Many people wing it when it comes to planning out a week’s worth of meals, hoping that a grocery haul full of healthy products will be enough to get by. But if you’ve ever found yourself throwing out expired produce or meats (and then promptly ordering takeout for dinner), it’s time to relook at those grocery shopping habits. Eating only from your well-intentioned shop is harder than it may seem.
Whether you need help actually creating a well-rounded grocery list or are looking to expand your recipe repertoire, read on for the best meal planning apps around. Success is officially in sight — after a few taps and swipes on your smartphone, of course. 5 Meal Planning Apps to Save You Time and Money. MealPlan Meal and Grocery Planner.
All it really takes, though, is a bit of thoughtful meal planning. By merely outlining your meal strategy, healthy choices — and thus, healthy weeks — become no-brainers. Bonus? Knowing what and when you’re going to eat will streamline your grocery shopping and save you money. (Cha-ching!)
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To get started on your clean-eating adventure, try one of these five apps, which make meal planning a total cinch. Whether you need help actually creating a well-rounded grocery list or are looking to expand your recipe repertoire, read on for the best meal planning apps around. Success is officially in sight — after a few taps and swipes on your smartphone, of course.
5 Meal Planning Apps to Save You Time and Money
1. MealPlan Meal and Grocery Planner
Best for: First-time planners
Thanks to an easy-to-navigate interface where you drag and drop recipes (or keywords like “burgers” and “salad”) into a home screen organized by meal, this app is great for disorganized dieters who need a simple way to map out their weekly diet, sans all the crazy bells and whistles. Once completed, you can email or print out the generated grocery list (sorted by aisle — so helpful). ($4; iOS)
2. Yummly
Best for: Recipe finders
With over one million drool-worthy recipes in its database, Yummly is the ultimate resource for casual chefs looking to whip up some fresh ideas. Filter app searches by prep time, nutrition or type of cuisine, then save favorites to your “Yums,” a virtual recipe box. After you choose the meals you’ll be making, the app curates all the ingredients to a grocery list, which can be exported to Instacart, a smartphone-based, grocery-delivery service. (Free, iOS, Android)
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3. AnyList
Best for: Busy families
Need to pull the groceries together, but don’t have the time — or everyone in the same place at the same time to figure out wants and needs? Meet AnyList, which allows multiple users to add items to a singular shopping list, either manually or with the help of our girl Siri. (After all, your wish is her command.) Any changes made will sync to everyone’s devices, so the entire brood is on the same page when it comes to how many zucchinis you’ll need to make zoodles. Splurge for a premium account and you’ll be able to assign shopping list items to different stores, plus create location-based reminders so you’ll never forget to pick up more chia seeds next time you pass by Trader Joe’s. (Free or $8 for Premium; iOS)
4. Pepper Plate
Best for: Multi-course masters
Hosts with the most, this one’s for you. This course-minded app has a built-in timer on iPad, which can help you make multiple dishes at once. (So you won’t have to slave in the kitchen for the entirety of an afternoon!) Input recipes you’ve curated from the web or manually enter your own creations and Pepper Plate will generate a grocery list to make shopping a breeze, too. (Free; iOS, Android)
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5. Mealboard
Best for: Budget-Minded Foodies
Want to spend less money every month on your grocery bill? We feel that — and now know that it is possible to eat clean on a small budget. With Mealboard, you can whip your diet and your finances into shape together. (And what’s better than a bit of multi-tasking?) Tap to add recipes from your favorite blogs and sites (Life by DailyBurn, anyone?) into the weekly calendar and then literally drag and drop specific recipes to the days that you’ll be eating ‘em. The app will aggregate a grocery list that also shows you the price of ingredients if you shop at one of the stores utilized in the app. ($4; iOS)
Originally posted September 2015. Updated April 2016.
Planning out a week’s worth of meals can be a struggle in the best times, but it’s even harder when you’re stressed out, busy with work or raising a family, and dealing with things like ingredient shortages or relying on your existing pantry goods as much as possible. In this day and age, at least, you’re not beholden to poring through cookbooks with a trusty notebook by your side — there are actually a ton of meal planning apps that make grocery shopping, recipe selection, and cooking easier than you’d believe. There are a lot of options out there, so we’ve narrowed the field down to a few of our favorites. Whether you’re looking for meals that are fast, help with budgeting your meals, or are focusing on nutrition, there’s a meal planning app here for you.
1. Paprika
Paprika helps you plan your meals for the week or month by allowing you to select your favorite recipes from anywhere on the web then generates a grocery shopping list based on those choices, so you’ll never again run out of something you need for dinner midweek. The recipes are interactive, marking off ingredients and steps as you go, which makes cooking easier, too, and it also helps you scale recipes up or down depending on your family’s needs.
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2. Mealime
Mealime is a meal planning app that’s all about saving you time – maybe that’s why they left out the “t” in their name! With Mealime, all of the recipes take about 30 minutes to cook and prep. You can choose up to 200 personalization options for your meal plan, from foods you dislike to major requirements like meatless or gluten-free meals. Select your recipes, generate a shopping list, and get cooking. You can try the free version, then upgrade if you decide you like it.
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3. MealPrepPro
If you’re all about nutrition and like cooking your meals ahead of time, MealPrepPro could be the app for you. They help you select recipe plans based on your nutritional needs (and the needs of a partner, if you’re cooking for two), and there are recipes for those following all sorts of diets (keto, vegan, vegetarian, etc) and for those with food allergies (gluten, soy, nut, etc). The app generates a weekly shopping list for you based on the recipes you’ve selected. You’ll be able to plan nutritious meals in advance, so when it’s time to eat you can just grab a container filled with a tasty bite and go.
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4. MealBoard
MealBoard assists with all aspects of meal planning, from recipe selection to grocery shopping to even keeping track of the ingredients in your pantry so you never run out (and never buy more than you need). Add your favorite recipes or import ones you find from around the web. Your grocery list will be generated based on the recipes you choose, and can even help you see what the prices of the ingredients you need are, which helps you stay on budget.
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5. Yummly
With Yummly, you choose a week’s worth of recipes and get an automatically generated shopping list to help streamline your meal planning process. Fill in your taste preferences, and Yummly recommends recipes to you based on what you’re looking for. The more you rate and review recipes, the better and more personalized your recommendations will become. With Yummly Pro, you’ll also get access to step-by-step cooking videos, celebrity chef cooking instructions, and exclusive, professionally-created recipes.
Before you go, check out these other impressive Ina Garten recipes.
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