Best Free Meal Planning Apps in 2026

Best Meal Planner App in Australia

Ziplist can also notify you to sales, coupons, and other discounts available in the stores you shop, so you can save money and eat well at the same time. Cook Smarts isn’t so much a meal planning app as it is an entire meal planning service. The site’s blog and newsletter are free, but to make use of their meal planning tools, you’ll have to sign up for an account. It’s available for free on the web, on iOS, Android, Windows Phone/Windows RT, Nook, and Kindle devices. Once you’re signed up, you can import recipes from the web by pasting in the URL for them, or you can enter them manually from your favorite cookbooks or that stash of index cards you have. Once you have a good collection of recipes, you can build menus for your regular meals, for special events, or any night of the week.

best meal planning app australia

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While its interface may feel more traditional compared to newer, sleeker apps, its functionality is comprehensive and reliable for detailed weekly planning. Most meal planning apps range in cost from free to up to $120 for an annual membership. The average cost of most meal planning apps is between $35 and $45 per year. unimeal reviews The meal planning feature includes the option to choose your preferred prep level and number of meals per week. You also have the option to add a partner to your plan with customized calorie needs. From there, you enter your details to set a calorie range based on your health goals and activity level.

Food label template

Using 50 data points, the app crafts a unique meal plan just for you. CookBook stands out among recipe managers for several reasons. Our team is passionate about food and dedicated to helping people cook delicious meals. We are a small, personal team that values customer feedback and are always looking for ways to improve our app. Additionally, one of the unique features of CookBook is our recipe scanning function, which allows you to easily add recipes from your physical cookbooks or magazines to your digital collection.

  • Quick recipe suggestions tailored to your tastes with a handy grocery list.
  • Additionally, the app offers a 14-day free trial after which you must pay a subscription fee of $2.99 per month or $32.99 per year.
  • I’d recommend this meal planning app for busy people who don’t mind trading lack of variety for ease of meal prep.
  • The OS X app is $20, and each of the mobile apps (including separate apps for iPhone and iPad; it’s not universal) are $5.
  • Meal planning apps can be quite valuable, especially if you’re looking to eat healthily, lose weight, or save time.
  • For example, if you don’t like eggs for breakfast, just drag them into another meal later in the day!

Weekly Meal Planners We Love for Meal Prep (

A meal planner is like having a helpful sidekick to help you prep your weekly meals, providing a structured system to streamline your meal preparation process. Mealime stands out as one of the best meal planning apps for busy individuals, couples, and small families who prioritize speed and simplicity. Its core strength lies in generating highly personalized weekly meal plans comprised of healthy, straightforward recipes designed to be cooked in about 30 minutes.

best meal planning app australia

Meal Planner & Recipes Mealo

We’ve mentioned it before, and while it’s web-only (there are mobile apps on the way, according to the folks behind it) it’s still easy to use, powerful, and it gets the job done. Once you have a meal plan all set, just tell Plan to Eat to build your meal plan, and they’ll send it to you when its done, no hassle. Plan to Eat also plays nice with special diets, which is great if you have to cook for people with different tastes, or you’re trying something new with your own diet. The only downside is its price—a subscription will set you back $5/mo, or $40/yr. If you’re willing to pay the price for that level of ease-of-use, it’s a worthwhile investment so you can spend your time doing other things. There’s a free trial available if you want to give it a whirl before you decide to spend your money.

Favorite Meal Prep Tools

Keeping track of recipes can be a chore, especially if you’re the old-school type who still jots down notes with a pen and paper. Finding recipes online isn’t much better, since you need to bookmark pages, print them out, or save the ingredients and instructions in a document. After all, no one wants to shuffle through papers or search for files to find a recipe when it’s cooking time. There are so many advantages to meal planning but, best of all, it keeps the cost of your weekly grocery shop down, saves time and reduces food waste. Busy nights and fussy eaters can make dinner time a challenge.

Choose your ideal meals

Take charge of your nutrition with guidance on meal planning, diets, supplements, and more from our dietitians and nutritionists. The most effective way to find your perfect match is to get hands-on experience. Nearly every app on our list offers a free trial or a limited free version. We highly recommend you test-drive your top two or three contenders for at least a week. Meal planning apps can also offer the benefit of tracking nutrient intake which may be beneficial if you need to meet specific nutrient targets or are looking to lose weight. Meal planning apps with free access have varying functionality with some offering more features than others.

The 18 Best Meal Planning Apps [2024 Review]

Pepperplate also includes tools such as timers and kitchen scales to help make meal prep easier. Because I know how annoying it is to battle the lock screen with dirty hands. In addition to custom meal plans and smart grocery lists, it also includes optional grocery delivery thanks to a smart integration with Instacart. Mealime is the ultimate solution for busy people who want to eat healthier without sacrificing time. With this app, you can easily create a profile and customise your food preferences.

Use our database to calculate nutrition values for your mobile and web applications

Whether you’re trying to plan meals for your family or stick to your health goals, these meal planning apps take a ton of work off your plate. A meal planner app solves all of these issues, allowing households to plan weekly meals efficiently and reduce food waste. Most apps have a calendar feature that lets you plan meals for a day, week or month.

Asparagus Recipes That’ll Put a Spring in Your Step

While this app excels at monitoring your eating behaviors and weight loss, its main focus is on tracking. One of its major downsides is the lack of automatic, customizable grocery lists to pair with your meal plan. Plan to Eat lets you organize all of your favorite recipes and create meal plans in one easy-to-use app.

Recipes display ingredients, but preparation instructions must be viewed on the original recipe website, not in the app which may make it cumbersome to use. Pepperplate is ideal for the experienced cook who has a solid recipe collection and knows their nutritional needs — especially if that person is trying to lose weight. To start, you choose from one of multiple meal plans including High Protein, Flexible, Pantry Staples, Mediterranean, Low-Carb, Keto, Vegan, Vegetarian, or Pescatarian. Also in the paid version, full nutrition information for each recipe is available and is calculated by Yummly using the USDA nutrient database.