For the unknown, these meal planning apps, help you make a list of meals for upcoming weeks for better portion management, time management, and cost savings. That said, find a right meal planning app that checks every box, might take some time. Well, fret not, we did the heavy lifting for you and here are some of the best meal planning apps for Android and iOS. Read: 8 best Pomodoro timer apps to boost your productivity
Best Meal Planning Apps for Android and iOS
1. PlanMeals- Meal Planner
I have a friend who hates cooking because of how time-consuming that can be and she isn’t wrong that’s why I suggested her to try this app. It is a simple meal planner which helps you keep track of meals for a week. Although you can add more weeks as per your requirement. The layout and features of Meal Planner are quite simple, you get a bird-eye view of 7 days on the dashboard on which you can add breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and snacks to each day. You can add dishes to your meals and you’re done. As this app is pretty basic, you have to make your own recipes for the meals and add those to the database. When creating a recipe you can add images, ingredients, and steps to make it even easier while preparing the food. Moreover, you can share your recipes on the platform Meal planner website. Shopping lists are available in the pro version and you can generate it directly from your meal plans. Plus you can create your own shopping lists instead of choosing the automatic feature. You can define your own meal times and add snacks between main meals of the day. However, you don’t get recipes and you have to manually edit the recipes which can be tiring and for that we have the next app in the list. Download Plan Meals for Android
2. Mealime
Meanlime is one of the most popular meal planning apps for iOS and Android. Like the previous app, Meallime also help you plan your meals for the week, Recipes and creates a shopping list However, unlike the previous app, Mealime lets you create a personalized meal plan for every week. Moreover, the list is created according to your preferences and you can control how your list should be. The app has a huge database of recipes which take 30 minutes or less to make. You get step by step instructions on how to make a dish even if you don’t know how to cook.
The shopping list is automatically created when you add a new meal to your list. The ingredients are added and it notifies you of the added list of items in the grocery. It is also beneficial in reducing waste hence you can save a few more bucks. The subscription for the app costs $49 for a year (or $6 per month) and offers more recipes, nutrition information for each recipe, and can let you customize your meals by caloric intake. Download Mealime for Android and iOS
3. Eat This Much
Eat This Much is a nice addition for people, who feel lost when it comes to meal planning. The most noticeable thing about Eat This Much is its automatic meal planner. To get started, you to have feed the app, everything about you – your schedule, diet goals, age, height, and budget etc; and then the app will autogenerate your entire week of meals with a click of a button. The features include a calorie chart for each day which makes it easier to control your daily caloric intake and improves your overall diet plan. It generates a profile when you use this app for the first time and creates a digital portfolio which has specific requirements according to your height, weight, etc.
You can add recipes to the dashboard for the specific meal and assign a different food item to each meal. Every Dish listed on this app shows calories per serving so you can adjust and dishes according to that as well. You can save your meal plan for the day so that you can repeat it again when you feel like it. You can also customize a daily/weekly price ceiling so that every time you go out shopping you know exactly how much you should spend.
The app is free to use, however, the premium version offers many features like grocery planner and based on your diet plan it automatically generates a list of the food so that you waste less food. You can edit all the items that you have in stock and buy only the things which are actually out of stock. Eat this Much Premium service costs $49/year Download Eat This Much for Android and iOS and Web
4. Prepear
Prepear is smart planner which lets you plan every aspect of a day’s meal plan. You can discover all the amazing recipes right through the app and add it to your meal. The recipes can be saved on the phone and then be accessed through the collection folder. I saved my recipes in four different folders each for a meal of the day so that I won’t confuse them with each other. Let’s say I want to prepare a meal plan for Tuesday so I can just go to the meal plan section and tap on the day from the top. Either I can search for a specific recipe online and add or I can choose it from my collections folder. The grocery list is handled automatically and the recipes you add to your meal plan are accounted for the next week’s grocery shopping. Although its funny to see the list in tbsp instead of pounds. It adds exactly the amount in the shopping list which is used in a meal. So let’s say if your meal calls for 1 tsp salt per meal and you make a shopping list for the next week it would show you to add 7 tsp of salt to the list. It’s so that the waste can be kept to a minimum and you can shop wisely. The app has a subscription of $10/month. You get complete meal plans, and you can customize and save the plans. However this app does not track your calories burnt and for that, we have the next app in this list. Download for Android and iOS
5. Lifesum
Lifesum is more than just a meal planning app and keeps close track of your daily caloric intake with manual and with health monitoring apps. It comes with a diet tracker which can help you lose weight with healthy recipes and meal planning. Also Read: Best Heart Rate Monitor apps for Appple Watch
It has a smart diary which inputs water intake, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and exercise. To log in your details just tap on one item like breakfast, if you ate packaged food then you can just scan the barcode or enter it manually. As you log entries the counter fills the calories you took and gives you how much calories you still need. Your profile as a chart which displays your daily and weekly progress. You can check your lifestyle and it shows your eating pattern giving you additional insights into the progress. Although the recipes are categorized in different sections you can still mix and match as per your needs. The idea is to consume a dish and at the time of the day which makes calorie counting much easier. The monthly subscription is around $5/ month and can be a little cheaper if you bill it annually and you get Fitbit tracking, meal recommendations, more plans, and a Life score. Download for Android and iOS
6. 8fit
8fit can be described as more of a fitness tracking app but it does, however, let you plan your meals. With 8fit you can log your activities, weight, and meals in the app. You create your profile and enter your goals in the app. It gives you an all in one fitness plan which includes tracking your health and dietary habits with manual logging. Once your goal is set you can plan your meals with this app and choose from hundreds of recipes. Moreover, you can log in your details of the activities you performed and changes in weight. It tracks your steps with data taken from Google Fit. The workouts section recommends exercises according to your profile which you can change if it’s too difficult for you. To start the workout just tap on the ‘start next workout’ and it shows your exercises for the day. Every exercise has easy steps accompanied by pictures to help you understand the routine with the proper stance. You can get the 8Fit subscription for around $5/ month billed for a year. Download 8fit for Android and iOS Which is the best Meal Planning app for Android and iOS? Meal Planner and Mealime are good introductory apps when you want the app to have few functions. When you’re fully focused on meal planning and want an automated app Lifesum and Prepear are good options. 8fit keeps track of your activity and exercise routines. But don’t forget, these are still a meal planner apps, and it takes a lot of willpower to stick to a meal plan.. Tell us Which app do you think is best for you in the comments down below. Read: Best Event Planning Apps for Android and iOS
