Too many people hold back from starting meal planning because they don’t feel like they “know enough” about nutrition, scheduling, or even what meals to make. And honestly, planning what to cook for the week is one of the most time-consuming tasks on our to-do lists.
Having the right tools that can help you stay organized, cut down decision-making, and take the stress out of cooking is so essential. With the right app, meal planning doesn’t have to feel like a chore — it becomes quick, simple, and even enjoyable.
In this post, I’m going to share 9 meal planning apps that do the heavy lifting — so you can eat better, waste less, and save time and money starting today.
1. HelloFresh
HelloFresh is the top choice for families and single cooks alike. With its subscription-based model, the app brings pre-measured ingredients right to your doorstep, accompanied by easy-to-follow recipe cards. The menu changes weekly, so you never get stuck with the same old meals and you never have to worry about what to stock up on for your pantry, since it’s already been decided for you.
Why It Saves Time:
No shopping required – All ingredients are pre-measured and delivered to your door, so all you need to do is open the box and plate.
Easy prep – Recipes are meant for 20-30 minute cooking with clear, concise instructions.
Batch-cooking options – Many plans include make-ahead meals that can be cooked in bulk and reheated.
How it Saves you Money:
Reduces waste – Exact portions mean you’ll only buy what you need.
Bulk savings – HelloFresh frequently provides discounts for longer subscription periods, reducing the cost per meal.
Affordable packages – Their Family and Fit packages offer high-value meals at budget-friendly prices.
2. Home Chef
Home Chef elevates the cook-at-home experience with its emphasis on customization and fresh ingredients. From protein-rich options to vegan and low-carb choices, the app provides a diverse range of meal plans, allowing you to customize your culinary journey to suit your health goals and taste preferences.
Why It Saves Time:
Prep-freeze ready meals – Each recipe includes pre-marinated proteins and pre-cut vegetables, reducing prep time to a minimum.
User-friendly interface – The app allows you to filter by dietary restrictions, cooking time, and even number of servings.
Short cooking times – Most recipes take 20-35 minutes to cook, making it perfect for weekday dinners.
How it Saves you money:
Precise portions – Home Chef offers precise measurements, ensuring you’re not overcooking or undercooking.
Seasonal ingredients – The app tends to use locally sourced, seasonal produce, which is generally cheaper and fresher.
Flexible pricing – You can decide how many meals a week you want and change it as your schedule or budget changes.
3. Blue Apron
Blue Apron has been a leader in the meal-kit industry, and its reputation for quality recipes and fresh ingredients is well-established.
The app features a rotating menu of chef-designed dishes, ranging from classic comfort foods to gourmet, upscale meals. It’s for those cooks who want to learn new techniques and add to their culinary repertoire without the hassle of grocery hunting.
Why It Saves Time:
Clear prep instructions – Blue Apron recipe cards contain a timeline, so you know when to start each step.
Pre-portioning – All ingredients are delivered in the correct amounts, eliminating the need for measuring and weighing.
Step-by-step video support – Optional video tutorials teach you how to master cooking techniques quickly
Why It Saves Money:
Less grocery spending – By sending you only what you need for each recipe, Blue Apron eliminates bulk buying and the waste that comes with it.
Affordable options – Their “Chef’s Choice” and “Delicious & Simple” menus provide high-quality meals at affordable prices.
Value bartering – Blue Apron sometimes provides discounts or credits for referrals, further reducing your overall cost.
4. Green Chef
Green Chef is a cloud kitchen-powered subscription service and meal-planning app. It’s all about organic, plant-based, and keto meal kits, which means you get a rotating menu that’s already portioned and pre-measured. The app’s interface allows you to select a plan, adjust servings, and automatically create a grocery list that can be integrated with major delivery partners or local stores.
How It Saves You Time:
– Pre-measured ingredients: No more guessing portion sizes or digging around for missing ingredients.
– One-click cooking: Step-by-step video instructions walk you through prep and cooking, saving you kitchen prep time.
– Smart scheduling: You can set reminders for when to start cooking, so you can block out a certain time in your day.
How It Saves You Money :
Bulk savings: Ingredients are bought in bulk, which means you are paying less per serving compared to purchasing individual items.
Minimized waste: Each ingredient serves a specific purpose, reducing leftovers and spoilage.
Subscription discounts: Monthly plans usually come with free shipping or a reduced price per meal compared to a la carte ordering.
Ideal For:
Health-conscious diners who prefer a constant supply of fresh and pre-portioned meals without the hassle of grocery shopping.
5. Purple Carrot
Purple Carrot is a plant-based meal-kit company that takes pride in creativity and variety. Its app features weekly rotating menus with creative and delicious dishes – from jackfruit tacos to cauliflower gnocchi – so you never get bored. The recipe library can be searched by ingredient, cuisine, or dietary need, so you can quickly find the right dinner.
How It Saves You Time:
All-in-one prep: The app has a feature that breaks down prep steps so you can queue up tasks (e.g., chop veggies, marinate proteins) and move through the kitchen efficiently.
Centralized recipe hub: One place to see all your recipes, so you don’t waste time going between apps or tabs.
Smart pantry list: The app monitors pantry staples and only adds missing items to your grocery list
How It Saves You Money:
Ingredient tiers: Customers can opt for a “basic” or “premium” tier, adjusting the cost to suit their budget while still getting fresh, seasonal produce.
Lower grocery bills: You only purchase what you need for the week, which means you don’t tempt yourself to buy items that end up going to waste.
Reusable containers: Some shipments include reusable packaging, which reduces the need for single-use packaging.
Ideal For:
Vegans, vegetarians and anyone who wants to discover new plant-based flavors without compromising on convenience.
6. EveryPlate
EveryPlate is the low-cost equivalent of the more expensive meal-kit giants. Their app provides a simple, flat-rate pricing structure that delivers wholesome, approachable meals without the premium price tag.
EveryPlate’s menu is centered around classic comfort foods, such as spaghetti bolognese, chicken alfredo, and turkey pot pies, so you can expect a familiar and crowd-pleasing experience.
How It Saves You Time:
- No prep – per – meal prep: Ingredients are prepped as much as possible and the recipes are kept short, typically under 30 minutes.
- Unified grocery list : The app automatically generates a printable or shareable grocery list, saving you the hassle of writing down items manually.
- Batch-cooking reminders: EveryPlate’s scheduling tool helps you plan “cook-once, eat-over-the-week” meals, so you don’t have to deal with cooking friction every day.
How It Saves You Money:
Low base price: For $9.99/appliance per meal, you’re getting three servings of a complete dinner-far less than the cost of putting together a meal from scratch.
Waste reduction: Because the recipes are simple and the portions are pre-measured, you’re less likely to overbuy or waste food.
A la carte extras: Extras (e.g., side salad or dessert) are available, but you can keep the base bill as low as possible.
Ideal For:
Families on a tight budget, college students, and anyone who wants an easy, affordable meal-planning solution.
7. Sun Basket
Sun Basket is not just an app; it’s a subscription meal kit service that prioritizes organic and sustainable ingredients. The app serves as your gateway to curated recipes, personalized meal plans, and a seamless grocery-shopping experience – all tailored to your preferences and dietary restrictions.
Key Features:
Customizable Meal Plans: Whether you’re a vegetarian, a paleo enthusiast, a keto follower, or a family-friendly eater, the app can automatically create weekly meal plans tailored to your calorie or macro needs.
Smart Grocery List: After you select your meals, the app creates one unified list that can be synced with your phone’s “scan and add” feature for easy updates.
Ingredient Tracking: The app allows you to enter ingredients you already have, minimizing waste and saving on grocery expenses.
Nutrient Breakdown – Detailed macro and micronutrient information for each recipe helps you meet health goals without the guesswork.
Recipe Library – More than 700 recipes from quick 30-minute dishes to more elaborate weekly feasts.
Why It Saves Time & Money:
Auto-Generated Meal Plans: No more leafing through cookbooks; SunBasket brings you ready-made weekly menus tailored to your lifestyle.
Dynamic Shopping Lists: Your list is automatically updated as you switch meals, so you never over-buy.
Ingredient Matching: By allowing you to document pantry staples, it reduces unnecessary purchases.
Flexible Subscription Plans: Cancel any time, or stop a week at a time, so you’re never locked into a plan that doesn’t fit your budget.
Ideal For:
People who love to eat fresh, healthy food but don’t want to deal with finding ingredients and counting calories. It’s also great for people who want a flexible, on-demand grocery solution without having to commit to a full meal-kit delivery.
8. Paprika
Paprika is the ultimate all-in-one recipe manager that turns your phone into a culinary command center. From saving recipes found on the web to planning complete meal schedules, Paprika is great at keeping your cooking organized and cost-effective.
Key Features:
Recipe Importer – Drag and drop or use the browser extension to import recipes from any website directly into the app.
Meal Planner Calendar – Drag recipes onto a monthly or weekly calendar and automatically create grocery lists.
Batch Cooking Helper – Add prep-time notes, scaling options, and portion sizes to help you cook in bulk and minimize waste.
Shopping List Sync – Group lists by store aisle and share lists with family members or across devices.
Cloud Backup: Back up your entire recipe database to the cloud, so you never lose your culinary library.
Why It Saves Time & Money:
– Central Recipe Hub: No more lost PDF recipes or sticky notes; everything is stored in one searchable database.
– Smart Scaling: Scale servings up or down and the app recalculates the ingredient amounts and costs.
Seasonal Shopping: The meal planner allows you to plan for seasonal produce, ensuring predictable grocery expenses.
– Cross-Device Sharing:Share shopping lists with spouse or roommates so everyone is on the same page.
Ideal For:
Home cooks who have a growing collection of recipes and want a reliable and cost-effective tool to help with meal planning, grocery list consolidation, and bulk cooking. Paprika is available for iOS, Android, and as a web app, so it can be used on any kitchen platform.
9. Mealboard
Mealboard is the social, collaborative side of meal planning. It’s meant for families, roommates, or anyone who wants to include everyone in the household in meal decisions – making grocery shopping a collaborative, efficient experience.
Key Features:
Shared Meal Calendar: Everyone can add meals to the same calendar, so everyone knows what’s on the menu for the week.
Collaborative Shopping Lists: List items can be assigned to specific individuals, avoiding duplicate purchases and ensuring that everyone gets what they need.
Bulk Adding & Templates: Quickly add the same meal multiple times (great for leftovers) and save favorite templates for recipes that you make frequently.
Meal Rating & Comments – After cooking, family members can rate dishes and leave comments, creating a feedback loop that improves future plans.
Budget Tracking: Set a weekly budget and the app will alert you when your shopping list is nearing or exceeding it.
Why It Saves Time & Money:
– Coordination of Household Shops: Ends the “who’s doing what?” confusion that often results in over-shopping or duplicate purchases.
– Real-Time Updates: Whenever a user adds a new recipe or removes an item, the grocery list updates in real-time for all users.
– Expense Transparency: Monitor your expenses with built-in budget alerts so you can make adjustments before checkout.
– Community Inspiration: Seeing what other members of your household are cooking can inspire creativity and prevent recipe fatigue.
Ideal For:
Families, roommates or shared kitchens where more than one person is involved in the weekly menu. Mealboard’s social aspect transforms meal planning from a solitary activity into a collaborative experience perfect for individuals or families looking to save time and money by working together.
From Sun Basket’s subscription-based meal kits to Paprika’s comprehensive recipe database and Mealboard’s collaborative calendar, these three apps bring a personalized approach to the chaotic world of meal prep.
Whether you’re looking for organic, menu-generated meals, a central recipe hub, or a shared family planner, each app offers unique features that simplify meal preparation, minimize waste, and keep your grocery budget in check. Give them a try, figure out which philosophy suits your lifestyle best, and watch your mealtime stress dissipate while your wallet gets a little extra breathing room!