Mealime vs Plan to Eat: One Is Closing, the Other Never Chose for You
Plan to Eat is the one to use now: Mealime shuts down on 21 October 2026, so it cannot be a recommendation. Plan to Eat plans recipes you bring onto a calendar and writes the grocery list automatically, for $5.95 a month or $49 a year. What it will not do is choose the meals; if that was the part of Mealime you liked, Pann does the choosing for the days you pick and cooks with you.
People compare these two because both plan a week and write a list. But Mealime chose the meals for you and is closing in October; Plan to Eat never chose and is staying. Here is the honest split.
This used to be a fair fight between two planners with opposite philosophies. It is not any more. Mealime's site now says the app will shut down on 21 October 2026, with recipes moving into Albertsons' store apps. So the comparison has become a migration question: if you liked Mealime, is Plan to Eat where you should go? The answer is yes for half of you and no for the other half, and which half you are in depends on one thing.
What Mealime did, and what is ending
Mealime chose. You told it your diet and how many people, it offered a set of dinners, you picked a few, and it produced a clean, aisle-sorted grocery list. The recipes were its own, simple and reliable. Pro added nutrition and a wider set. That whole loop ends in October, and there is no export; the details are in is Mealime shutting down.
What Plan to Eat does
Plan to Eat does not choose. You bring the recipes, from any website through its clipper or typed in, drag them onto a calendar, and it writes the grocery list from whatever is on the plan, merged and sorted. It handles every meal, not only dinner, and it is calm and fast. It costs $5.95 a month or $49 a year after a 14-day trial that needs no card, and the yearly plan is $54.99 if bought through the App Store. We tested it in the Plan to Eat review.
The one question that decides it
Did you use Mealime for the list or for the choosing? If you had a rotation of meals you liked and used the app to schedule and shop them, Plan to Eat is a direct upgrade: better calendar, better clipper, list just as good. Rebuild your rotation from the original recipe pages and you are done in an evening. If you used Mealime because you did not want to think about what to cook, Plan to Eat will feel like homework, because the thinking is exactly what it leaves to you.
The third option, for the choosers
For the second group, Pann is closer to what Mealime was. You pick the days and meals you need food for, breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack, add anything you want to use up, and it decides the recipes, sized to your goal, then writes the shopping list from the plan. Then it walks you through one cooking session for all of them and packs a box for each meal. It keeps no big recipe library, only the recipes you save, so there is nothing to migrate now and little to lose next time an app closes. The ranking of all the options is in Mealime alternatives.
The verdict
Mealime is out by date. Plan to Eat if you know your recipes and want the logistics done. Pann if you want the deciding done. Some people will run both: Pann for the busy weekdays, Plan to Eat for the Sunday roast the family insists on.
Pann is a meal prep planner for iPhone: pick your days, and it plans the recipes, the shopping list and one guided cooking session, then packs a box per meal with its day and how long it keeps. Try Pann free for a week.
Frequently asked questions
Is Plan to Eat free?
There is a 14-day trial with no card, then $5.95 a month or $49 a year ($54.99 a year through the App Store). It does not automatically renew a yearly plan by default.
Does Plan to Eat suggest meals?
No. It plans recipes you add yourself. For meals chosen for you around what you have, use Pann.
Can I import my Mealime recipes into Plan to Eat?
Not directly, Mealime has no export. Find the original recipe pages and clip them, or type the ones you cook most.
When does Mealime close?
21 October 2026, according to its own site. Pro is not charged before then.
