These are the best meal plan apps on the market! Read this guide to find out the perfect app that'll make meal planning easier for you.
Meal Plan Apps
Meal planning can be a struggle—especially when you're already juggling so many things! Thankfully technology has your back with these easy-to-use meal prep apps. They're all designed to make meal planning as straightforward as possible. With recipe ideas, grocery lists, and exciting features (like ingredient prep checklists!), there's something for everyone. Take a look at our top 8 meal plan apps to discover which one is right for you.
How to Choose a Meal Plan App
- Look at all the features available. Scroll through this list and skim each app's website to get an understanding of how each meal plan app works.
- Think about what's preventing you from currently meal planning. Are you struggling with decision paralysis and need ready-made meal plans or do you just want one place to store all your recipes so you don't need to hunt for them?
- Keep your budget in mind. There are apps for every budget, including some that are free. Decide how much you'd be willing to spend on an app if it makes meal planning or meal prepping easier. Usually, even if there is a fee, you'd still be saving money if it helped you avoid getting takeout or delivery at least once a week.
- Consider how you'll be using the app. Most apps are available across different platforms and devices, but think about what device you're most likely to use while meal planning. Ensure that your app is supported on your device before you sign up for it. Apps like Dinner Prep Pro are cross-platform and sync across different devices so you won't have any problems using it on your desktop, phone or tablet.
Top Meal Planning Apps
- Dinner Prep Pro (Our #1 Pick!)
- Noom
- Meal Prep Pro
- Mealime
- Prepear
- BigOven
- Yummly
- Eat This Much
Dinner Prep Pro
Dinner Prep Pro is the only meal prep app and coursework combo on the market! It was designed to help you stick to a routine that'll support your health for the long haul.
Unique Features:
- Weekly customizable meal plans built from a curated library of 430+ FULL meals (no having to pick and choose mains and sides)
- Nutrition information
- Filters based on dietary restrictions such as dairy-free or gluten-free
- Ingredient prep checklists with step-by-step instructions so you can meal prep in an hour or less
- Automatically generated shopping lists for easy grocery shopping
- Weekly educational lessons with homework designed to help you customize your app use
- Reminders to do your prep
- Members' only community on Slack
- Additional support with a Plus membership including: group coaching calls with Taylor (THE Girl on Bloor), accountability groups and quarterly challenges
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ Food intake/calorie logging
❌ In app reward system
❌ 1 on 1 coaching (it does have group coaching though!)
How to Access: You can access this web-app across different platforms and devices, including smartphone, desktop or tablets.
Cost: $19.97 USD/month for a Basic membership or upgrade to a Plus membership for additional support and educational resources for $39.97 USD/month.
Overall Takeaway: Dinner Prep Pro offers the unique combination of app, education, community and coaching so you can stick to meal prep for GOOD. No falling on and off the wagon or forgetting to use your subscription. It's the all-in experience!
Learn more about Dinner Prep Pro here.
Noom
Unique Features:
- Customizable meal planning, calorie and exercise logging tool
- 1 on 1 coaching with behavioral coaches + in-app community
- Short daily lessons
- In-app reward system called NoomCoin, designed to increase motivation to help you complete your daily tasks
- In-app forum for the community aspect
- One-on-one behavior coaching
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ Meal prep checklists
❌ Not the best for those looking to move away from weight loss or diet mentality
❌ A very limited meal planning resource library
❌ Expensive
How to Access: You can download the mobile app on iOS or Android devices.
Cost: Their monthly auto-renewing plan costs $70/month, or you can commit to an annual plan for $209. You can also upgrade to $150/month to work with a behaviour change coach while getting access to the meal planning app.
Overall Takeaway: This is by far the most comprehensive level of support with a focus on weight loss and mindfulness, and the price point reflects that.
Meal Prep Pro
Unique Features:
- Not to be confused with our app, Dinner Prep Pro, Meal Prep Pro helps you do just that: meal prep (aka cook a bunch of meals on Sunday that you will then eat leftovers of during the week)
- You can track calories and macros
- Goal tracking
- Meal prep schedule tracker
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ No prep checklists
❌ No educational resources or customization guidance
❌ No community or coaching aspect
How to Access: You can download the mobile app on iOS or Android devices.
Cost: $3.99/month
Overall Takeaway: This is a no-frills meal prep app if you're looking to make several meals ahead in full on a Sunday and eat leftovers all week long. If you're into tracking macros, this may be of interest.
Learn more about Meal Prep Pro here.
Mealime
Unique Features:
- Personalized meal plan based on dietary preferences (like vegan or paleo), food preferences, cooking preferences and the number of servings you need
- Auto-populated grocery lists with the option to order groceries for delivery
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ Meal prep checklists
❌ Complete meals (there are many snacks or mains that require side dishes, making meal planning more complicated and requiring more brain power)
❌ A very limited meal planning resource library
❌ No community or coaching
How to Access: You can access it on your desktop or download a free version of the mobile app on iOS or Android devices.
Cost: Free or you can upgrade to Mealime Pro for $2.99/month which includes nutritional information, calorie filters and the ability to add notes to recipes.
Overall Takeaway: If you want the most no-frills, lowest cost app without needing to upload your own recipes, this is it.
Learn more about Mealime here.
Prepear
Unique Features:
- You can share meal plans, recipes and grocery lists with family or friends
- A digital cookbook system that allows you to organize and save your favourite recipes from various websites
- It's made by a food blogger with many featured bloggers' recipes
- Backup meal options incorporated in your meal plan for added flexibility in case plans change
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ Meal prep checklists
❌ Limited pre-made meal plans available in the basic app (you'll have to upgrade to receive more)
❌ A very limited meal planning resource library
❌ No coaching aspect
How to Access: You can access Prepear in desktop or download the meal planner app in the App Store or on Google Play.
Cost: Free or you can upgrade to Prepear Gold for $9.99 USD/month to receive unlimited access to cookbooks and meal plans.
Overall Takeaway: If you're looking to meal plan collaborative with family or friends, Prepear can help streamline that. It's also one of few options out there where you can access recipes from multiple different food bloggers.
Learn more about Prepear here.
BigOven
Unique Features:
- Over 1,000,000 recipes to browse and search through on the app
- A leftovers tool that allows you to put in three ingredients you have in your fridge or pantry to get recipe ideas
- A community where you can leave recipe reviews or ask questions in the app
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ Meal prep checklists
❌ A curated library of recipes (there are sooooo many that you could face decision paralysis and spend too much time scrolling to find what you're looking for; also unclear if recipes are even high quality)
❌ A very limited meal planning resource library
How to Access It: You can access the app for free on your desktop, iPad/Android tablet or smartphone.
Cost: Free or you can upgrade to a paid version of the app called BigOven Pro for $24.99 USD/year to remove ads ad access different features like the ability to scan recipes or browse recipe collections tailored to those with dietary restrictions.
Overall Takeaway: If you struggle with food waste, want to save costs and aren't too picky, BigOven will help you with that!
Learn more about BigOven here.
Yummly
Unique Features:
- Personalized recipe recommendations
- Specific meal planning diets you can follow for different diets, such as keto or vegan
- Calendar reminders so you can get notified when it's time to start cooking (if you upgrade to the paid version of the app)
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ Meal prep checklists
❌ Complete meals (there are many snacks or mains that require side dishes, making meal planning more complicated)
❌ A curated library of recipes (there are too many that you could face decision paralysis and spend too much time scrolling to find what you're looking for)
❌ Detailed nutritional information for each recipe in the basic app (you'll have to upgrade to get access to that feature)
How to Access it: You can use Yummly across all platforms, including web and mobile.
Cost: Free or you can upgrade to a paid subscription ($4.99/month) to access more features such as calendar reminders, nutritional info, and advanced search filters.
Overall Takeaway: If you are following a strict diet, then Yummly has all the resources you need to meal plan with the necessary guidelines and restrictions in mind.
Eat This Much
Unique Features:
- Generates meal plans based on individual dietary goals, preferences and restrictions.
- You can customize your plans each day to include extra meals like snacks or post-workout shakes if necessary.
- A virtual pantry that'll keep track of what you already own so your grocery lists are easier to make.
What It Doesn't Have:
❌ Meal prep checklists
❌ Complete meals (there are many snacks or mains that require side dishes, making meal planning more complicated)
❌ A very limited meal planning resource library
❌ No community aspect
How to Access It:
Cost: Free or you can upgrade to a premium membership that costs $14.99 USD/month and has extra features like the ability to order groceries in app via Instacart or Amazon Fresh.
Overall Takeaway: Eat This Much is the most hands-off app of the bunch and takes the guesswork out of meal planning by creating unique plans based on your needs.
Learn more about Eat This Much here.
Frequently Asked Questions
There a couple free apps for meal planning, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for. There aren't a lot (if any) personalization options, and resources are typically limited with a reduced bank of recipes to choose from.
I personally think a meal planning app is worth it, especially if you have a lot on the go already. It'll help make your life even easier by organizing your grocery lists, providing you with new recipe ideas and even putting together meal prep instructions. It's all a matter of what you feel comfortable with paying, and the benefits it'll have in the long run.
Having a meal planning app will help reduce stress, save you time and even save you money as it helps you stay on track with meal planning.
Make healthy eating easy! Join our Dinner Prep Pro app.
- ZERO ADS on over 450 recipes
- Customizable weekly meal plans
- Grocery and meal prep checklists
- Bonus resource library and community
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