The Best Meal Planning Apps (When You’re Tired of Doing It Yourself)
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Despite being a basic need, feeding yourself is hard work. Feeding a family is even harder. First, there’s the planning, then the shopping, unpacking, cooking, storing, and finally, cleaning—all of it has to be done over and over again. We all know what it’s like to be faced with this task and simply open Uber Eats and pay a ton of money to have someone do (most of) it for us. Apps are a lifesaver when meal planning becomes overwhelming, but you’re using the wrong apps. Forget Door Dash and Grub Hub: these apps help you plan, shop, and cook your own meals, while offloading some of the heavy lifting to your appliances.
Here are a few meal planning apps that can suggest recipes based on your dietary preferences, create shopping lists, and even guide you through the cooking process. They can’t handle leftovers or washing dishes, but maybe someday we’ll learn that too.
Best Recipe App: BigOven
BigOven is a meal planning app that provides access to over a million recipes, with new ones added constantly. I like a few things: first, you can enter some of the ingredients you already have and get recipes based on them, cutting down on grocery shopping and limiting the number of recipes you need to sift through from over a million. You can also scan handwritten recipes and let the app convert them into recipes you can save, preserving family traditions. Finally, I appreciate that the app has a browser version, as it makes typing, browsing, and scrolling easier. Some of the apps on this list also work in the browser. Overall, I prefer to do most of my planning and work on the computer, then call my phone at a critical moment just when I need to refer to a recipe.
The free version is good, but limited. You get a shopping list and one free recipe review. For more detailed meal planning, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version for $2.99 per month or $24.99 per year. Imagine saving the same amount by skipping one or two delivery orders.
Best Family Meal Planning App: Cozi
Cozi is a family organizer, so when you first hear about it, you might not think of food and recipes, but don’t be fooled. In addition to a daily calendar and to-do lists, Cozi lets you manage a shopping list (which any family member can add to in real time) and even suggests recipes. You can not only plan meals but also schedule their preparation for times when everyone is free.
The basic version is free, but the premium version, which costs $39.99 per year, offers more features, most of which are related to family account management (such as birthday tracking and calendar search). If you use the app for meal planning, you might not need the upgrade; I was able to create a whole list of recipes for free.
Best App for Fitness and Nutrition Goals: Eat This Much
Eat This Much is truly ideal for those with specific nutrition and fitness goals. It creates meal plans based not only on your budget and personal preferences, but also on your meal plans. You enter the number of calories you’d like to consume per day, as well as the amount of protein and other nutrients. The app also functions as a calorie counter and contains a database of nutritional information for restaurant and packaged foods. If you’re meal planning and meal prepping to achieve fitness goals or a healthy lifestyle, this app could be especially helpful. (By the way, if you’re looking for a comprehensive calorie and nutrient counter, I’m a big fan of Lifesum .)
If you need more features, cost matters. For $8.99 per month, you can create weekly meal plans, use advanced search, view past meals, and create reports on your eating habits—to name a few. Upping the price to $59 per month unlocks weekly meal plans, macronutrient tracking, and a recipe database, among other features. It’s not exactly a small price, but if you’re serious about cooking, it’s worth considering.
Best app for when you’re busy: Mealime
Mealime is often recommended on meal planning forums, and it’s perfect for busy people because it offers a multitude of recipes that can be prepared in under half an hour. You can filter recipes by dietary restrictions or preferences, create a shopping list, and go about your day in peace. Otherwise, it’s quite minimal, but as a picky eater, I appreciate the ability to exclude recipes that include ingredients I don’t like. If you ever catch me eating even a single mushroom, call the authorities, because I’m sending out a distress signal.
The free version offers a variety of recipes, but some are marked “Pro.” To unlock these, as well as other features like the ability to add notes, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version for $2.99 per month. Its ease of use and relatively low price make this app my favorite.
The Best App for Relieving Decision Fatigue: eMeals
eMeals emphasizes that it’s “simplified” meal planning, and it truly is. You get preset menus, designed by nutritionists and broken down into themes. Themes can be kid-friendly, keto-friendly, quick meals, and so on. The apps on this list, with thousands of recipes to scroll through, are great, but if you just want someone or something to curate for you, start with this one.
eMeals also partners with major grocery stores, making shopping list creation significantly easier and more accurate. Another service, with a powerful browser component, makes the task almost incredibly simple.
Best Recipe Tracking App: Plan to Eat
Plan to Eat is designed for those who have a general idea of what they like or want to eat but just need a little help organizing. You can copy recipes from the internet or browse them in the app, add them to the built-in calendar, and create grocery lists by category, making shopping easier. The app’s cooking mode even includes step-by-step instructions with timers to help you get everything done down to the minute.
You get a free two-week trial, then pay $5 per month or $55 per year to access all features.