To get started, simply add your recipes to the app and assign relevant tags to them. The app will then use these tags to filter your recipes based on your dietary restrictions. You can also add multiple tags to a single recipe if it meets more than one dietary restriction. You need to go in and add recipes or meals but after you put these meals in, then it’s just a matter of drag and drop.
Recipe Keeper
- Paprika is designed with a built-in browser so you can search recipes from anywhere on the internet and save them to your recipe box.
- Most people find they save several hours each week once they build the habit.
- Lastly, on my rant on how much I have enjoyed this app, is that once you put in your recipes, add them to your meal plan, and create a shopping list, it will send them to Walmart if you do online grocery shopping.
- This free tool is great for cutting down on food waste, as it generates recipes from all over the web based on what’s already in your pantry.
- Most users will enjoy the grocery list capability to make shopping easier.
- And one of the things I like best is that you can add all of the recipe ingredients to a single shopping list where items are grouped by general grocery store section (dairy, meat, etc) and consolidated.
A colorful, gamified tracker with a claimed database of 60 million foods (predominantly crowdsourced). Key features like barcode scanning have migrated to Premium. Users are tired of 47 conflicting entries for chicken breast.
We love meal planning so that you don’t have to
Just scan the barcode of the food you want to buy, and the app will tell you its grade. It employs a sophisticated algorithm to assess the grade of the meal you select by considering its fiber, sugar, vitamin content, and other elements. The logging speed test was conducted by MyNetDiary in January 2026. Complete methodology and raw data are available for independent verification. App Store ratings shown are 1-month rolling averages (sourced via data.ai) as of February 2026. If you’re new to planning meals, check out our Meal Plan Guide for a deeper dive into the basics.
The 8 Best Meal Planning Apps in 2026
These are the most effective and easy-to-use online resources that take the guesswork out of your meal-planning. Then just add that meal to your calendar and you are set for the week. This app has several ways to add recipes or if you just want to have hamburgers or hot dogs one night, you can add that as well. It is fully customizable and your meals can be changed with a drag and drop to another day on the calendar. I would have my meals planned for the week and would write out all the ingredients that I would need for the week.
Most Popular Lunch Meal Prep Ideas
Big Oven has been around a while, and it offers a robust set of tools for organizing meals. It includes keto-friendly and customizable recipes, allowing users to tweak meals to match their preferences. I enjoyed uploading my family’s recipes and tweaking others to fits my taste – it gave me this “master chef of my domain” vibe. Additionally, the app supports photo uploads and recipe personalization, letting users create their own database. Its smartwatch integration adds convenience, but some users find the recipe scan feature unnecessary. Many advanced features are locked behind a Pro membership, limiting accessibility for free users.
Best for diet quality
Handwritten lists and spreadsheets can go a long way, but sometimes it can be a challenge to see the bigger picture in a unimeal scam little notebook. Whether you need to discover new recipes or just input them into a calendar for reference, there are tools that will come to your rescue, but often at a price. MyFitnessPal is a longtime favorite app when it comes to tracking food intake, and it’s proof that you don’t always need the fanciest tools to stick to your goals. Track all of your food by searching their extensive database, or scan the barcodes of the foods you’re eating. If you like to track your macronutrient intake (macronutrients are carbs, fat, and protein) you can also adjust your daily food diary to easily help you meet those goals.
eMeals — curated weekly menus
Mealime is one of the most popular free meal planning apps for a reason. Its home page shows total calorie and macro intake and a breakdown of foods and calories per meal, which you can log manually or with a barcode scanner. For recipe storage and making grocery lists from them I use Paprika. I really like the format of the app to use while cooking, and the grocery lists are pretty ok, although their sorting isn’t quite the same categories as my grocery store, which is annoying.
“I recommend exercise that boosts metabolism, increases muscle mass, and burns calories for weight loss.” Check out these inspiring secrets from people who have lost more than 50 pounds—and kept it off. It is a fitness and diet app that provides nutritional guidance for exercise and lifestyle. The app boasts millions of users worldwide and has an easy-to-use interface for exercise and diet. By installing the app, you can access weight gain and weight loss features, a food diary, and a system for counting calories. Aside from tracking your food, MyFitnessPal provides an option where you can log your exercises to maintain your fitness goals. It tracks your daily workout, strength training, and routine water intake to help you stay hydrated.
Rice Recipes (Easy for the Stove Top & Rice Cooker)
I save each recipes as a “note” and can tag them (one pot, protein, side dish, slow cooker), etc. Each week I move my planned meals into the “This Week” folder — this syncs to our ipad, iphones, and desktops so both my husband and I have access. I do the grocery list manually in AnyList (which also syncs to everything), but I don’t find it too time-consuming. This app ranks top for meal prepping and provides easy-to-make recipes that can last a few days.
Occasional creation and use of a simple shopping list
After you save recipes directly from the web and add it to your weekly meal plan, a grocery list begins to populate based on your selections. Don’t worry about duplicate ingredients on your list because Paprika takes care of that, consolidating similar ingredients found in different recipes. Verified databases (MyNetDiary, Cronometer, MacroFactor) save time and improve food choices. Even when diet-tracking apps share a feature name, implementation depth varies enormously.
It has an automatic reminder to alert you when you need to check your blood sugar. It gives a summary report to enable you to understand the relationship between diet, blood sugar, and exercise. Even though most of its free features cater to your needs, a premium feature includes syncing with smart scales and fitness trackers. It is the most comprehensive diabetes tracker app and can help you understand and control prediabetes and diabetes. It also improves your diet, promotes weight loss, and provides support and motivation.
The Pro version is a one-time fee of $19.99 on iOS, which offers some bonuses like device syncing and unlimited recipe saves, but they’re not necessary. Mealime is another minimalistic planning app with a pretty robust free version that allows users to browse tons of curated recipes and generate or customize meal plans. The upgrade is one of the more affordable options at $2.99 a month, but the free choice has more than enough to sift through. With PlateJoy, you can customize meal plans based on weight loss goals and dietary preferences. It has grocery list capabilities, a preloaded recipe database, and grocery list capabilities.
Plan to Eat
The present study aimed to understand behaviours, confidence and attitudes regarding meal planning and preparation of low-income parents and caregivers who downloaded the CM App to their mobile phone. While many mobile applications exist with goals of changing nutrition and dietary behaviours, most have been developed with a lack of evidence-based features or lack of consumer appeal(23). Overall, findings suggested that survey participants may already be engaged in and/or are motivated to meal plan. Interestingly, interviewees generally did not consider themselves to be meal planners, but rather being adapt at having to fit meals into hectic day-to-day schedules. Many of us are finding ourselves cooking a lot more meals at home these days, and if you’re looking for inspiration, the right meal planning app can give you a tremendous set of resources. Meal planning apps offer everything from recipes and grocery shopping lists to nutritional tracking; some even offer grocery delivery, which can save you time.