Mealime vs Plan to Eat: which to use now Mealime is closing
By Robin Lange, maker of Subtotal ·
Mealime shuts down on 21 October 2026, and its recipes are moving to Meals Hub, inside Albertsons Companies’ grocery apps, where they’re free. If you’d rather keep your recipes in an app of your own, Plan to Eat is a recipe manager, planner and shopping list that costs US$5.95 a month or US$49 a year on its website, with a 14-day free trial. The main difference: Mealime gave you its own recipes and built the plan around them, while Plan to Eat has no recipes of its own; you bring yours, and it can import Mealime recipes one at a time using its Recipe Clipper. Everything below is as of October 2026.
What’s happening to Mealime
Mealime’s own notice says the app will be discontinued on 21 October 2026. Mealime has been part of Albertsons Companies since 2021, and the same team is carrying its recipes into Meals Hub, a recipe and meal-planning section of the Albertsons Companies store apps (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME and others). Meals Hub includes every Mealime recipe, is free, and also has a web version through the store websites. The Albertsons Companies apps are in the App Store in the US and Canada.
Before the date:
- Mealime Pro subscribers won’t be charged again, and all Pro recipes and features are now open to every Mealime user until the shutdown.
- Your Mealime account doesn’t carry over. You sign in to an Albertsons Companies store app instead, and some preferences have to be set up again in Meals Hub.
- All personal data is deleted when Mealime shuts down. The recipes carry on in Meals Hub, but your favourites, meal plans and settings in Mealime don’t. Our guide to saving your Mealime recipes covers how to keep a copy.
- You don’t need an Albertsons store nearby. Mealime says you can still browse recipes, make meal plans and build shopping lists in Meals Hub.
What Mealime did
Mealime was a planner with its own recipe library. You set up a plan with your preferences, foods to leave out, dislikes and number of servings, picked recipes for the week, and Mealime wrote a grocery list for you, sorted into categories. Its recipes aimed to be cooked in about 30 minutes, with step-by-step instructions and a hands-free cooking mode. The app was free, with an optional Mealime Pro subscription at US$2.99 a month on the App Store.
What Plan to Eat does
Plan to Eat is built around your own recipe collection. In its own words, “Plan to Eat does not provide recipes or meal plans”: you bring the recipes, and it organises them.
- Recipe book. Import recipes from websites with the Recipe Clipper (browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari, plus the share sheet on iPhone and Android), or type them in. It can also bulk import files exported from other recipe apps such as Paprika, Copy Me That and RecipeSage.
- Planner. Add recipes to a planner calendar, scale servings, reschedule, plan leftovers and keep track of frozen meals.
- Shopping list. It builds a list from the recipes on your planner. You can add extra items and staples, reorder the categories and keep separate lists for different stores.
- Sharing and sync. One account works on the website and the iOS and Android apps, and you can share recipes and menus with friends and family.
- Your data. You can export your whole recipe book as a .csv or .txt file at any time, even after your subscription ends.
Pricing is US$5.95 a month or US$49 a year on the website (the yearly plan is US$54.99 when bought in the iPhone app), after a free 14-day trial that doesn’t ask for a card. Plan to Eat also offers a 60-day refund and, by default, doesn’t automatically renew a yearly subscription when it expires.
Can Plan to Eat import Mealime recipes?
Yes, one at a time. Plan to Eat has a help article written for Mealime users:
- On your phone: install the Plan to Eat app, open a recipe in Mealime, tap the three-dot icon, tap Share and choose Plan to Eat. Then save the draft recipe.
- On a computer: open the recipe in the Mealime web app and copy its link, then click Add Recipe on the Plan to Eat website and paste the link in.
- Already in Meals Hub? The same share step works from the Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco and ACME apps.
Mealime has no bulk export, so a whole collection can’t move at once. With a long list of favourites, start with the ones you cook most.
Mealime and Plan to Eat side by side
| Mealime | Plan to Eat | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Closes 21 October 2026; recipes move to Meals Hub | Active |
| Where recipes come from | Mealime’s own recipe library | Your own: imported from websites or files, or typed in |
| Meal plan | Built from Mealime recipes using your preferences | Calendar you fill yourself; scale, reschedule, plan leftovers |
| Shopping list | Generated from your plan, sorted by category | Generated from your planner; custom categories, staples, store lists |
| Platforms | iOS and Android apps, and a web app | Website, iOS and Android, synced |
| Price | Free; Pro was US$2.99/month (no further charges now) | US$5.95/month or US$49/year on the website; 14-day free trial |
| Getting recipes out | No bulk export; data deleted at shutdown | Export recipe book as .csv or .txt any time |
Who each one suits
Meals Hub (Mealime’s successor) suits you if you liked having recipes chosen for you and don’t want to start a collection of your own. It keeps every Mealime recipe, it’s free, and it’s built by the same team. It works best if you shop at an Albertsons Companies store, though you can still plan and make lists without one.
Plan to Eat suits you if you already collect recipes from blogs, cookbooks and social media and want them in one place with a planner and shopping list attached. You’ll be doing the choosing yourself, and it’s a paid subscription, but your recipes stay yours and you can export them whenever you like.
If you used Mealime to plan the week
Subtotal works the other way round from Plan to Eat: you bring a budget, not recipes. It plans the week’s meals to that number, lists what to buy and when, and adds up shelf prices as you scan them in the shop. Nothing needs an account; the plans sit on your iPhone. Planning is a one-off purchase with no subscription, and the scanner is free for your first 3 shopping trips. It needs iOS 17 or later and launches in October 2026.
Sources
All accessed 7 October 2026.
- Mealime, Mealime is moving to Meals Hub: shutdown date, Meals Hub and its web version, the 2021 Albertsons acquisition, Pro charges, personal data, FAQ.
- Mealime, homepage: personalisation, grocery list, 30-minute recipes, hands-free mode, iOS and Android apps.
- Apple App Store, Mealime Meal Plans & Recipes: features, Pro price, release notes for version 4.21.37 (2 October 2026).
- Apple App Store, Safeway Deals & Delivery and other Albertsons Companies apps, listed in the US and Canadian App Stores but not the UK, Australian or New Zealand ones.
- Apple App Store, Plan to Eat: features, trial, sync, in-app yearly price.
- Plan to Eat, Frequently Asked Questions: price, trial, refund policy, yearly renewal default, no built-in recipes.
- Plan to Eat, Recipe Clipper: browser extensions and share sheet.
- Plan to Eat Help, Import Recipes from Mealime, updated 14 September 2026: import steps, Meals Hub apps, no bulk export from Mealime.
- Plan to Eat Help, How to Bulk Import Recipes from Another Program, updated 7 July 2026.
- Plan to Eat Help, Export your Entire Recipe Book.