Meal Planning Shopping List Apps: How to Choose One and Import Your Recipes

What is a Meal Planning Shopping List App?

A meal planning shopping list app saves recipes, helps you plan your week's meals, and generates a grocery list organized by aisle or category. Instead of deciding what to cook each evening or writing out lists by hand, you pick recipes for the week and the app collects all the ingredients into one list. Most apps let you save recipes from anywhere online, and many add import tools so you don't have to start from scratch.

How These Apps Work

The basic flow is simple: save recipes, plan the week, generate a list. Most include mobile apps so you can reference recipes while shopping or cooking. Better ones let you share meal plans with household members, adjust serving sizes to match how many people you're cooking for, and mark off items as you shop.

Some go further with dietary filters, recipe suggestions based on what you've cooked before, or integration with grocery delivery services. But the core three—saving recipes, planning meals, and making a shopping list—are what most people actually use.

Features Worth Looking For

When comparing meal planning apps, these features make real differences:

Moving Recipes From Your Old App

If you're coming from another meal planning app, the easiest path depends on which one you're leaving.

From Paprika

Paprika is one of the few apps with a built-in export that includes photos, ratings, and categories. Export your Paprika library from the app settings and you'll get a .paprikarecipes file. Many apps can import this file directly. When you switch to a new app that supports Paprika files, upload that file and your recipes appear with all your notes and ratings intact.

From Mealime

Mealime, with more than 1 million Android installs, is shutting down on 21 October 2026. The company is not providing an export tool, so if you have favourite recipes saved, you have two options:

• Screenshot them one by one: Time-consuming, but you preserve the exact recipe text and photo.
• Use a recipe recovery service: Mealfolder's Mealime rescue lets you paste your list of favourite recipe names, and it matches them against all 3,291 public Mealime recipes in seconds, complete with photos and full ingredients. No manual copying required.

If some of your Mealime favourites were custom recipes (ones you created yourself, not Mealime-published), those won't be in any public database. For those, you'll need screenshots or manual notes.

From Other Apps

AnyList, Plan to Eat, Copy Me That, Samsung Food, Recipe Keeper, BigOven, and Yummly each have different export capabilities—some export to CSV or HTML, others don't export at all. Check your app's settings for an "export" or "backup" option. If an export is available, see whether the new app you're moving to can import that format directly.

If no export exists (or the app only exports in a format your new app doesn't read), use these methods:

1. Share individual recipes as links: Most apps let you share a recipe URL to another app that accepts link imports.
2. Screenshot and paste: Take a photo of the recipe or copy the text and paste it into the new app. It's slower, but it works for any recipe.
3. Use a web clipper: If the new app has a browser extension or web clipper, use it to save recipes directly from web pages or in-app links.

If you're juggling recipes from many apps, plan for a few hours of work, or import your favourites first and add more over time.

Free vs. Paid Meal Planning Apps

Most meal planning apps offer a free tier with limits, and a paid subscription for more:

• Free plans typically include a small number of recipes (often 10–25) and access to the current week's planner. Good for testing whether the app fits your workflow.
• Paid plans (usually $10–$20 per year) unlock unlimited recipes, multi-week planning, and household sharing. If you meal-plan regularly, the cost is often less than eating out once.

When comparing prices, check whether the paid tier covers just you or multiple people. Some apps charge per household member; others have a flat annual rate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a free meal planning app long-term?

Yes, if your recipe library is small and you only plan one week at a time. Most free tiers are genuinely usable; they just limit how many recipes you can save. If you're thinking long-term and use the app weekly, paying for unlimited recipes and multi-month planning saves frustration later.

What if my favourite app doesn't have an import tool?

You'll import manually, one recipe at a time via link, screenshot, or pasted text. It's slower than a bulk import, but it works. Many people import their most-used 20–30 recipes first and add more as they cook new things.

Can I still access my old app's recipes after it shuts down?

Not usually. When an app is discontinued, the servers shut down and old logins stop working. Apps that provide export tools (like Paprika) are rare. If your app doesn't export and is closing, the time to save your recipes is now. Screenshot or copy what you need before the shutdown date.

Do I need a household plan, or can multiple people share one account?

It depends on how you use the app. If one person plans meals and one shops, sharing one account is fine. If you want different people to add recipes and see each other's suggestions in real time, a household or family plan designed for multiple members works better. Check the app's details before buying.