{"id":301996,"date":"2026-05-19T11:08:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/?p=301996"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:00:17","slug":"5-free-meal-planning-apps-that-make-cooking-easier-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/5-free-meal-planning-apps-that-make-cooking-easier-2\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Free Meal Planning Apps That Make Cooking Easier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>However, if multiple recipes use the same ingredient, instead of collating and&nbsp;adding up&nbsp;the amount of the ingredient, the ingredient will be shown multiple times on the grocery list. An example of this would be common seasonings like salt and pepper, which show up in&nbsp;almost every&nbsp;recipe.\u201d&nbsp;Because of this, he rated the shopping list feature&nbsp;just&nbsp;a&nbsp;2.5&nbsp;out of 5. It\u2019s a yearly subscription ($40 maybe?) You can easily import recipes from blogs\/web pages using a bookmarklet (or enter them manually), then you drag the recipes onto a calendar to plan for the week.<\/p>\n<h2>Best Meal Planning App for Weight Loss: Paprika<\/h2>\n<p><img class='aligncenter' style='display: block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;' width=\"250|251|252|253|254|255|256|257|258|259}px\" alt=\"what is the best meal planning app\" src=\"https:\/\/c8.alamy.com\/comp\/JWPWJH\/curious-sperm-whale-swimming-toward-the-camera-north-western-mauritius-JWPWJH.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I do the grocery list manually in AnyList (which also syncs to everything), but I don\u2019t find it too time-consuming. We worked with a registered nutrition coach to test and select the five best meal planning apps of the year to ensure that you and your family have consistent and healthy meals, no matter how busy life gets. There are a bunch of meal planning apps out there\u2014some good, some bad, and others that are downright atrocious, but don&#8217;t cost a thing. Just so you don&#8217;t have to sift through your app store and skim the review sections, I went ahead and curated this tip-top meal planning app guide. Below you&#8217;ll find the six best meal-planning apps, from the most budget-friendly option to the one designed for picky eaters (I see you, chicken tender girlies) to everything in between.<\/p>\n<h3>We love meal planning so that you don\u2019t have to<\/h3>\n<p>Our tester thinks that importing a&nbsp;lot&nbsp;of recipes into the app could be an involved process but could be something that you do slowly over time as you find recipes you enjoy. Not only are there recipe suggestions, but you can also find recommendations for what to eat at restaurants to stick to your FoodPrint plan. You can even connect the app to another health app or even your Fitbit to make sure all aspects of your health are being accounted for. If you\u2019re super busy and leftovers is your only option, Real Plans canadjust a recipe so you have enough food for another meal or two.<\/p>\n<h2>Best App for Limiting Food Waste: Cooklist<\/h2>\n<p><img class='aligncenter' style='display: block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;' width=\"250|251|252|253|254|255|256|257|258|259}px\" alt=\"what is the best meal planning app\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bing.com\/sa\/simg\/facebook_sharing_5.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The app does not suggest recipes based on your meal preferences, rather, you create or import recipes from the web yourself. Paprika supports many special diets such as dairy-free, gluten-free, low-calorie, paleo, keto, vegan, and vegetarian. If you choose to use this app, you will be using the website quite a bit, too. That being said, the two sync automatically for a smooth and easy user experience. Search for recipes within the app or add your own to the site.<\/p>\n<h3>What to Avoid in Meal Planning Apps<\/h3>\n<p>We tried Fresh20 and found the instructions were meh. We are using Cook Smarts right now and like that the portions are adjustable (though we are still on the free sample). We may try the Six O\u2019Clock scramble also before signing up for one, just to have really done the research. (most of these sites provide a few free meal plans so you can try it out). Check out our list of the best meal delivery services for weight loss. All of&nbsp;the recipes are customizable, as you are either importing them from a website or typing them in on your own.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of what diet option you choose though, you are always in control of the ingredients, which means you can customize for any food allergies and dietary restrictions you need. We have members on a variety <a href=\"https:\/\/iharare.com\/unimeal-customer-service-guide-support-channels-help-center-response-time\/\">unimeal scam<\/a> of diets from FODMAP to keto, who all make it work with some ingredient tweaks. We also have an incredibly supportive Facebook Group to answer any of your questions and to help you get the most out of our meal plans. The app questionnaire asked about dietary preferences, allergies, the number of people&nbsp;you\u2019d&nbsp;be cooking for, and how many days a week you were planning to cook. Then the app suggests meals based on your diet preferences, which is a nice feature that not all the apps on our list offer.<\/p>\n<h3>Free Meal Planning Apps That Make Cooking During the Week Painless<\/h3>\n<p>Simply cancel your membership from your Account page and we will make sure not to bill you for the next payment cycle. If you signed up through Apple, you can cancel future payments through their subscription, payment portal. Search our library by ingredient, protein or cuisine and choose between different diet options and serving sizes. Want to add family favorites or your mom&#8217;s famous dish? Even if you\u2019re not a fan of particular ingredients or feel a dish would taste better with your secret sauce, customization is big at Real Plans.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The app does not suggest recipes based on your meal preferences, rather, you create or import recipes from the web yourself.<\/li>\n<li>While there\u2019s no calendar for meal planning, you can make collections of recipes.<\/li>\n<li>Based on the diet plan you select (ranging from classic to flexitarian), the app will suggest meals that align with your choice.<\/li>\n<li>I did a lot of research on this topic a few years ago and ended up choosing macgourmet.<\/li>\n<li>MealPrepPro will also spit out all the groceries you&#8217;ll need too, so you\u2019ll know exactly what to grab next time you hit those aisles.<\/li>\n<li>However, you\u00a0are able to\u00a0create your own recipes, which allows for full customization.\u201d He rated personalization a 5 out of 5, as you can input and store your fridge\/pantry inventory for easy recipe creation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That being said, Pete&nbsp;found it easy to add specific items to his pantry in the app. Pete tested Paprika&nbsp;and found the app set-up to be seamless. \u201cAll&nbsp;you need to do is download the app, and&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;able to get right in. There is no login process or any type of quiz you need to complete to get started,\u201d he said, rating it a 5 out of 5 for setup and&nbsp;getting started. When you first sign up with&nbsp;Mealime, you have a chance to input your type of diet, allergies, food restrictions, and dislikes. It even asks you how many meals you\u2019d like to get out of each recipe (because leftovers are life).<\/p>\n<h2>IMPORT FAVORITE RECIPES<\/h2>\n<p>There are plenty of free meal planning apps that can be a helpful kitchen tool by providing recipe libraries, custom recipe&nbsp;creation&nbsp;and import, shopping lists, and more. Our tester noticed that&nbsp;Mealime\u2019s&nbsp;grocery list is a bit different from the other apps on our list. \u201cThe shopping list is helpful in the sense that it pulls automatically from the meal plan&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;selected,\u201d Pete said.<\/p>\n<h3>The 5 Best Meal Planning Apps ( : For Families, Weight Loss, and More<\/h3>\n<p>This has been a life saver for myself and clients with super busy schedules, as well as during the pandemic. I work with macros with many of my clients who have been struggling to lose weight or keep gaining back the weight they lost previously, when old &nbsp;methods don&#8217;t seem to be working anymore. To make sure I hold up my end of the dinner coverage bargain (he\u2019s got clean up and trash), I\u2019ve had to find some resources to help me \u201cget \u2018er done\u201d regardless of how busy, stressed or tired I am. Most of the time at the end of the day all I want to do is curl up on the couch and do absolutely NOTHING. They are entirely plant-based, so no meat, eggs, dairy, fish, etc.<\/p>\n<h2>MEAL PLAN AND SHOPPING LIST<\/h2>\n<p>With what to make for dinner often leaving me scratching my head, I really like that Real Plans has a bevy of options to choose from AND tons of ways to search by. Real Plans can help you leverage your time better by determining which dishes\/meals you can make ahead of time. You can also choose which specific diet type you want.<\/p>\n<p>Once you&#8217;ve done it for a 2-3 months you&#8217;ll get the idea of what&#8217;s working and how to eat and you can remove the add-on and save a little bit of money. You also adjust the number of breakfasts, lunches and dinners you eat per week. While &#8220;take out&#8221; is certainly an option, we all know that it can get expensive, in addition to sabotaging our health goals.<\/p>\n<h3>Six Inexpensive Superfood Ingredients You May Not Have Tried Yet in Your Smoothies!<\/h3>\n<p>Pete tested&nbsp;eMeals, rating the sign-up and setup process a 3 out of 5. \u201cWhen signing up, there were a few questions you had to answer about your lifestyle and goals, and then you had to sign up with a credit card to access the app. It does offer a 14-day free trial to test out the app, and then the annual price is $59.99,\u201d Pete said. The layout is straightforward and lets you drag dishes to change the order around within each day. You can search for recipes within your already saved favorites or look for new ones in their database.<\/p>\n<p>We also looked for apps with extensive recipe libraries already built into the app at the time of download, which helped to make meal planning and shopping much easier. But, sorry to say, those college eating habits aren&#8217;t gonna cut it. If you&#8217;re like me and don&#8217;t wanna use what little post-work brain power you have to come up with dinner ideas, a meal planning app will get you alllll the way together. Once you\u2019ve selected your meal(s) for the day or week, Real Plans creates a timeline and shopping list for you. Though I truly love to cook, as a mom and busy entrepreneur there were some days (weeks even!) when meal planning just seemed undoable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>However, if multiple recipes use the same ingredient, instead of collating and&nbsp;adding up&nbsp;the amount of the ingredient, the ingredient will be shown multiple times on the grocery list. An example of this would be common seasonings like salt and pepper, which show up in&nbsp;almost every&nbsp;recipe.\u201d&nbsp;Because of this, he rated the shopping list feature&nbsp;just&nbsp;a&nbsp;2.5&nbsp;out of 5. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1410],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301996"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301997,"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301996\/revisions\/301997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ansoldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}