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For as basic a necessity as it is, feeding yourself is a lot of work. What’s more, feeding a household is even worse. There’s the planning, then the shopping, the unpacking, the cooking, the storing, and finally, the cleaning, all of which has to be done over and over again forever. We all know what it’s like to be faced with this task and just decide to open up Uber Eats and pay a bunch of fees to have someone do (most of) it for us. Apps are the saving grace when meal planning gets too daunting—but you’re using the wrong apps. Forget Door Dash and Grub Hub: These apps can help you plan, shop for, and prepare meals on your own while still offloading some of the hard work on tech.
Here are some meal-planning apps that can suggest recipes based on your dietary preferences, put together shopping lists, and even walk you through the cooking. They can’t box up leftovers or wash the dishes, but maybe one day in the future, we’ll get there, too.
Best app for recipes: BigOven
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/BigOven
BigOven is a meal-planning app that grants you access over one million recipes—and new recipes are constantly being added. I like a few different things about it: First, you can input some of the ingredients you already have and get recipes based on those, reducing your grocery shopping and limiting how many of those million-plus recipes you need to scroll through. You can scan handwritten recipes in, too, and let the app turn them into recipes you can store there, preserving family traditions. Finally, I appreciate that it has a browser version, since that makes it easier to type, browse, and scroll. A few of the apps on this list also work on the browser. In general, I like to do a lot of my planning and work on the computer, then call in my phone at crunch time, just when I need to refer to a recipe.
The free version is nice, but limited. You get the ability to put together a grocery list and one free recipe scan. For more detailed meal planning, you’ll need to upgrade to its paid version for $2.99 per month or $24.99 for the year. Think of it like this: You’ll save that much by skipping a delivery order or two.
Best app for family meal planning: Cozi
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Cozi
Cozi is a family organizer, so you might not think of food and recipes when you first hear about it—but don’t be fooled. In addition to its daily calendar and to-do lists, Cozi provides space for you to keep a grocery list (which any family member can add to in real time) and even offers up recipes. Not only can you plan your meals’ content, but you can schedule them for when everyone is available.
The basic version is free, but the premium version, which is $39.99 per year, offers more features, most of which have to do with the family management aspect (like birthday tracking and calendar searching). If you’re using it for meal planning, you may not need to upgrade; I was able to build out an entire schedule of recipes without paying.
Best app for fitness and nutrition goals: Eat This Much
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Eat This Much
Eat This Much is really ideal for anyone with specific nutrition and fitness goals. It puts together plans based not only on your budget and personal preferences, but your nutritional plans, as well. You’re prompted to enter in how many calories you’d like to eat in a day, as well as how many grams of protein and other nutrients you want to hit. It even doubles as a calorie tracker and comes with a database of nutritional information about restaurant and packaged food. If you’re meal planning and prepping for fitness or health goals, this could be the one for you to really focus in on. (Relatedly, if you’re in the market for a comprehensive calorie and nutrient tracker, I am a huge fan of Lifesum.)
Money comes into play if you want more features. For $8.99 per month, you can create meal plans for a week, used advanced search features, view your past meals, and generate reports on your eating habits, to name a few. A bump up to $59 per month unlocks bulk meal plans for over a week in advance, macro tracking, and a recipe database, among other things. That’s not exactly a small cost, but if you’re serious about meal prepping, give it a look.
Best app for when you’re busy: Mealime
Credit: Mealime/Lindsey Ellefson
Mealime is widely recommended in forums for meal planners and caters to busier people because it’s full of recipes that can be made in under half an hour. You can filter recipes by dietary restrictions or preferences, generate a grocery list, and get on with your day. It’s a little bare-bones beyond that, but as a picky eater, I appreciate the ability to eliminate recipes that include the things I don’t care for. If you ever catch me eating a single mushroom, call the authorities because I’m sending a distress signal.
You’ll get plenty of recipes in the free version, but you’ll notice some are labeled “Pro.” To get those, as well as other features like the ability to add notes, you’ll have to upgrade to the paid version for $2.99 per month. For its simplicity of use and fairly low cost, this is a favorite of mine.
Best app to relieve decision fatigue: eMeals
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/eMeals
eMeals emphasizes that it’s meal planning “made simple,” and they mean that. You get pre-loaded, dietitian-curated menus that come in “themes.” Themes can be kid-friendly, keto, quick, etc. The apps on this list with thousands of recipes to scroll through are great, but if you just want someone or something else to pick for you, start here.
eMeals also has partnerships with major grocery retailers, which makes creating your grocery list a little easier and more specific. Another on the list that has a robust browser component, this makes things almost too easy.
Best app for more recipe control: Plan to Eat
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Plan to Eat
Plan to Eat is for people who have a general sense of what they like or want to eat, but just need a little push on the organization. You can clip recipes from the internet or browse recipes in the app, add them to the built-in calendar, and create grocery lists that are specified by category, making shopping easier. The app’s cooking view even comes with step-by-step instructions that include timers, walking you right through everything you need to do down to the minute.
You get a free two-week trial, then you’ll pay $5 a month or $55 a year to access all the features.
