Best meal planning apps for families (2026)
Seven meal planning apps a family can actually use in 2026 — what each costs, whether it works in the UK, and what each one is genuinely best at. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.
by The Mealody Team ·
| App | Price | Free plan | Works in the UK | Where recipes come from | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnyList | PriceFree tier; Complete $9.99/year, $14.99 household | Free planYes, with a paid tier on top | Works in the UKYes | Where recipes come fromYours, clipped from any site (Complete) | Best atA shopping list two people edit at once |
| Jow | PriceFree to download, with in-app purchases | Free planYes, with paid extras | Works in the UKIts store partners are in France and the US | Where recipes come fromIts own, around 5,000 | Best atTurning a menu into a filled supermarket basket |
| Mealime | PriceFree; Pro opened to everyone until it closes | Free planYes, until 21 October 2026 | Works in the UKClosing on 21 October 2026 | Where recipes come fromIts own | Best atThe quickest setup here — but only until it closes |
| Mealody | PriceFree today, no card | Free planYes — all of it | Works in the UKYes | Where recipes come fromBuilt in; you can't add your own | Best atFeeding people who need different amounts from one meal |
| Paprika | PriceOne-off: £4.99 iOS, £29.99 Mac, $29.99 Windows | Free planFree on Android up to 50 recipes; paid on iOS, Mac, Windows | Works in the UKYes | Where recipes come fromYours, clipped from any site | Best atOwning your recipe box without a subscription |
| Plan to Eat | Price$5.95/month or $49/year | Free planNo — 14-day trial, no card | Works in the UKYes | Where recipes come fromYours, clipped from any site | Best atA calendar built from recipes you already love |
| Samsung Food | PriceFree tier; Food+ £6.99/month or £59.99/year | Free planYes, with a paid tier on top | Works in the UKYes | Where recipes come fromA large community library, plus your own | Best atFinding new recipes and tracking nutrition |
How this list is ordered
Alphabetically. Not by preference, and not by how much we would like you to pick us.
"Best" in a heading usually means "the one that pays us", and a list that ranked its own author first would deserve the suspicion it gets. So every app below gets one honest line about what it is genuinely better at than the rest, including the ones that beat us at things. Read the "Best at" column and pick the row that sounds like your kitchen.
One thing that is not a matter of taste: Mealime is closing on 21 October 2026, and it deletes your data when it does. If that is the app you use, this is not a browsing exercise — see the Mealime alternatives page for what to do before the date.
The seven
AnyList
Strongest on the part most couples actually argue about: the shopping list. Lists sync instantly with whoever you share them with, so one of you can add nappies while the other is already in the aisle. The free tier covers lists and recipes; AnyList Complete adds web recipe import and the meal planning calendar, at $9.99 a year, or $14.99 for a household.
Jow
The only app here that finishes the job. You build a menu and Jow turns it into a real basket at a partner supermarket — Auchan, Carrefour, Intermarché, Monoprix in France; Kroger and its chains, H-E-B and a dozen other retailers in the US. Around 5,000 recipes of its own. Free to download; the App Store lists in-app purchases on top.
The catch for most readers of this page: its shopping partners are in France and the United States. Outside those two there is no store for it to fill a basket at.
Mealime
Fast, clean, and for years the answer when someone asked for a free meal planner. It is being discontinued on 21 October 2026. Until then Pro is open to everyone, which is generous, but its closing notice is explicit that all personal data will be deleted at shutdown. There is no export button.
We are listing it because people still search for it, not because you should start with it.
Mealody
You set up your household once — who eats, how much, what they cannot eat — and it plans up to seven days, then a shopping list and the prep order. What it does differently: portions are worked out per person, from age, goal and activity, so a nine-year-old and an adult at the same meal get different amounts, and someone vegetarian gets their own version of the dish everyone else is eating.
Free today, no card. It runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install. English and Romanian. Nutrition data sourced from USDA FoodData Central, not estimated — the figures are there to read, but there is no diary and no daily total to hit.
How Mealody works, in more detail. The honest limit: you cannot bring your own recipes. Mealody plans from its own catalogue. If your week is built around recipes you have collected for years, Plan to Eat or Paprika will suit you better.
Paprika
Buy it once and it is yours: £4.99 on iOS, £29.99 on Mac, $29.99 on Windows, each platform sold separately. The Android version is free up to 50 recipes, without cloud sync. It clips recipes from any site, scales them, and builds a list. No subscription, ever — for a lot of people that settles the argument before any feature comparison starts.
Plan to Eat
The closest thing to a straight swap if you like collecting recipes. Clip them from anywhere, drag them onto a calendar, and the shopping list builds itself from what you planned. $5.95 a month or $49 a year, with a 14-day trial that does not ask for a card. There is no free tier.
Samsung Food
Free to use, with a paid Food+ tier at £6.99 a month or £59.99 a year and a 7-day trial. A big community recipe library, AI suggestions, and nutrition tracking — the only app here that tracks. If what you will miss about Mealime is discovering new things to cook, this is the nearest replacement.
How to choose in about a minute
- You already have recipes you love → Plan to Eat, or Paprika if you would rather not subscribe.
- You want the week decided for you → Mealody.
- People in the house need different amounts or eat differently → Mealody.
- You want the order placed, not just the list → Jow, if you are in France or the US.
- You want to discover new recipes and track nutrition → Samsung Food.
- The shopping list is the whole point → AnyList.
- You are on Mealime → move before 21 October 2026.
Every figure above was checked against each app's own site or store listing on 18 September 2026. Plan to Eat and AnyList bill in US dollars, and Paprika prices its Windows version in dollars, so what you pay depends on the exchange rate and your VAT.
Frequently asked questions
- Which meal planning app is best for a family?
- It depends on what your evenings actually look like. If you already have recipes you love, Plan to Eat or Paprika organise them. If you want the week decided for you, Mealime did that and Mealody still does. If people in the house need different amounts or eat differently, that is the specific problem Mealody was built for. There is no single best app, which is why this page is alphabetical rather than ranked.
- Is there a genuinely free meal planning app?
- Mealody is free today and does not ask for a card. Jow is free to download, with paid extras offered inside the app. Samsung Food and AnyList have free tiers with a paid tier on top. Paprika is free on Android up to 50 recipes and a one-off purchase elsewhere. Plan to Eat is paid after a 14-day trial.
- What happened to Mealime?
- Mealime is being discontinued on 21 October 2026. Its closing notice says all personal data will be deleted when the app shuts down, and there is no export. Users are pointed at Meals Hub, which lives inside Albertsons Companies grocery apps in the United States, so it is not a realistic move if you shop elsewhere.
- Which of these work in the UK?
- All except Jow, whose store partners are in France and the United States. Mealime works here too, but only until 21 October. Paprika and Samsung Food are on the UK App Store with pound prices; Plan to Eat, AnyList and Mealody run in the browser.
- Can any of them handle different diets in one household?
- Mealody gives each person their own diet and builds everyone's version of the same meal. The others plan one recipe at a time and leave it to you to adapt, which works if the household mostly eats the same thing.
- Do these apps show what the shop will cost?
- None of the apps on this page quotes live supermarket prices. Jow comes closest, because it builds a real basket at a partner store, but only in France and the US. The rest, Mealody included, give you a list to shop from, not a running total.
- Do I need to install an app?
- Not always. Mealody and Plan to Eat run in the browser. AnyList and Samsung Food work in a browser and as an app. Paprika and Jow are apps you download.
- Which one counts calories?
- Samsung Food and Plan to Eat both do: Plan to Eat calculates nutrition facts for your saved recipes and shows daily totals on the planner. Mealody shows nutrition figures for a meal but has nothing to track with — no diary, no daily total. AnyList, Paprika and Jow are recipe and list tools rather than nutrition tools.
- Are any of these available in languages other than English?
- Several are. Paprika lists 16 languages, Samsung Food seven, AnyList English and German, Jow French and English, and Plan to Eat and Mealime English only (its own help pages say the buttons and menus stay in English). Mealody is in English and Romanian. None of the others lists Romanian.
- How often is this page checked?
- Every figure here was checked against each app's own site or store listing on 18 September 2026, and the date at the top changes whenever it is checked again. Prices move; if you spot one that has, tell us.