Mealime Shut Down: The Best Mealime Alternatives

Mealime is gone. If you planned your week in it, you probably found out the hard way: the app stopped working, and the meal plan you built went with it. Here's what happened, what you can still save, and the best Mealime alternatives for where you cook next.

The Short Answer

Mealime shut down on October 21, 2026, and deleted all personal data, including saved recipes and meal plans. There was no export. As of October 27, 2026, Mealime's recipe pages are still online at mealime.com, so you can still save the recipes themselves. Mealime's official replacement is Meals Hub, inside the Albertsons store apps (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco and others). If you want your recipes in an app that isn't tied to a grocery chain, Aldenté (iPhone and iPad), Plan to Eat, Paprika, Samsung Food and AnyList are the main options, compared below.

What Happened to Mealime

Here's what Mealime said on its closing page and in its last App Store release notes (version 4.21.37, October 2, 2026):

• The date: "Mealime will be discontinued as of October 21, 2026."
• Your data: "All personal data will be deleted when the Mealime application is shut down."
• Where it went: Mealime's features moved to Meals Hub, which lives in the Albertsons Companies grocery apps and websites. Sign in to your store app, tap More in the bottom right, then tap Meals Hub.
• The recipes: Mealime says "all Mealime recipes will continue to be available on Meals Hub."
• Your settings: Some preferences "will need to be established directly within Meals Hub." Mealime never said your saved favorites or past meal plans would move over.
• Pro: Pro subscriptions stopped renewing. Mealime said Pro subscribers "will not be charged any additional subscription fees."

The short version: the recipe library survives at Albertsons. Your personal collection, the recipes you picked and the plans you built, is what got deleted.

Can I Still Get My Mealime Recipes Back?

Your saved list and meal plans are gone. Mealime deleted personal data at shutdown, and there's no export or recovery.

The recipes themselves are mostly still out there. When we checked on October 27, 2026, recipe pages at addresses like `mealime.com/recipes/...` still loaded. Mealime hasn't said how long they'll stay up, so if you remember the dishes you loved, save them this week.

1. Write down the dishes you actually cooked. Go from memory, old screenshots, or your camera roll. The 10 your household asked for matter more than the 80 you saved once.
2. Find each one on mealime.com. Search "mealime" plus the recipe name, or browse mealime.com/recipes.
3. Save each recipe page in a way you'll actually use: bookmark it, print it, "print to PDF" into your Files app, or copy the ingredients and steps into a note.
4. Check Meals Hub if you shop at an Albertsons store. Mealime says its recipes live there now.

Move Your Mealime Recipes Into Aldenté

If you want your recipes back in an app with a meal plan and a grocery list, Aldenté can import recipe pages from most websites, including Mealime's. It brings over the title, photo, ingredients, steps, servings and total time. It's on iPhone and iPad.

1. Download Aldenté and make an account. Saving recipes is free, with no limit on how many.
2. Open the Mealime recipe in Safari on your iPhone.
3. Tap Share, then tap Save to Aldenté. The first time, you may need to scroll the row of apps or tap More to find it.
4. Review the preview, then tap Save.
5. Repeat for each recipe you want to keep. Start with the ones you cook most.
6. Put a few on this week's plan. Add them to the meal plan, and their ingredients go straight to your grocery list.

Two small notes: Mealime pages don't list a prep time, so you'll see total time only, and you can add your own photos once you've cooked a dish.

If your old plan was the part you loved most, here's a simple weekly routine for turning a pile of saved recipes into dinners you actually make.

What to Look for in a Mealime Replacement

Mealime did a specific job well. Before you pick anything, decide which parts of that job you need.

1. A weekly meal plan. Do you want the app to build the week for you, or do you just want a calendar you fill in yourself?
2. A grocery list that writes itself. Mealime's best trick was turning a plan into a list. Look for that, plus a pantry, so you're not buying a third jar of cumin.
3. Quick recipes with simple ingredients. Mealime's recipes were short and weeknight-friendly. If that's what you liked, look for an app with recipes in that style, or one that lets you bring your own.
4. Works where you live. Some planners are tied to one grocery chain. That's great if you shop there, and a problem if you don't, or if you move.
5. Works on your phone. iPhone, Android, or both in your house? This decides more than any feature.
6. The real cost. What's free, what's paid, and whether it's a subscription or a one-time price.
7. Ads. Some free apps pay for themselves with ads. Know before you commit.

Mealime Alternatives, Compared

Prices were checked October 16, 2026, on each app's own website or App Store listing.

Albertsons Meals Hub is the official path, and it has a lot going for it. It's free, it keeps the Mealime recipe library, and Mealime's team is behind it. If you already shop at Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco or another Albertsons store, try it first. The trade-off is that it lives inside a grocery store's app, so it's built around that store.

Plan to Eat is the closest thing to "Mealime, but with my own recipes." You collect recipes from any site, drag them onto a calendar, and it builds the shopping list. It works on iPhone, Android and the web, and it's been around for years. It's paid after the trial, with no free tier.

Paprika is the classic recipe box. Pay once, own it, and it syncs across iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows. It has a meal planner, grocery list and pantry. If you hate subscriptions, or your household mixes iPhone and Android, Paprika is a safe pick.

Samsung Food is free, works on iPhone and Android, and has a huge recipe library plus meal planning. If you want something that feels closest to Mealime's "pick from a library" style on an Android phone, start here.

AnyList is the cleanest shared grocery list around, and it's cheap. If the list was the part of Mealime you used most, AnyList does that one job very well, on every platform.

Aldenté is for people who save recipes from everywhere (Mealime, TikTok, Instagram, food blogs) and want them in one place to plan and cook from. Saving is free with no limit, the grocery list and pantry are free, and you can share one list with the people you live with. Meal plan generation is free once, then part of Premium (see pricing). The honest limit: it's iPhone and iPad only. If you or your partner are on Android, pick one of the cross-platform apps above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Mealime shut down?

Yes. Mealime shut down on October 21, 2026. Its closing page said the app "will be discontinued as of October 21, 2026," and that all personal data would be deleted at shutdown. As of October 27, 2026, it no longer shows up in a US App Store search.

Can I recover my saved Mealime recipes or meal plans?

No. Mealime deleted personal data at shutdown and never offered an export, so your saved list and meal plans can't be recovered. The recipes themselves are a different story: as of October 27, 2026, Mealime's recipe pages still load on mealime.com, and Mealime says its recipes are in Meals Hub.

Are Mealime recipes still online?

As of October 27, 2026, yes. Recipe pages at addresses like `mealime.com/recipes/...` still load. Mealime hasn't said how long they'll stay up, so save the ones you love now by bookmarking, printing or sharing them into a recipe app.

What replaced Mealime?

Mealime's official replacement is Meals Hub, inside the Albertsons Companies grocery apps and websites (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco and others). Mealime says Meals Hub is "100% free, including recipes previously available through Mealime Pro." If you'd rather use an app that isn't tied to a grocery chain, see the comparison above.

What's the best Mealime alternative on iPhone?

If you shop at an Albertsons store, try Meals Hub first, since it keeps Mealime's recipes. If you want your own recipes from anywhere with a free grocery list and pantry, Aldenté is built for that. Plan to Eat and Paprika are also solid on iPhone.

What's the best Mealime alternative on Android?

Aldenté isn't on Android. Samsung Food is free and closest to Mealime's library style. Plan to Eat is a strong paid planner. Paprika is a one-time purchase that syncs everywhere, and AnyList is great if you mostly need a shared grocery list. Meals Hub works in the Albertsons store apps too.

One Last Thing

Losing an app you used every week is annoying. Losing the recipes your family actually likes is worse. The good news is that most of those recipes are still out there. Spend 20 minutes this week saving the ones you cook, wherever you decide to cook them next.