As we head into another weekend, it’s time to take a look at three more fun Raspberry Pi projects to tackle. This weekend, I’m showing you two similar projects that are pretty easy to accomplish with the right hardware, and one that will make you think a bit harder than normal to see through to the finish line.
Brand
Raspberry Pi
CPU
Cortex-A72 (ARM v8)
Memory
2 GB
With the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, you can create all kinds of fun projects, and upgrade gadgets around your home. Alternatively, install a full desktop OS and use it like a regular computer.
Build a family recipe kiosk to make choosing dinner easier
Scrolling recipes is easier than trying to remember them
One thing my wife and I still struggle with is trying new recipes. We always go back to the tried and true recipes that we’ve cooked for years, even after we try something new and like it. We do this not because we want to, but simply because it’s easiest to just make what’s already in your memory.
If you’re still doing weeknight dinners like I am, then shake things up with a family recipe kiosk. It’s actually quite simple to build, and only requires three components: a Raspberry Pi (any will do), Mealie, and a touchscreen display.
The build is pretty straightforward. Install Raspberry Pi OS Lite on your Raspberry Pi, and then proceed to get Docker working on the Pi. From there, install Mealie through Docker.
Now, you have a way to track, input, and categorize your recipes. The only thing left is to hook the Raspberry Pi up to a touchscreen display, which can be picked up pretty cheap on Amazon.
From there, make your Raspberry Pi run in kiosk mode and open up the Mealie interface. Now, your family can scroll through the pictures you’ve uploaded for recipes and pick whatever they want to eat that night.
The best part is, you can access Mealie on any device, not just your Raspberry Pi. So, you’ll be able to add recipes to Mealie from your phone or computer, and have them pop up on the Pi as soon as you refresh the page.
Have a wall-mounted smart calendar in the kitchen
When’s the kids’ next soccer game again?
Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek
You could use the same system as the kitchen recipe kiosk for this project, or build something entirely different. I’d recommend going a slightly different route for a wall-mounted smart calendar, however.
Instead of a touchscreen, I would opt for an e-ink display. An E-Ink display is designed to be left on the same image for hours, days, weeks, or even years without degrading. E-Ink is the same technology that’s used in Kindles and other eReaders.
With an E-Ink display and a Pi, the only other thing you need is InkyPi. The GitHub project is easy to deploy on your Raspberry Pi and offers all sorts of functions. You can use it to display a calendar, clock, image, text, and so much more.
Related
Forget wall-mounted tablets—an E-Ink dashboard is what your smart home really needs
Keep it simple.
You can build schedules out in InkyPi, so you could program it to leave a note for the kids to see when they wake up, or just have it display your family’s calendar on the wall to see at a glance.
Having a calendar always visible in the kitchen is something I grew up with, and using technology to do it in 2026 is a great way to bring a bit of that nostalgia into the 21st century.
So, if you’re still using a paper calendar like it’s 1990, then upgrade that this summer to a Raspberry Pi, an e-ink display, and InkyPi.
Scan USB drives for malware before plugging them into your computer
The worst that could happen is the offline Pi gets fried
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / How-To Geek | Vector Dude / Shutterstock
Have you ever received a flash drive that you really wanted to check for malware or viruses before plugging into your computer? If you’ve never had a flash drive like that, maybe you’ve had a hard drive pulled from a computer that you needed to do that with.
Either way, a Raspberry Pi is the perfect offline solution for that task. This type of project will definitely take some ingenuity and know-how, but it’ll pay off in the end. The way it works is by setting up the virus and malware scanning software you want on the Raspberry Pi. Set it up so that any removable storage that is attached to the Pi automatically gets scanned the moment it’s mounted.
From there, you’ll need some sort of screen or LED indicator to know what’s going on with the drive. A simple solution would be a small, cheap OLED screen that can mount to a Pi’s case. Or, you could use a touchscreen so that you could interact with the virus removal software.
However you set it up, make sure that the Pi is disconnected from the network and there’s no way for it to reconnect by itself at any point. You want a malware and virus scanner like this to remain offline, so there’s really not a chance that any potential viruses could be transferred to other computers in the house.
Start thinking outside the box for your Raspberry Pi projects
Not all Raspberry Pi projects need step-by-step tutorials or instructions. While a lot of projects do have already built pieces of software or tutorials, someone had to be the person to create that software or write the tutorial.
Take the malware scanner. There might be some projects out there that do something similar to that, but doing it yourself is a good way to stretch your brain. The way that you choose to implement this task could be completely different from how I do it. Different software, different code for scanning, and even a different way to display the results of the scan.
Instead of trying to find simple copy-and-paste code for your next Raspberry Pi project, why not try to come up with the entire thing by yourself? It’s a great exercise, and you’ll be surprised at how easy that becomes after you do it a few times.
