Mealime shuts down on October 21, 2026 — with no export button. Favorites, plans, lists, preferences: all deleted. This guide does two jobs: a step-by-step rescue plan for your recipes this weekend, and the 6 best mealime alternatives.
Save your recipes before Oct 21 (do this weekend)
Mealime is owned by Albertsons Companies. Only the recipe library is moving — to "Meals Hub" inside Albertsons grocery apps. Your personal plans, favorites, notes, and lists do NOT transfer. Save what you want before Oct 21, in this order:
- Open your favorites and your current plan. Pick the 10–20 recipes you actually repeat. Start with your greatest hits, not everything.
- Save the recipe text, not just the link. Save each page as a PDF or print it. Links die; text lasts.
- Copy each recipe's share link into one note. One list, easy to find — your import list for the apps below.
- Copy your personal notes and swaps next to each title — the little tweaks that make a recipe yours.
- Write down your diet settings: diet type, allergies, foods you hate, usual servings. You'll re-enter these in your new app.
- Import what you can. Many Mealime recipes also live on mealime.com/recipes, and Paprika, Plan to Eat, and Samsung Food can pull them straight from the URL. Do this before Oct 21 — nothing guarantees that site stays up after shutdown.
- Screenshot plans you return to — especially personal items you added to grocery lists. And check your Pro subscription: it's free until shutdown and won't renew, but glance at your Apple/Google Play receipts for recent charges anyway.
What to look for in a mealime alternative
Mealime fans loved a specific thing: recipes chosen for you, not an empty recipe box — plus diet filters, a grocery list sorted by store section, and calories on Pro. The replacement should check most of those boxes:
Auto-planning, not just storage. Some "alternatives" are really recipe boxes. If you loved Mealime picking your week, you want an app that generates the plan for you.
A grocery list sorted by store section. This was Mealime's quiet superpower. Check the app's list view before you commit.
Easy import. Since you're rescuing recipes manually, pick an app that pulls recipes from a URL — it makes the checklist above much faster.
Our quick picks
| App | Best for | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WellNest Meal Plan Generator | Our pick — free, no signup | Free 3-day · Pro 7-day $19 one-time | Try it free → |
| eMeals | Closest "tell me what to cook" feel | ~$4.99/mo annual · 14-day trial | Visit site → |
| Samsung Food | Biggest free starting point | Free tier with planning | Visit site → |
| Paprika 3 | Pay-once recipe saver | ~$4.99 mobile, one-time | Visit site → |
| Plan to Eat | Best for planners | ~$5.95/mo · 14-day trial | Visit site → |
| Meals Hub (Albertsons) | Official successor | Free in grocery apps | Visit site → |
1. Eat This Much — the most direct replacement
Best for: anyone who wants Mealime's "plan my week for me"
If the auto-planning is what you'll miss most, start here. Tell it your calories or macros, your diet, what you dislike, and how many you're feeding — it builds your whole day or week, then turns it into a grocery list.
What users love
- Set it and forget it: preferences, servings, and macros turn into a full plan.
- Auto grocery lists — with grocery delivery integration on Premium.
- Free tier covers daily plans, so you can try before paying.
What users complain about
- Weekly planning and grocery lists need Premium (~$5/mo annual or $14.99/mo).
- More macro-focused and less "here's tonight's recipe" than Mealime was.
The deal: free 3-day plans, no signup needed · Pro 7-day version with shopping lists and macro tracking for $19 one-time.
Try WellNest Free2. eMeals — closest to the Mealime feel
Best for: "just tell me what to cook this week"
eMeals is the closest match to how Mealime felt day-to-day: 7 fresh recipes land in your plan each week across 15 diet plans, and your grocery list sorts itself by store section. If you pick your meals from a curated list rather than wanting an algorithm to decide, this is your app.
What users love
- 15 diet plans (keto, paleo, gluten-free, diabetic, kid-friendly, and more).
- Lists sorted by store section, with pickup/delivery integration at major grocers.
What users complain about
- It's curated, not generated — you pick from the week's recipes rather than getting an auto-built plan.
The deal: dinner plan ~$4.99/mo annual · 14-day trial · iOS, Android.
Visit eMeals3. Samsung Food — the biggest free option
Best for: starting free, zero commitment
The biggest free starting point in meal planning: 240,000+ recipes, 14 diet filters, and a genuinely useful free tier. It's also a strong rescue tool — it can import your saved Mealime URLs.
What users love
- The free tier is genuinely useful — planning + lists without paying.
- URL import makes rescuing your Mealime recipes fast.
What users complain about
- With 240k recipes, it's a library more than a curator — less "here's your week" than Mealime.
- The best features sit behind the paid Food+ tier.
The deal: free tier with planning + grocery lists · Food+ ~$6.99/mo · iOS, Android, web.
Visit Samsung Food
4. Paprika 3 — pay once, own it forever
Best for: keeping your rescued recipes organized
Not an auto-planner — the best digital recipe box ever made, and the hero of the rescue step above. Paste in your Mealime share links and it pulls the full recipe. Reusable weekly menus, aisle-sorted grocery lists, no subscription. If your main panic is losing recipes, this is the safety net.
What users love
- One-time purchase — no subscription, ever (~$4.99 on mobile).
- Best-in-class web import: paste a URL, get a clean recipe.
What users complain about
- No auto-planning — you build the week yourself.
The deal: ~$4.99 one-time on iOS/Android · ~$29.99 one-time on desktop · no subscription.
Visit Paprika5. Plan to Eat — for the true planners
Best for: people who love a real calendar view
Mealime gave you a week as a list; Plan to Eat gives you a week as a calendar. Save recipes from any site, drag them onto days, and the shopping list builds itself. One common Mealime complaint was that adding your own web recipes felt awkward — Plan to Eat is built around exactly that.
What users love
- True calendar planning — see the whole week at a glance.
- Save from any website, so your rescued Mealime links slot right in.
What users complain about
- You're the planner here — no auto-generated weeks.
The deal: ~$5.95/mo or ~$49/yr after a 14-day trial · iOS, Android, web.
Visit Plan to Eat6. Meals Hub (Albertsons) — the official successor
Best for: Safeway / Albertsons / Vons / Jewel-Osco shoppers
This is where Mealime's recipes are going: Meals Hub inside the Albertsons family of grocery apps. If you already shop at Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, or Jewel-Osco, it's worth a look — the recipe library lives there, free, inside an app you may already use. Just know the truth: it's the recipes, not your Mealime. Your plans, favorites, and lists are still gone.
What users love
- Free, inside apps many shoppers already have — recipes + grocery cart in one place.
What users complain about
- Only makes sense if you shop Albertsons-owned stores.
The deal: free inside Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, and Jewel-Osco apps · recipe library only.
Visit AlbertsonsThe no-subscription option: WellNest
Notice something? Every app above is a subscription (or a pay-once tool). Here's the honest alternative: a free recipe home.
WellNest's recipe bank has 60+ healthy recipes — weeknight dinners like our chicken lettuce cups and meal-prep staples like overnight oats. Pick 5–7, scale the servings with our free unit converter, shop one list, cook once.
And because Mealime users are actively losing their plan, we made the landing soft: join the free WellNest newsletter and get our free 7-day plan — a week of dinners, one shopping list, zero subscription. Plus the free tools: the unit converter for scaling recipes, the substitution finder (don't have it on hand? find the exact substitute here), and the nutrition calculator.
Are we a meal-plan generator today? Honestly — no. We're the free recipe home and the weekly plan in your inbox while you pick the right paid tool above.
The final verdict
Do the rescue checklist this weekend — Oct 21 is days away. Then: for Mealime's auto-planning magic, WellNest Meal Plan Generator; for the curated "tell me what to cook" feel, eMeals; to keep your rescued recipes, Paprika.
Questions, answered
Is Mealime really shutting down?
Yes — October 21, 2026, per Mealime's own closing notice and App Store listing. Pro is free until shutdown and won't renew, but all personal data (recipes, favorites, plans, lists, preferences) is deleted at shutdown.
Can I export my Mealime recipes?
There's no official export. Before Oct 21, save each favorite's full text as a PDF, copy all share links into one note, and write down your diet settings. Many recipes also live on mealime.com/recipes, and Paprika, Plan to Eat, and Samsung Food can import them from the URL — do it before Oct 21.
What's the closest Mealime alternative?
Eat This Much is the most direct auto-planning replacement — it builds your week from your preferences and macros, then makes the grocery list. eMeals feels closest to Mealime's "tell me what to cook" experience with 7 new recipes a week across 15 diet plans. Paprika is the pay-once pick if you mainly want to keep your saved recipes.
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