Mealime Has Shut Down: The 7 Best Mealime Alternatives (2026)

Updated 21 October 2026 · Reviewed across iOS, Android, and web

Mealime was discontinued on 21 October 2026, and the best alternatives are FoodiePrep for AI-planned weeks with recipe import, Prepear for a free planner with an automatic grocery list, Plan to Eat for families, Eat This Much for calorie targets, Samsung Food for a large free catalogue, AnyList for shared lists, and Albertsons' Meals Hub if you shop at one of its stores. This guide covers what happened to Mealime, how to rebuild your favourite recipes now the app is gone, and which replacement fits the way you used it.

Disclosure: FoodiePrep (foodieprep.ai) is one of the apps compared below — we built it. The other six were reviewed using their official documentation, App Store and Google Play listings, current pricing pages, and published user reviews; FoodiePrep was assessed against the same criteria, including where it falls short of Mealime.

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What happened to Mealime?

Mealime shut down on 21 October 2026, and personal data — favourites, past plans, shopping lists, and diet settings — was deleted at shutdown. Mealime was bought by Albertsons Companies in 2021, and the company has moved its recipes and planning tools into Meals Hub, a section inside the Albertsons family of grocery apps (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Shaw's, Tom Thumb, Randalls and others).

The facts from Mealime's closing notice, in plain terms:

• Date: the app was discontinued on 21 October 2026.
• Pro: subscribers stopped being charged after the notice, and Pro features were unlocked for everyone until the shutdown.
• Recipes: Mealime's own catalogue continues inside Meals Hub, which is free in the Albertsons store apps and websites — you do not need a store nearby to browse recipes and build a list there.
• Your data: Mealime never offered an export, and personal data was deleted at shutdown. Dietary preferences have to be set up again in whichever app you move to.

How to rebuild your Mealime favourites now

Start with the ten meals you actually cooked most — they are easier to recover than you might think. In practice:

1. Write down the meals you repeated. Most households cooked the same handful of Mealime dinners on rotation; that short list is all you need to rebuild.
2. Find Mealime's own recipes in Meals Hub. The catalogue moved there, so a recipe you loved from Mealime is usually still available to view in the Albertsons store apps and websites.
3. Use any screenshots you took before the shutdown. FoodiePrep reads a recipe straight from a photo or screenshot; Paprika and Prepear accept typed-in recipes.
4. Recreate your dietary settings (diet type, allergies, dislikes, serving size) in the new app on day one — that single step is what made Mealime feel effortless.
5. Plan one week in the new app before judging it. The first plan is where you learn whether it fits the way you cooked with Mealime.

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Apps like Mealime: the 7 best alternatives at a glance

The best apps like Mealime are FoodiePrep, Prepear, Plan to Eat, Eat This Much, Samsung Food, AnyList, and Albertsons' Meals Hub — each one replaces a different part of what Mealime did. The table shows which is closest to the way you used it.

Prices spot-checked 24 September 2026 — re-check on each app's website before subscribing.

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1. FoodiePrep — Best Mealime alternative for guided weekly plans (with recipe import)

FoodiePrep does what Mealime users liked most — set your preferences once and get a week planned with the grocery list written for you — and adds the two things Mealime never had: recipe import from anywhere and an AI you can talk to. Ask Chef Foodie for "a week of 30-minute dinners for two, no fish" and it generates the recipes, places them on your calendar, and builds an aisle-sorted shopping list that flags anything already in your pantry.

What Mealime users will recognise

• Dietary preferences, allergies, and dislikes saved once and applied to every plan
• A full week filled in automatically, with any meal swappable in a tap
• Grocery list generated from the plan, grouped by aisle, quantities merged across recipes
• Step-by-step cooking view

What is different

• Import your old Mealime favourites from a screenshot, and any future recipe from a website, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or a photo of a cookbook page
• A pantry you fill in by typing or scanning, used to flag duplicates on the list and to suggest recipes from what you have
• Per-recipe nutrition (calories, protein, carbs, fat, fibre, sugar, sodium, cholesterol), and plans that can target a calorie or protein number
• In the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand the list links into your supermarket's online cart
• Chef Foodie answers substitution and technique questions while you cook

Where it falls short of Mealime

• No real-time shared household list — households share one login instead

• Unlimited AI plans sit in the Nutrition Pro tier; the free Taster tier covers recipe saving, recipe books, and basic meal planning

• Price: Free Taster tier; Nutrition Pro from around $4.99/month (annual)

• Platforms: iOS, Android, web

• Best for: Former Mealime users who want the same hands-off week, plus their own recipes and cooking help

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2. Prepear — Best free Mealime alternative with an automatic grocery list

Prepear is the closest free like-for-like: a clean weekly planner that turns the meals you choose into an aisle-sorted grocery list, on phone, tablet, and computer. Fortune's 2026 roundup named it the best meal planning app overall.

What Mealime users will recognise

• Weekly planner with a grocery list that writes itself from the plan
• Aisle-sorted list, with everyday essentials added alongside
• Cook Mode for step-by-step cooking

What is different

• Prepear does not suggest meals — you pick every recipe from its catalogue or your own saved ones

• A pantry list keeps staples you always have off future lists

• "Shop Now" sends the list to Walmart for pickup or delivery (US)

• Pre-made meal plans, cookbooks, and ad-free Cook Mode require Prepear Gold

• Price: Free; Prepear Gold around $9.99/month billed annually, 14-day trial

• Platforms: iOS, Android, web

• Best for: Former Mealime users who mainly want the free planner-plus-list and are happy to choose their own meals

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3. Plan to Eat — Best Mealime alternative for families

Plan to Eat is a calendar-first planner where the whole household shares the plan and the grocery list in real time. It has been one of the most visible destinations for Mealime users since the closing notice went up.

What Mealime users will recognise

• Drag meals onto the week, get a consolidated grocery list for the date range you choose
• Serving-size scaling

What is different

• No built-in catalogue and no suggestions: you import recipes from websites or type them in, then plan manually

• Real-time sharing across family members, including assigning items to different stores

• Duplicate ingredients across recipes are not always merged

• Price: $5.95/month or $49/year after a 14-day trial

• Platforms: iOS, Android, web

• Best for: Households where more than one person cooks and shops

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4. Eat This Much — Best Mealime alternative for calorie and macro targets

Eat This Much generates a full week from your calorie and macro numbers and builds the grocery list from it. If you used Mealime's nutrition info to stay on target, this is the most automated replacement.

What Mealime users will recognise

• Automatic weekly plans and lists, minimal setup
• Dietary filters for most common diets

What is different

• Plans are built to hit numbers, so recipes can feel repetitive and clinical over time

• Food logging and barcode scanning in the same app

• Weak for households where each person has different needs

• Instacart and Amazon Fresh integrations

• Price: Free tier; Premium around $5–15/month depending on billing period

• Platforms: iOS, Android, web

• Best for: Individuals tracking calories or macros

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5. Samsung Food — Best free catalogue with planning attached

Samsung Food (formerly Whisk) pairs a very large free recipe catalogue with a planner and an aisle-sorted grocery list. It is the broadest free option, but planning is mostly you dragging recipes onto a calendar.

What Mealime users will recognise

• Dietary filters and a grocery list grouped by aisle
• Free to use for the core features

What is different

• A catalogue many times the size of Mealime's, plus web recipe import

• Smart-fridge sync if you own Samsung appliances

• The AI features and deeper planning tools sit behind Food+

• Price: Free; Food+ around $6.99/month

• Platforms: iOS, Android, web

• Best for: Recipe browsers and Samsung-kitchen households

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6. AnyList — Best if the grocery list was the part you used most

AnyList is a shared grocery list app first, with a recipe box and a meal calendar on top. If your Mealime routine was really "make the list, share it, shop", this is the leaner replacement.

What Mealime users will recognise

• Aisle-sorted list with items merged across recipes
• Add a recipe's ingredients to the list in one tap

What is different

• Real-time shared lists, plus Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant

• No suggestions, no nutrition data; recipe import and the meal calendar are part of the paid AnyList Complete tier

• Price: Free; AnyList Complete around $11.99/year (family ~$17.99/year)

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Mac, web

• Best for: Couples and families coordinating one list

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7. Meals Hub (Albertsons) — Best if you shop at an Albertsons-family store

Meals Hub is where Mealime's recipes and team moved, inside the Albertsons Companies store apps and websites. It is free, includes the former Pro recipes, and lets you browse, plan, and build a list even if there is no Albertsons store near you.

What Mealime users will recognise

• The Mealime recipe catalogue, with new recipes from the same chef team
• Dietary preferences and restrictions
• A shopping list that maps to the store

What is different

• It lives inside a grocery-store app (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Shaw's and others), not a standalone planner

• Your Mealime favourites, plans, and settings did not transfer — preferences are set up again in Meals Hub

• Shopping is tied to Albertsons banners; there is no import of your own recipes

• Price: Free

• Platforms: Albertsons Companies store apps (iOS, Android) and websites

• Best for: US shoppers who already use one of these stores

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How to move your Mealime recipes to a new app

Mealime never had an export, so the move is manual — but it only needs to cover the meals you repeat. Here is the fastest route for each destination:

• FoodiePrep: use photo import on any screenshot you saved, or on a recipe you have found again in Meals Hub, to turn it into a saved recipe. Do the same for each favourite, then tell Chef Foodie "plan next week with these" and the saved recipes are placed on the calendar with the rest of the week filled in around them. Can't find a recipe? Describe it — "the honey garlic chicken with green beans I used to make" — and Chef Foodie can create a close version for you to save.
• Prepear, Plan to Eat, Paprika: type or paste the ingredients and steps into a new recipe. Plan to Eat and Paprika can also clip any recipe that has a public web page.
• Meals Hub: nothing to move — the catalogue is already there. Re-select your dietary preferences after signing in to a store app.

Set your dietary preferences and household size in the new app on day one; every planner above uses them the same way Mealime did.

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Which Mealime alternative should you choose?

Match the app to the part of Mealime you relied on.

• You liked that the week planned itself → FoodiePrep (AI plans, plus your own recipes) or Eat This Much (plans built to calorie targets)
• You want the free planner and list, and don't mind choosing meals → Prepear or Samsung Food
• Two or more people plan and shop → Plan to Eat (shared calendar) or AnyList (shared list)
• You shop at Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, or another Albertsons store → Meals Hub

For the wider field beyond Mealime replacements, see our ranking of the 10 best meal planning apps in 2026 and the comparison of meal planning apps with built-in grocery lists. Weighing up a recipe organiser instead? Read Mealime vs Paprika.

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Frequently asked questions

Has Mealime shut down?

Yes — Mealime was discontinued on 21 October 2026. Its owner, Albertsons Companies, moved Mealime's recipes into Meals Hub inside its grocery apps, and saved favourites, plans, and lists were deleted at shutdown.

Is Mealime still working?

No — the Mealime app stopped working on 21 October 2026. Mealime's recipe catalogue is still available to view in Albertsons' Meals Hub, but the standalone app, its planner, and its shopping lists are gone.

Why did Mealime shut down?

Albertsons Companies, which bought Mealime in 2021, consolidated its recipe tools into Meals Hub. The same team continues to publish recipes there; the standalone Mealime app was retired.

Can I get my Mealime recipes or meal plans back?

No — Mealime deleted personal data at shutdown and never offered an export. Mealime's own catalogue recipes can still be found in Meals Hub, and FoodiePrep can turn a screenshot of any recipe into a saved recipe; other apps accept typed-in recipes.

Is Meals Hub the same as Mealime?

Meals Hub has Mealime's recipes and team, but it is a feature inside Albertsons store apps. It is free and includes the former Pro recipes, but Mealime favourites, plans, and preferences did not transfer, and you cannot import your own recipes.

Will I still be charged for Mealime Pro?

No — Mealime stopped charging Pro subscribers before the shutdown. If you see a Mealime charge dated after the closing notice, contact Apple or Google Play, whichever billed the subscription.

What apps are like Mealime?

The apps most like Mealime are FoodiePrep and Prepear, because both write your grocery list from a weekly plan. FoodiePrep plans the week automatically from your saved preferences and imports your own recipes; Prepear is free, but you pick every meal yourself. Plan to Eat, Eat This Much, Samsung Food, and AnyList each cover part of what Mealime did.

Is there a free app like Mealime?

Prepear is the closest free replacement, with a weekly planner and automatic grocery list. Samsung Food, AnyList, and FoodiePrep's Taster tier are also free to start; Meals Hub is free if you use an Albertsons-family store app.

What is the best Mealime alternative for families?

Plan to Eat is the best Mealime alternative for families because plans and lists are shared live. AnyList is the pick if the shared list matters more than the plan; FoodiePrep suits families who want the week generated for them and can share one login.

Does any app have Mealime's "What's in my fridge" feature?

Yes — FoodiePrep's pantry does this and goes further. Add what you have by typing or scanning it, then Discover Recipes suggests meals from those ingredients, and any recipe you add to the shopping list has pantry items flagged so you don't buy them twice. The pantry is user-curated, not automatic inventory tracking.

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The bottom line

Mealime closed on 21 October 2026, so the job now is rebuilding the handful of recipes you actually cooked and choosing the app that matches how you used it. For most former Mealime users that is FoodiePrep if you want the week planned for you with your own recipes included, Prepear if you want it free and simple, or Plan to Eat if the whole household plans together.

FoodiePrep is free to start on iOS, Android, and the web — import your Mealime favourites from a screenshot, or describe them to Chef Foodie, and let it plan your first week around them.