Hi, I’m Christy. I’m a Co-founder and CMO at Ollie and also a busy working mom of four kids. Like many of you, my days are full, my nights are hectic, and family dinner often teeters between something I love… and something I dread.
Years ago, I stumbled across Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach—a book that reads like a part-cookbook, part-memoir. She writes about raising kids, holding down a job, and still making time for family dinners. What stuck with me most? Her secret weapon: the weekly meal plan.
Inspired, I picked up a notebook and started planning our dinners every Sunday. I’ve been doing that—on and off—since 2013. And I’ll be the first to tell you: when I skip it, I feel it. Those weeks are more chaotic, more takeout-heavy, and filled with the dreaded 5 p.m. “what’s for dinner?” panic.
But here’s the truth: meal planning takes work. It requires time, mental energy, and a lot of tabs open to make it all come together. That’s where Ollie comes in.
From Meal Planning by Hand to AI in My Kitchen
In 2023, I joined Ollie as Head of Marketing, and I was immediately drawn to the mission: reduce the mental load of family life using AI.
Together with our founder, Bill Lennon—a fellow meal planner—we asked a simple question: What if AI could do this part for us? What if it could remember our preferences, suggest meals we’d actually want to cook, and build the grocery list too?
Fast-forward to today: that vision is now real.
The team hard at work sketching out the early concepts for Ollie.
How Ollie Works (And Why I Can’t Live Without It)
With Ollie, I can tell the app what my family likes and doesn’t like, add in our favorite meals, and even say how many nights I want to cook. In seconds, Ollie generates:
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A personalized meal plan for the week
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Recipes matched to our tastes, dietary needs, and time constraints
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An organized grocery list, ready for shopping or delivery
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Easy ways to swap meals, adjust servings, or use up ingredients I already have
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And a growing Cookbook of our family’s favorite dishes
Best of all, Ollie gets smarter every week. The more I cook, the more it learns what works for us—and it’s already reduced the time I spend thinking about dinner by a lot.
A Real Week in Our Kitchen with Ollie
Here’s what our first week with Ollie looked like:
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Sunday: Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp with Green Beans
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Monday: Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Grilled Chicken
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Tuesday: Ground Turkey Tacos (obviously, it’s Taco Tuesday)
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Wednesday: Chickpea Curry with Naan
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Thursday: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
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Friday: Quinoa-Stuffed Bell Peppers
These were meals I might not have picked on my own, but Ollie knew they matched our preferences—and they were all hits.
Why Ollie Is More Than Just a Meal Planner
What I love most is that Ollie isn’t just giving me recipes—it’s actually helping me reclaim mental space. No more late-night planning sessions. No more repetitive meals. No more wasting groceries I forgot to use. Just a calm, confident answer to the question: what’s for dinner?
And honestly? That changes everything.
Ready to Try It? Ollie Is Available Now
Ollie is now live in the App Store and Google Play. No more waitlist—just an AI assistant built to help your family eat better, save time, and reduce the stress of dinner planning.
🎯 Smart, family-friendly meal planning. Less mental load. More dinners everyone will love.
