Meal planning is one of those things that, when you start, you say, “How could I live without it?”
There is literally no downside to meal planning. It eliminates the tedium of daily decisions because you already know what's on the list and saves time, headaches, hassles, and ultimately, money. No more last minute trips to the expensive local supermarket because you forgot an ingredient. You no longer have to order tanks because you don't know what to do or you don't have an empty pantry. No more awkward silences when your kids keep asking, “What's for dinner?”
Meal planning is literally one of the easiest ways to make your life easier. And luckily, there are plenty of apps out there to help you plan your meals just the way you want them. We've rounded up the 10 best meal planning apps on the market, so whether you want an app that creates meal plans for you, stores your recipes, orders ingredients online, or helps you stay healthy, you're sure to find one. Is it right for you?
1. Mealime
Mealime is a great meal planning app for anyone who wants to maintain a healthy eating pattern. All you need to do is create a profile, add your food preferences, and the app will generate a list of meal options, including keto, paleo, and vegan. You then select your weekly meals and the ingredients can be automatically added to Amazon Fresh or Instacart.
How much does Mealime cost?
Mealime is a free app, but you can upgrade to Pro for $5.99 per month or $49.99 per year.
2. Paprika Recipe Planner
Paprika is a recipe manager and meal planner in one. You can build your recipe collection by entering your favorites manually or saving them to the app directly from the web. A nice feature is that recipes can be automatically scaled up or down to fit the number of servings you need. Other extras include keeping the screen on while working on a recipe and built-in cooking timers. One of the best features is that Paprika creates a personalized shopping list based on your meal plan, consolidating ingredients as needed so you don't gain weight from overbuying.
How much does Paprika cost?
The main disadvantage of paprika is that it is not free. The cost ranges from $5.99 to $29.99 depending on the device you use. And your membership may not sync across devices. If you purchase for Windows, you will need to purchase a separate app for your iOS or Android device.
3. PlateJoy
PlateJoy is the ultimate app for people who want to eat healthy, spend hours in the kitchen, and have special dietary restrictions. When you sign up, you take a lifestyle survey that includes questions about your food preferences, allergies, calorie goals, exercise routine, and general schedule. The app then creates a personalized meal plan for you, complete with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Plans are created by dietitians who are available for consultations by phone or chat.
And what meal planning app would be complete without offering an automatically generated shopping list based on your meal plan? Shopping List can be integrated directly with Instacart and other grocery delivery services to kill 2 birds with one stone.
How much does PlateJoy cost?
PlateJoy offers a 10-day free trial, but after that, this health service will cost you. Users can choose between a 6-month subscription for $69 and a 12-month subscription for $99. However, if you are at risk for type 2 diabetes, some insurance policies will cover the cost of PlateJoy's diabetes prevention program.
4. Plan to Eat
Launched 10 years ago, Plan to Eat is an easy-to-use meal planner and recipe organizer designed to help you stay organized, eat healthy, and save time and money. It's marketed as a DIY app, which means there's no recipe database, but rather you choose what you eat and how you plan your week. You can upload your own recipes or import them from the web. When you create a weekly menu, ingredients are added to your shopping list, which you can sort based on your supermarket layout. You can also create a favorites list where you can add custom favorites so you never have to worry about forgetting them or typing them over and over again.
Nutritional information is provided for each recipe and you can add notes and comments. Plan to Eat also allows you to share recipes and meal plans with friends and family.
How much does Plan to Eat cost?
The cost is $4.95 per month or $39 per year after a 30-day free trial.
5. Cozi Recipe Box & Dinner Planner
Cozi is best known as a family organizer that includes shared calendars, to-do lists, a family diary, and other features. One of those other features is the Cozi Recipe Box & Dinner Planner, which lets you save recipes from your favorite websites, add ingredients to your shopping list, and create your family's weekly meal plan. Cozi has some interesting additions, such as cooking mode, which allows the screen to stay on while you follow a recipe, and the ability to connect multiple devices.
How much does Cozi Family Organizer cost?
Cozi Family Organizer is a free app and all of its meal planning features can also be used for free. However, if you want an ad-free option, you can pay a few extra dollars per month.
6. Pepperplate
Pepperplate is a meal planning app that allows you to organize your tried-and-true recipes while also getting suggestions for new recipes you might like. can become your digital cookbook that not only stores recipes, but also helps you create menus and plan your week.
Like some of its competitors lets you share your favorite recipes with family and friends. Plus, it lets you create shopping lists from your weekly menu plan (although it doesn't direct you to an online grocery delivery site). Pepperplate also has a cooking mode that lets you keep the screen on so you don't have to touch your phone with greasy hands.
How much does Pepperplate cost?
There are 2 special features of Pepperplate. It is available on several devices including Google Play, iTunes, Amazon App Store, Windows Store, and Nook. And it's free! In other words, it offers many of the same features that other meal planning apps do, but at no cost to you.
7. BigOven
BigOven is a meal planning app that includes its own collection of half a million recipes to choose from. At the same time, it allows you to import recipes from the web or take photos of handwritten recipes and upload them to the app. Recipes can be organized by categories and filters so you can easily find the food you want. When you add meals to your schedule, you can add ingredients to your shopping list.
The really cool aspect of BigOven is the Use Up Leftovers feature, which allows you to enter the ingredients you want to use and the app will generate recipe options for you. The main drawback of the app is that not all features are available in the free version.
How much does BigOven cost?
If you want the full list of BigOven benefits, the $2.99/month or $24.99/year plan is worth spending. There is a free trial available for both so you can try it out without obligation.
8. Eat This Much
Eat This Much is a meal planner and calorie counter combined. When you sign up, you enter personal information, including your height, weight, and health goals. You also provide information about your food preferences (paleo, vegetarian, vegan, Mediterranean, etc.), how much you want to spend, and your schedule. The app then creates a meal plan for you, along with a list of ingredients that can be purchased from online grocery sites.
You can also import recipes from the web or manually, calculate the calorie count of popular restaurant dishes, and use the unique barcode scanner to find out the nutritional value of packaged foods. Eat This Much also includes a pantry feature, so once you're done shopping, you can track what items you have in your pantry so you don't overeat.
How much does Eat This Much cost?
With Eat This Much, you must choose the paid option to use the meal planner. The premium plan costs $4.99/month when you pay annually or $8.99/month when you pay monthly.
9. Allrecipes Dinner Spinner
Allrecipes has been around for years and has established itself as the authority on user-reviewed recipes. Their Dinner Spinner app has a community of over 50 million cooks and 50,000 recipes. Basically, it is a social app that revolves around food. It has a feed that gets smarter the more you use it, providing suggestions based on the chefs you follow and the recipes you cook. You can search for recipes based on keywords, ingredients, dietary restrictions, and time limitations.
How much does Allrecipes cost?
Allrecipes is available on multiple devices and is completely free.
10. Prepear
Prepear is considered the ideal meal planning app for foodies, so it's no surprise that many popular food bloggers have teamed up with it has a database of over 100,000 rated recipes uploaded by its community of users. You can also upload your own recipes and set your food preferences so that only relevant recipes are shown to you. Once you find recipes you like, you can include them in your weekly meal planner. The ingredients are added to your shopping list, which you can order from the app.
Like Allrecipes Dinner Spinner, Prepear includes a social feed that allows you to interact with and be inspired by friends.
How much does Prepear cost?
Prepear has a free version and a paid version for $59 a year.
Save Time, Money, and Frustration
As you can see, each of the top 10 meal planning apps has its own angle and area where it shines. The one thing they all have in common is that they will save you time, money and frustration. While it may take a brief adjustment period to get into the habit of meal planning, once you do, your life will never be the same.