Based on previous comments, here is the new idea:

A kitchen machine that stores food cartridges in a built in refrigerator and then cooks it for you in its built in stove and pan. This could be done if the food ingredients and spices are packaged in containers specifically designed so they can be moved and opend by the machine like cartridges. All food items would already come cut into bite size pieces so that all the machine has to do is open the containers, defrost, cook and stir. So there would be different food producers packaging their products in this cartridge format.

The cartridges would come labeled so you know in which slot to put them (A meats B Vegetables, C spices, etc) and with a UPC code that the machine would read to know exactly what ingredient you are putting in and when it expires.

So if you want a curry all you need is to insert your Indian recipes CD rom in the Smart Stove and choose the curry you want from the built in computer. If you are out of a certain ingredient it would suggest another alternative ingredient or recipe.

The smart stove would always be connected to the Internet so it can shop for you according to what you are missing and the food diet and recipes you have programmed.

This might be a challenging machine to make, but so was the refrigerator back then. Imagine how practical this could be if they got it to work, and a simple version does not seem that far fetched. I mean its not much more than combining an advanced bending machine with a stove. Well implemented it could make a world of difference in the busy modern world for the cooking and grocerie shopping.

Even if you love to cook it could be really practical for certain occasions like the mircowave. And this machines would get better with time. For a lot of people the art of cooking would be replaced by the art of choosing the perfect meal.
-- SmartyPants, Nov 05 2003

Take-Away food is expensive. This machine would only be expensive in the same way buying a refrigerator or a dishwasher is.
-- SmartyPants, Nov 06 2003


// This machine is expensive but in the same way a refrigerator is //

In that it has a door with seals around it? and hums periodically?
-- benjamin, Nov 06 2003


Would my vegan smart stove be cheaper in the absence of the meat/dairy compartments [SmartyPants]? Why not add a 'random meal' selector which would select those cartridges about to expire and compose a meal from them? It could filter out combinations which would clearly produce vomit-inducing offerings. You could feed back a score for the meal which it would upload to a database allowing other smart stove owners to download the recipe.
-- dobtabulous, Nov 06 2003



random, halfbakery