iwsf:theme, read before the page paints so the site does not flash white at you.
• Your answer to the consent banner — iwsf:commerce:v2. We have to remember your choice somewhere, so we keep it on your device rather than in an account.
• Recipe opens already counted today — iwsf:recipe-hits:v1. Stops the same recipe being counted twice in one day on this browser, so the homepage popularity row stays honest.

The AdSense script loads on the site so Google can show display ads. It may set cookies Google uses to choose an ad and to tell one browser from another. Those cookies belong to Google, not to us. We do not send AdSense your pantry, meal plans or cooking journal, and ads are paused in Cook Mode, admin and sign-in.

Scripts from profitableratecpmnetwork.com also load on those same pages (not Cook Mode, admin or sign-in). They may show ads and set their own cookies or similar identifiers. We do not send that network your pantry, meal plans or cooking journal.

You can block advertising cookies in your browser or with a content blocker. That may mean you see fewer ads, or filler space, but the recipes still work.

Google Analytics runs on every page and records that a page was opened — the path, a rough location, the device type and the site that sent you here. That is how we know whether people are finding the recipes. Vercel Analytics records the page path without a cookie, and Vercel Speed Insights records how fast the page felt. Query strings are stripped from both before they are sent.

The banner asks a separate question: may we also count how features get used? Say yes and the site sends events like “recipe viewed” or “cook started” to our own database, so we can see what to fix next. Say no — or close the banner without choosing — and those feature events are not sent. This is enforced in the code, not just promised: the tracking function checks your stored answer before every send and stops if it is missing. Those first-party events stay in our database and are not used to build an advertising profile of you.

You can change your answer any time in Settings. Turning it off stops future events immediately.

Dish photographs are served from this site. Loading one does not contact a separate recipe database, and it does not set an extra cookie. See copyright and takedowns for how the catalogue is put together.

The quickest way is the “Your data” panel in Settings: export your cooking journal as a file first if you want to keep it, then delete the local data. You can also clear site data for iwantsomefood.com in your browser settings, which removes the sign-in cookie too.

Be aware of the trade-off: because this data lives on your device and nowhere else, clearing it deletes your pantry, plans, journal and progress permanently. We cannot restore it, because we never had it.

If you want to know what a particular stored item does, email hello@iwantsomefood.com and we will explain it. The wider picture is in our privacy policy.