Best apps · Meal planning
The 6 best Mealime alternatives before it closes.
Mealime is discontinued as of October 21, 2026, and its announcement says all personal data will be deleted when the app shuts down. If you relied on its weekly plans and tidy grocery lists, here's where to go next, starting with what to do before the deadline.
By Hedgehog Chef · · 5-minute read
The short answer
To keep planning around the recipes you like, with your household, Hedgehog Chef is our pick: an AI planner, a shared aisle-sorted list and cook mode. Mealime's own successor, Meals Hub, keeps its recipes inside Albertsons Companies' grocery apps. Plan to Eat is the long-running planner for your own recipes, Samsung Food has a big catalog and AI plans, Eat This Much plans to calorie targets, and AnyList is the cheapest shared list with a planner.
- 1. Hedgehog Chef: best for planning around your own recipes, with the whole household
- 2. Meals Hub: best for keeping Mealime's own recipes
- 3. Plan to Eat: best for a proven planner for recipes you collect
- 4. Samsung Food: best for a big recipe catalog, like Mealime's
- 5. Eat This Much: best for plans built to calorie and macro targets
- 6. AnyList: best for a cheap shared list with a meal calendar
At a glance
| App | Best for | Price | Without paying |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Hedgehog Chef | Best for: planning around your own recipes, with the whole household | Price: Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon), for the whole household | Without paying: A 14-day free trial with everything, no card needed; no free plan after it |
| 2. Meals Hub | Best for: keeping Mealime's own recipes | Price: Free | Without paying: Mealime's recipes, including the former Pro ones |
| 3. Plan to Eat | Best for: a proven planner for recipes you collect | Price: $5.95/month or $49/year on its website ($54.99/year in the App Store) | Without paying: A 14-day trial without a card; no free plan |
| 4. Samsung Food | Best for: a big recipe catalog, like Mealime's | Price: Samsung Food+: $6.99/month or $59.99/year | Without paying: Free with ads: recipes, a meal planner (3 saved plans) and a shopping list |
| 5. Eat This Much | Best for: plans built to calorie and macro targets | Price: Premium: $59.99/year ($5/month) or $14.99 month to month | Without paying: One day's meal plan at a time, food tracking and custom recipes |
| 6. AnyList | Best for: a cheap shared list with a meal calendar | Price: AnyList Complete: $9.99/year for one person or $14.99/year for a household | Without paying: Shared lists and recipes, with 5 web recipe imports; meal planning needs Complete |
How we chose
We make Hedgehog Chef, so it's first on this list: that's our bias, stated up front, and its cons are as honest as everyone else's. The other apps are in the order we'd suggest them for this job. Everything we say about them comes from their own websites, help pages and app-store listings, checked on October 13, 2026 and linked at the end, and each entry says who should pick it instead of ours. We left out store ratings, which change daily.
What we looked at:
- What Mealime did well: weekly plans, filtered by diet and dislikes, turned into a grocery list
- Whether you can bring recipes over before Mealime deletes them
- Sharing the plan and list with the household (Mealime couldn't)
- A step-by-step cooking view like Mealime's
- Price, now that Mealime's free Pro is ending
The apps
Our app
1. Hedgehog Chef
Best for planning around your own recipes, with the whole household
Mealime built plans from its catalog; Hedgehog Chef builds them from the recipes you choose to keep. Ask the AI planner for "a vegetarian week, nothing spicy, under $100" and it proposes the plan and the list for you to approve. The list is aisle-sorted and shared live with everyone at home, each with their own login, which Mealime never offered.
Cook mode feels familiar: one step at a time in big type, with that step's ingredients, tap-to-start timers, voice commands and read-aloud. Our step-by-step guide shows how to save your Mealime favorites before October 21. Hedgehog Chef has no free plan: every kitchen starts with a 14-day free trial with everything included and no card, then Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon) covers the whole household.
Pros
- An AI planner: ask for “a week of high-protein dinners under $150” and it proposes a plan and a list from your recipes, for you to approve
- Up to 8 people, each with their own login, on one subscription
- The list sorts itself by aisle, merges amounts and skips what's already in the pantry
- Full-screen cook mode with that step's ingredients, tap-to-start timers, voice commands and read-aloud
- Nutrition calculated from the ingredients with USDA data, with daily goals on the plan
- Export everything, any time, even after a trial or subscription ends
Cons
- No free plan: after the 14-day free trial it's Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon)
- No big public recipe catalog to browse: it's built around the recipes you save
- New: launched in 2026, so it doesn't have years of track record yet
- No App Store or Google Play app yet: it installs from the browser instead
- Platforms
- Any web browser, installable as an app on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook
- Price
- Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon), for the whole household
- Without paying
- A 14-day free trial with everything, no card needed; no free plan after it
2. Meals Hub
Best for keeping Mealime's own recipes
Mealime's announcement points users to Meals Hub, inside Albertsons Companies' grocery apps and websites, run by Mealime's core team. All of Mealime's recipes, including the former Pro ones, are there for free.
It doesn't promise to move your data: the announcement says preferences and settings need to be set up again in Meals Hub.
Pros
- Mealime's recipes and team
- Free
- Built into the grocery app if you shop at Albertsons Companies stores
Cons
- Lives inside a grocery chain's app
- Your Mealime data doesn't move over
- Built around its catalog, not your own recipes
- Platforms
- Inside Albertsons Companies' grocery apps and websites
- Price
- Free
- Without paying
- Mealime's recipes, including the former Pro ones
3. Plan to Eat
Best for a proven planner for recipes you collect
Plan to Eat is an ad-free, 18-year-old planner built around your own recipe book: clip recipes from anywhere, drag them onto a calendar and get a shopping list. It even documents importing recipes from Mealime. Its phone app works offline, and nutrition is calculated for you.
Pros
- Documents how to import from Mealime
- Offline phone app
- Automatic nutrition
- No ads
Cons
- No free plan after the 14-day trial
- One shared login for the household
- No AI plan generation found
- Platforms
- iPhone and Android apps and the web
- Price
- $5.95/month or $49/year on its website ($54.99/year in the App Store)
- Without paying
- A 14-day trial without a card; no free plan
4. Samsung Food
Best for a big recipe catalog, like Mealime's
If you loved being handed recipes, Samsung Food's catalog of more than 240,000 is the closest thing to Mealime's library, much bigger, with a weekly planner, a shopping list that can go to 23 grocery retailers, and tailored AI meal plans with Food+.
Pros
- A huge catalog with nutrition scores
- AI meal plans with Food+
- Free tier
Cons
- Ads on the free tier
- Only 3 saved plans free
- Many recipes open on the creator's site
- Platforms
- iPhone and Android apps, the web, and Samsung Family Hub fridges
- Price
- Samsung Food+: $6.99/month or $59.99/year
- Without paying
- Free with ads: recipes, a meal planner (3 saved plans) and a shopping list
5. Eat This Much
Best for plans built to calorie and macro targets
If you used Mealime's diet filters to eat to a goal, Eat This Much goes further: it generates plans to a calorie target and macros, with allergy filters and different targets per day. The free tier plans a day at a time; Premium plans the week and builds the grocery list.
Pros
- Precise calorie and macro plans
- Diets, allergies and dislikes
- Grocery delivery integrations
Cons
- Weekly plans and the list need Premium
- Mostly its own recipe database
- One plan scaled up for families
- Platforms
- iPhone, Android and the web
- Price
- Premium: $59.99/year ($5/month) or $14.99 month to month
- Without paying
- One day's meal plan at a time, food tracking and custom recipes
6. AnyList
Best for a cheap shared list with a meal calendar
Mealime couldn't share a list between phones. AnyList is built for exactly that, with a meal-plan calendar and recipe box in AnyList Complete, $14.99 a year for a household.
Pros
- Excellent shared list
- Cheap household plan
- Native apps everywhere
Cons
- You plan by hand
- The planner needs Complete
- No nutrition found
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and Mac apps; the web app needs Complete
- Price
- AnyList Complete: $9.99/year for one person or $14.99/year for a household
- Without paying
- Shared lists and recipes, with 5 web recipe imports; meal planning needs Complete
How to choose
First, before October 21: save the Mealime recipes you'll miss. Mealime's announcement mentions no export, so open each favorite and save it into the app you're moving to. Hedgehog Chef reads a pasted recipe or a screenshot of one.
Then decide whether you want to keep cooking Mealime's recipes (Meals Hub, or Samsung Food for a bigger catalog) or start planning around your own (Hedgehog Chef, Plan to Eat). If your plan was about hitting numbers, Eat This Much is the specialist.
Questions
When does Mealime shut down?
Mealime is discontinued as of October 21, 2026. Until then, its Pro features are free for everyone and Pro subscribers aren't charged again.
What happens to my Mealime data?
Mealime's announcement says all personal data will be deleted when the app shuts down. It doesn't mention an export, so save the recipes you want before October 21.
What is Meals Hub?
Mealime's successor, inside Albertsons Companies' grocery apps and websites, run by Mealime's core team. It has Mealime's recipes, including the former Pro ones, for free. Settings and preferences have to be set up again.
Can I import my Mealime recipes into another app?
Not as a file: we couldn't find a Mealime export. You can save recipes one at a time: Hedgehog Chef imports pasted text or a screenshot, and Plan to Eat documents importing from Mealime.
Sources, checked on October 13, 2026:
- Mealime closing announcement
- Plan to Eat pricing
- Plan to Eat FAQ
- Plan to Eat offline use
- Plan to Eat on a pantry
- What's in Samsung Food+
- Samsung Food meal planner (help)
- Samsung Food Food List (help)
- Samsung Food on the App Store
- Eat This Much pricing
- Eat This Much FAQ
- What Eat This Much Premium includes (help)
- AnyList Complete
- AnyList on the web
- AnyList online shopping (help)
- AnyList on the App Store
Meals Hub, Plan to Eat, Samsung Food, Eat This Much, AnyList are trademarks of their owners (Meals Hub: Albertsons Companies; Samsung Food: Samsung Electronics; Eat This Much: Eat This Much, Inc.; AnyList: Purple Cover, Inc.). Hedgehog Chef isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Prices are in US dollars as listed on the day we checked, and change; app-store prices can differ from website prices.
Spotted something out of date or wrong? Tell us at hello@hedgehogchef.com and we'll fix it.