Family meal planner
The family meal plan, shared by the two of you.
Hedgehog Chef is a meal planner, shopping list and recipe box for one kitchen. On the Family plan, two people each sign in with their own login and see the same week, the same list and the same recipes, so whoever cooks or shops has the latest.
14 days free, no card needed. Then Family is $9.99 a month or $83.99 a year for two people, or Individual $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year for one.
How it works
A weekly meal plan for the family, in four parts.
Plan the week, shop it from one list, cook from recipes you can find, and ask for help when nobody can think of anything.
Plan the week
One board for the week's meals.
Put recipes on breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks for any day, or just write “Leftovers” or “Pizza night”. Drag a meal to another day when plans change.
- Set the servings for each meal, so the list buys enough
- “Who's cooking?” on each meal when there are two of you
- Copy last week, or save a good week as a menu to use again
- Week and month views, and a printout for the fridge
Shop it
One shopping list, live on both phones.
“Shop for this week” puts every planned recipe's ingredients on one list, scaled to the servings you planned, minus what's already in the pantry, and sorted by aisle.
- Check something off and it's checked on the other phone straight away
- The same item twice merges: 2 cups of milk and 1 cup is 3 cups
- Split the shop: each of you sees what the other has found
- Checked items sync once you're back online after a dead spot in the store
Cook it
Recipes both of you can find.
Bring in recipes from any website, a photo of a cookbook page or a Paprika export, and file them in binders like Weeknight or Kids' favorites. Search finds a recipe by title, ingredient, tag or cuisine.
- Scale to any number of servings with real fractions
- Cook mode: one step at a time in large type, with timers from the steps
- A cook log, so you remember who liked what
Stuck for ideas
“Plan next week. Two vegetarian nights, nothing over 40 minutes.”
Ask the AI planner and it fills the week from your recipes, your pantry and your household's size, preferences and allergies. You see the plan before anything is saved. It can get things wrong, so check allergens yourself.
Related guide: How to plan a week of dinners in 15 minutes
Related guide: How to share a grocery list with your household
The rest of the family
Two logins. Everyone else can still see dinner.
The Family plan is for the two people who plan, shop and cook. Kids, grandparents and the neighbor doing a pickup run don't need an account.
- A private calendar link puts the meal plan in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or a family wall calendar
- Share list sends what's still to buy as plain text, or print it
- Print this week for the fridge door
Plans
Try it together first.
The 14-day trial has the Family plan's room for two, so you can invite the person you cook with from day one. No card is needed to start.
Both plans have every feature and no ads. Compare the plans, or, if you're coming from Mealime, see our list of Mealime alternatives.
Before you start
What to know first.
- A kitchen holds two people at most, on the Family plan. There's no login for each child.
- There's no App Store or Google Play version yet. Hedgehog Chef runs in the browser on a phone or computer and installs from there to your home screen.
- There's no free plan. After the 14-day trial, someone in the kitchen subscribes, or the kitchen pauses with everything in it kept.
FAQ
Questions people ask first.
More on the FAQ page and in the help center.
How many people can use the Family plan?
Two, each with their own login, sharing one kitchen: the recipes, the meal plan, the shopping lists and the pantry. Everyone else can follow along without an account through a private calendar link to the plan, or a copy of the shopping list sent as text.
Can we both change the meal plan and the shopping list?
Yes. Everyone in the kitchen can add, move and remove meals and list items. When one of you checks something off, it's checked on the other's phone straight away.
Can it plan around allergies and picky eaters?
The AI planner works from your saved recipes, your pantry and your household's size, preferences and allergies, and shows you the plan before anything is saved. It can get things wrong, so check allergens and labels yourself.
Is there an app for iPhone and Android?
Hedgehog Chef is a web app you install from your browser: on iPhone, open app.hedgehogchef.com in Safari and choose Share → Add to Home Screen; on Android, Chrome offers Install app. It then opens full screen like any other app. There's no App Store or Google Play version yet.
How much does it cost?
Every new kitchen gets 14 days free with room for two people and no card. Then Family is $9.99 a month or $83.99 a year for two people, and Individual is $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year for one. If nobody subscribes, nothing is charged and the kitchen pauses.
Plan this week together.
Bring your recipes and the person you cook with. 14 days free, no card needed.