Patent ID: 8918355

Claim:
A method, executed by a processor at a server, for determining at least one meal combination, comprising: receiving, at the server, information identifying at least one food item; accessing, from a storage device, a set of meal combination rules and an identification of a plurality of food items; applying, at the server, rules including the accessed set of meal combination rules to the identified plurality of food items to identify one or more food items that satisfy the applied rules; determining, at the server, at least one meal combination among a plurality of possible meal combinations, the at least one determined meal combination including the identified one or more food items and the at least one food item identified by the received information; and transmitting the determined at least one meal combination from the server to a computing device for display, wherein the applied rules include at least one of: a profit margin rule included in the accessed set of meal combination rules, requiring that the determining step maximize a profit margin to a shopping establishment, such that the determined at least one meal combination has a greater profit margin than the others of the possible meal combinations; and a budget rule specifying a maximum total cost for the determining step, such that the determined at least one meal combination has a total cost that does not exceed the maximum total cost.