Mealime is Moving: Here’s Your Best Meal Planning Alternative

Mealime is closing October 21. Here’s how to keep your recipes!

If you use Mealime, you probably already saw the message that Mealime is being discontinued as of October 21, 2026. The team is directing users to Meals Hub, a new recipe and shopping tool built into Albertsons Companies’ grocery apps.

If you’re looking at alternatives to Meals Hub, Plan to Eat is worth trying before your Mealime account goes away for good. Plan to Eat has been an independently owned and operated meal planner since 2009. You can bring your Mealime recipes over in a few taps, and once they’re here, they work with any grocery store, not just one chain.

Mealime doesn’t offer a bulk recipe export, but Plan to Eat can import your Mealime recipes from their links, up to 100 at a time. You can also save them one at a time with our Recipe Clipper.

How to Import Your Mealime Recipes

Plan to Eat can read a list of Mealime recipe links and add every recipe to your Recipe Book, with ingredients, directions and photos.

1. Copy your recipe links. Open each recipe you want to keep in Mealime and copy its link. Paste them into a note or an email to yourself, one per line. If you saved Mealime recipes as browser bookmarks, you can export your bookmarks instead.
2. Open the importer on a computer. Log in to Plan to Eat, go to plantoeat.com/import, and choose Mealime.
3. Paste your links and check the preview. We show you the recipes we found, and which ones are already in your Recipe Book, before anything is added. Then click Import.

Pasting a lot of links? We’ll email you when they’re ready to review, so you can close the page while we read them.

During your free trial you can import up to 20 recipes from links. Subscribe to bring over the rest.

Why Plan to Eat Is a Solid Mealime Replacement

Plan to Eat’s approach to meal planning is slightly different from Mealime’s. Instead of feeding you a curated recipe database, your recipes in Plan to Eat are ones you’ve chosen, whether it’s a family favorite from a cookbook, something you found on Instagram, or a dish you’ve been making for years.

Then you create your meal plans on a planning calendar and get a shopping list generated for you. You can organize your list by store and aisle, so you can grocery shop without backtracking or forgetting anything. 

Here are some of the features you’ll love in Plan to Eat:

Recipe storage with custom organization

• Save recipes from any website or social platform, including Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok.
• Scan in recipes from cookbooks, magazines, or handwritten cards
• Import your whole collection at once if you’re moving from another app
• Use Cooking View for hands-free, screen-awake instructions while you cook
• Organize your recipes with your own tags, courses, and cuisines

Plans that work with your week

• Reschedule recipes in seconds with drag and drop
• Scale servings up or down and your shopping list will update automatically
• Track leftovers and freezer meals
• Save and reuse past meal plans
• Calculate nutrition facts for any recipe

A shopping list that skips the guesswork

• Generate a list from your meal plan and add anything else you need
• Add frequently purchased items in bulk to your shopping list with the Staples List
• Check off what’s already in your kitchen before you shop
• Organize your list by store layout, or shop from more than one store at a time
• Send your list to participating stores for pickup or delivery

Mealime and Plan to Eat Plan Meals Differently

Mealime has two options for meal planning: pre-made plans or selecting your own recipes, but the biggest difference between Mealime and Plan to Eat is what happens after you select your recipes. 

Mealime gives you a general list of meals for the week without assigning any of them to a specific day. Plan to Eat’s planner is built on a calendar, so you make placement decisions when you’re creating a meal plan. 

Plan to Eat was created for households that need to plan around their schedules and want to be able to schedule recipes for specific days. Understanding that difference makes the adjustment easier. 

Here’s the simplest way to bridge the gap: instead of assigning each recipe to a specific day, add all of your recipes for the week to a single day on the calendar, like Monday. You can either leave the plan as is, or as you decide what to cook each night, drag and drop that recipe onto the day you’re actually making it. You end up with the same “pick a handful of meals for the week” feel you had in Mealime.

This is how a lot of long-time Plan to Eat customers use the Planner, especially if your week doesn’t run on a strict schedule. You can read more about that approach, including how to handle leftovers and staples, in My Simple, Flexible Meal Planning System.

If your household does want meals planned on specific days to work around your schedule, Plan to Eat handles that just as easily. There’s not a single “right” method for planning in Plan to Eat.

Make the Switch Before October 21

Mealime’s shutdown and transition date isn’t far off, so it’s worth setting up your new home for recipes sooner rather than later. Try Plan to Eat free for 14 days, no credit card required, and paste your Mealime links into the importer before the deadline hits.

Questions about switching? Reach out to our support team at [email protected]. We’re happy to help make the move painless.

*30% off discount applies to new customers only