Best Meal Planning Apps

PlateJoy is an easy-to-use, highly customizable meal planning app that allows you to choose from various meal plans such as clean eating, diabetic-friendly, kid-friendly, paleo, vegan or low FODMAP. Upon signing up, you fill out an intake form that includes health goals, taste preferences, and preferred ingredients. You can also set a calorie goal and stipulate the number of meals desired each week. 

PlateJoy includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks and gives you the option to receive a weekly meal plan or design your own. It has one of the more extensive recipe collections and combines all the ingredients into one grocery list for the week. You can set dietary preferences for each family member and upload your favorite recipes. PlateJoy can save hours a week on meal planning and includes the option to order groceries through Instacart or Amazon Fresh. 

PlateJoy is a more expensive option as their basic plan costs $69 for six months or $99/year. Cost aside, PlateJoy will help eliminate waste and save money on groceries since you are only buying what you need. Their 10-day free trial will help you decide if it’s for you. We also liked that you can view nutritional information for each meal, and meals range from simple recipes that can be prepared quickly to those requiring a bit more work.

eMeals is a great choice for those who have large families and limited time to meal plan. Like other similarly priced apps, you can set your dietary preferences and choose meal plans based on nutrition goals. Their large database of recipes is interesting enough for foodies but easy enough to follow for the at-home cook. It offers options such as clean eating, paleo, kid-friendly, slow cooker, or vegan. You can also choose special occasions to plan if you are prepping for the holidays or hosting family. 

It integrates with most grocery delivery services so you can order groceries ahead of time to be delivered to your door. Although it is more expensive than other plans, it will help you eat at home more often and avoid expensive meals out. Each week you get a grocery list with food quantities, and if you like a particular website such as allrecipes.com, you can choose to have recipes only from that site.

eMeals is available on Apple and Android. Meal plans can be set for one to two people or three to six, but any other changes need to be calculated yourself. Overall, eMeals is a great choice for busy families who want to take the guesswork out of meal planning with an easy-to-follow menu each week.

Eat This Much is a meal planning app that makes your weight loss and fitness goals a priority. Designed for those who follow a specific dietary plan such as keto, carb cycling, or vegan, Eat This Much creates meal plans to suit your lifestyle. It allows you to set daily carb, protein, and fat targets or set a calorie goal for the day. 

In the upgraded version, you can have the app create a weekly plan for you or schedule meals in your calendar each week. It is easy to filter recipes by foods you like, and you can upload personal recipes as well. Like many other apps, grocery lists are created for you each week, and you can export lists to Instacart for grocery delivery to save time. 

Unfortunately, it is challenging to switch between meal plans and cancel if you decide it isn’t for you. Eat This Much offers a free version that may work for some people but the paid version offers the option to plan meals for the entire week, track pantry items, and create grocery lists.

Like other meal planning apps, your journey begins with an intake form for Mealime where you can set your food preferences, select your diet preference such as keto, pescatarian, vegan, state allergies, and the number of servings each meal. It can connect to Instacart or Amazon Fresh for grocery delivery. The upgraded version gives you access to additional recipes, nutritional information, and the ability to upload your favorite recipes. 

The free version of Mealime is one of the best free meal planning apps we’ve reviewed with useful features like a calendar, grocery list, and library of recipes. The upgraded version is a great choice for those who want to view nutritional information or plan additional meals to help reach diet goals. Most meals take 30 minutes or less to prepare and are simple enough for the average cook. 

The grocery list is sorted by aisle and gives you exact measurements needed for all your recipes for the week. Their app also includes a ‘hands-free’ feature that makes it easy to follow recipes while cooking without touching your phone with sticky fingers. 

We liked Prep Dish because it was created by dietician Allison Schaaf and includes healthy and wholesome recipes each week. You will get an email each week with a regular, paleo, or gluten-free menu to choose from. Prep Dish is the only one we reviewed that does not currently have an app but can be easily accessed on its website. 

Their menu includes four dinners, a side salad, a snack, and a dessert. Instructions are broken down into prep day and dish day. During prep day, you prepare all your food for multiple days and pack it up to reheat later in the week. Dish day gives you directions on how to reheat your meals or quickly put them together at dinnertime.  Prep day can be time-consuming and can take over two hours, but it saves time during the week.

Since recipes source high-quality ingredients, grocery trips can be expensive, but you are given exact quantities of everything you need for the week, so there is little waste. Prep dish recipes only serve four people, and their service does not integrate with a grocery delivery app.

Mealboard is an excellent app for storing your own recipes as it makes it easy to add recipes or upload them from your favorite websites manually. You can adjust for serving size and can schedule as many meals as you’d like on your calendar. We love that you can save meal plans as templates to reuse later and view an easy-to-follow grocery list when you go shopping. The app also includes a pantry feature where you can keep track of what you have at home and add or remove items. 

Unlike the other apps reviewed, Mealboard does not provide you with a plan each week. It is up to you to schedule your meals on the calendar and choose what recipes are best for you. It does not give you the ability to eliminate ingredients or set dietary restrictions, but you can adjust the number of servings, which helps families. 

Mealboard is one of the least expensive apps we reviewed and does not have a monthly service charge. Although its standard recipe library is limited, you can upload as many recipes as you’d like and organize them, so they are easy to find. Mealboard is a great app for those who are cooking for picky eaters, have their own favorite recipes, and just want a quick way to create grocery lists and plan for the week.