Question

I have a Django model representing a simple grocery list, as follows (truncated for brevity)

class Meal(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length = 200)
    ingredients = models.ManyToManyField(Ingredient)

class GroceryList(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length = 200)
    meals = models.ManyToManyField(Meal)
    ingredients = models.ManyToManyField(Ingredient)

This allows a GroceryList to contain both Meal objects, and Ingredient objects. (This way a list can group ingredients together when they’re needed for a Meal.)

The problem is, I want a GroceryList to be able to contain the same Meal twice, or more. What’s the most efficient solution?

I had considered wrapping the Meal class in an object (‘MealContainer‘) that maintained both the underlying Meal, alongside a quantity, but that seems a little heavy-handed.

Answer 1

Perhaps consider a through model with a quantity field.