Privacy Policy

Last updated: 19 August 2026

This is the Privacy Policy for Cooked Properly (cookedproperly.com). It explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and what we do with it.

Cooked Properly is operated by Elliott Vause, trading as a sole trader, based in the United Kingdom. If you have any questions about this policy or want to exercise any of the rights described below, you can contact us at elliott@cookedproperly.com.

Who we are

Cooked Properly is a recipe and cooking education website. We sell paid memberships giving access to additional features such as a meal planner, smart shopping list, recipe scaling, and an AI-assisted recipe import tool.

What information we collect

When you sign up for a free or paid account:

Your name
Your email address
Your password (stored encrypted — we never see it in plain text)
Your account preferences and content: saved recipes, meal plans, shopping lists, and any recipes you import or create

When you make a payment for a Pro or Chef membership:

Payment details are handled entirely by Stripe — we never see or store your card information
We receive confirmation that payment was successful, along with subscription status and renewal dates

When you sign up for our email list:

Your name and email address are passed to Mailchimp, our email marketing provider

When you use the recipe import tool:

The recipe text you paste and any photos you upload (see “Recipe import and AI processing” below)

When you add a photo to one of your own recipes:

The image file itself (see “Photos you upload” below)

When you contact us or submit a suggestion:

Whatever information you choose to share in your message

When you browse the site:

If, and only if, you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics collects information about how you use the site — pages visited, time on page, approximate location, and device type. See “Analytics” below.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand which recipes people actually cook and which parts of the site are useful. This is optional and off by default.

When you first visit, you’ll be asked whether to accept analytics cookies. Nothing is collected until you accept. If you decline, Google receives only anonymous, aggregated signals with no identifiers attached, which cannot be linked back to you.

We have configured Google Analytics so that:

IP addresses are anonymised
Google is not permitted to use this data for its own products and services
The Google data processing amendment applies to the data we send

You can change your choice at any time using the cookie preferences link on the site.

We do not use Facebook Pixel, advertising trackers, or any other analytics service.

Recipe import and AI processing

If you use the recipe import tool, the text you paste and any photos you upload are sent to Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models, so they can be turned into a structured recipe.

What gets sent: the recipe text you provide, and up to three photos per import. Nothing else about you is sent — not your name, your email address, or your account details.

What happens to it: Anthropic processes the content and returns a structured recipe, which is saved to your account on this site. Under Anthropic’s terms for business customers, content sent through their API is not used to train their models. Anthropic may retain content for a limited period for safety and abuse monitoring. Their current terms are published at anthropic.com.

Where it happens: Anthropic is based in the United States. See “Sending information outside the UK” below.

Your choice: the import tool is optional. You can add recipes without using it.

Photos you upload

If you add a photo to one of your own recipes, it is stored on this website’s server.

Before it is uploaded, your browser reduces the file size and strips the photo’s embedded metadata, including any location information your camera or phone recorded. That data never reaches us.

Where it is stored: photos are kept in a folder on this site’s server, linked to the recipe you added them to. They are not published, not listed anywhere public, and not shown to other members.

How this works in practice: photos are stored at an unlisted web address, in the same way images on most websites are. This means a photo is not discoverable by other visitors, but anyone who had the exact address could open it. Please treat these as unlisted rather than fully private, and don’t upload photos containing anything sensitive — this is for pictures of food.

Deleting them: removing a photo from a recipe, or deleting the recipe, deletes the file from the server.

How we use your information

To provide you with the features of your account — saving recipes, meal planning, shopping lists, recipe import
To keep your meal plan and shopping list available on any device you sign in from
To process payments and manage subscriptions
To send transactional emails (account confirmations, payment receipts, password resets, cancellation notices)
To send marketing emails — only if you’ve opted in, and you can unsubscribe at any time
To respond to your support enquiries and suggestions
To understand how the site is used, if you’ve accepted analytics cookies
To improve the site

We do not sell your data, share it with advertisers, or pass it to third parties for marketing purposes.

Third parties we share data with

Stripe — all payment processing. PCI-DSS compliant. Privacy policy at stripe.com/privacy.
Anthropic — processes recipe text and photos submitted to the import tool. Privacy policy at anthropic.com/legal/privacy.
Mailchimp — email marketing list management, only if you’ve opted in. Privacy policy at mailchimp.com/legal/privacy.
Google — website analytics, only if you’ve accepted analytics cookies. Privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.
Google Workspace — we use Google Workspace for business email, so correspondence with us may be stored on Google’s servers.
Our hosting provider — your data is stored on servers managed by our web host. They cannot access your data without permission.

Sending information outside the UK

Some of the services above are based outside the UK, principally in the United States. This applies to Anthropic, Mailchimp, Google and Stripe.

Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, it is protected by data processing agreements with those providers that include the safeguards required under UK data protection law.

How long we keep your information

Active accounts — as long as you have an account with us
Cancelled paid accounts — your account moves to the free plan and your data remains until you delete it
Meal plans and shopping lists — stored against your account and deleted with it
Recipes and photos you’ve added — until you delete them, or until your account is closed
Deleted accounts — removed permanently, though backups may persist for up to 30 days
Email list — until you unsubscribe (one click in any email)
Transactional email logs — automatically purged after 90 days
Support enquiries — up to 2 years for reference
Analytics data — retained by Google according to the retention period set on our account

Cookies

We use cookies for essential site functions, and analytics cookies if you accept them. Full details of every cookie set, what it does and how long it lasts are in our Cookie Policy, which is kept up to date automatically.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

Right of access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
Right to rectification — correct any inaccurate information
Right to erasure — request that your data be deleted
Right to restriction — restrict how we use your data
Right to data portability — receive your data in a portable format
Right to object — object to certain types of processing
Right to withdraw consent — withdraw consent for marketing emails or analytics cookies at any time

To exercise any of these rights, email elliott@cookedproperly.com. We’ll respond within one month.

If you’re not happy with how we’ve handled your data, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Children

Cooked Properly is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. If you believe we have such data, please contact us so we can delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top will reflect any changes. Significant changes will be communicated via email if you have an active account.

Data collected to manage your membership

At checkout, we will collect your name, email address, username, and password. This information is used to set up your account for our site. If you are redirected to an offsite payment gateway to complete your payment, we may store this information in a temporary session variable to set up your account when you return to our site.

At checkout, we may also collect your billing address and phone number. This information is used to confirm your credit card. The billing address and phone number are saved by our site to prepopulate the checkout form for future purchases and so we can get in touch with you if needed to discuss your order.

At checkout, we may also collect your credit card number, expiration date, and security code. This information is passed to our payment gateway to process your purchase. The last 4 digits of your credit card number and the expiration date are saved by our site to use for reference and to send you an email if your credit card will expire before the next recurring payment.

When logged in, we use cookies to track some of your activity on our site including logins, visits, and page views.

We maintain logs of transactional emails sent to you for operational and support purposes. These logs include the email content, recipient address, subject line, and delivery status. Entries are automatically purged after 90 days. If you request deletion of your personal data, all email log entries associated with your account will be permanently removed.

Caching

This site uses caching in order to provide a faster response time and a better user experience. Caching potentially stores a duplicate copy of every web page on display on this site. All cache files are temporary, and are never accessed by any third party, except as necessary to obtain technical support from the cache plugin vendor. Cache files expire on a schedule set by the site administrator, but may be purged by the administrator before their natural expiration if necessary. We may use QUIC.cloud services to process and cache your data temporarily. See https://quic.cloud/privacy-policy/ for more details.