Which app should replace Mealime for you?
Mealime is shutting down, and there’s no single replacement, because Mealime did two jobs at once: it handed you quick recipes for the week, and it turned them into one grocery list sorted by aisle. The apps that take over are each good at one half. So this doesn’t rank the six in our guide to the best Mealime alternatives. It asks which half you’ll miss and names the one built for it — ours only when that is the honest answer.
Mealime closes on October 21, 2026. Mealime says all personal data is deleted when it shuts down, so whatever you pick, save the recipes you actually cook first.
If your answer was the list
What Mealime’s plan-to-list loop looks like in DishPal
- This week: save the Mealime recipes you cook. Screenshot the ingredients and steps — up to six shots per recipe — and DishPal turns them into one recipe card.
- Sunday: name the week’s dishes. Saved recipes or just “tacos, bolognese and a salad”. You don’t need a recipe for it to work.
- At the shop: one list. Every ingredient once, the amounts added up, sorted by aisle — the part of Mealime most people opened it for.
Why the first question decides almost everything
What made Mealime popular was a loop: pick a few quick recipes for the week, and it writes one grocery list, sorted by aisle, for all of them. Our guide’s point is that the best replacement depends on which half of that loop you’ll miss:
- The recipes — Meals Hub, Mealime’s official successor, if a grocery store’s app doesn’t bother you; Samsung Food if you’d rather keep groceries and recipes apart.
- Your own recipes — Plan to Eat for a household subscription across iPhone and Android, Paprika to pay once.
- The list — DishPal, which is ours, to go straight from “what are we eating this week” to one list; AnyList if the list has to be shared with Android.
When the other answers change it
The phones count first. DishPal is iPhone and iPad only and shares through iCloud, so one Android phone in the house moves the list answer to AnyList, whose shared lists are free on both. Samsung Food is confirmed on our pages for iPhone, iPad and the web, so on Android this page says “on the web” rather than promising an app we haven’t checked.
Then the money. Plan to Eat has no free plan, so “nothing” never lands on it, and the one free planner that imports from any website is Samsung Food. DishPal’s family sharing is Premium, so a shared list that must stay free goes to AnyList. And the supermarket question only matters for the recipes: that’s where Mealime’s own recipes are going.
Before October 21: save what you cook
Mealime says your account doesn’t move and all personal data is deleted when the app shuts down. Its recipes are also published on mealime.com, which apps with web import — Plan to Eat, Paprika, Samsung Food — can read, and a screenshot of the ingredients and steps works in any app that reads screenshots. Every answer above ends with how to do that in the app it names. Meals Hub already has the recipes, but not your diet and allergy preferences, which have to be set up again.
Where these answers come from
Every pick and every line about an app is from our published pages: the shutdown facts, the six apps and their prices from the best Mealime alternatives (checked October 14, 2026); AnyList’s free and Complete tiers from AnyList alternatives and AnyList vs Paprika; and DishPal’s free version and Premium from its own page.
What this can’t tell you
It only knows six apps, so it is a shortlist, not a survey of the App Store. It doesn’t know your recipes, so it can’t tell you whether a catalogue has the dishes you cook. And prices and plans move — especially for a paid tier like Samsung Food+, which doesn’t publish a price on its App Store page — so read the current listing before you pay.
Frequently asked questions
What should I use instead of Mealime?
It depends on which half of Mealime you will miss. For the recipes, Meals Hub, its official successor inside the Albertsons Companies store apps, or Samsung Food if you would rather keep groceries and recipes apart. For your own collected recipes, Plan to Eat on a household subscription or Paprika to pay once. For the weekly grocery list, DishPal on iPhone, or AnyList if the list is shared with someone on Android.
What is the best free Mealime alternative?
Meals Hub is free and keeps the Mealime recipes, if you are happy to sign in to a grocery store’s app. Samsung Food is free on iPhone, iPad and the web with a large recipe catalogue, weekly plans and shopping lists. For the list alone, AnyList’s shared lists are free on iPhone and Android, and DishPal is free on iPhone and iPad with 3 AI uses a week, 10 recipes and a three-day menu.
Can I take my Mealime recipes with me?
Not as an export: Mealime says account information does not transfer and personal data is deleted when the app shuts down on October 21, 2026. Its recipes are published on mealime.com, so an app that imports from web pages — Plan to Eat, Paprika or Samsung Food — can save the ones you cook, and a screenshot of the ingredients and steps works in an app that reads screenshots, such as DishPal.
Is this Mealime alternative finder free, and does it send anything anywhere?
It is free, there is no sign-up, and nothing you choose leaves your browser. It only knows the six apps in our Mealime alternatives guide and what they published as of October 14, 2026, so it is a shortlist rather than a survey of the App Store.