MealBoard - Meal Planner 17+

After trying a few meal planner/shopping list apps this one has all the features I wanted. I wanted to be easily able to import the recipes I have in soft copy, then make these into weekly mealplans and then automatically convert those into weekly and part-week shopping lists which I can then cross things off. An important feature for me is that the shopping list should aggregate ingredients that appear in multiple recipes i.e. if one recipe requires 1 tomato and another requires 2, the shopping list should say 3 tomatoes. And the same for weights. I rejected other apps solely because they didn't have this feature. I use the web application interface to import my recipes (from a file, not a website) which is a bit dated in appearance but works well, and after that I use both my phone and my tablet for the meal plans and shopping list. There are also other features that I don't use. Like another reviewer I am in Australia but I don't have any problems. I don't use the barcode feature they complain of. I just need the metric measurements and the ability to enter and reuse non-American ingredient names, and this app does those no problem.

This is a fabulous app! It's so easy to use and has already made our lives so much more organised! It has already saved us $$ in reducing food wastage and its only week 2! I also love it for the fact that when I travel for work I can remind hubby to eat the leftovers LOL! Like anything it's a bit to set up but worth it. A few pointers for newbies - it works like 1.set up recipes and modify them using your words (e.g. Scallions are Spring Onions or Shallots in AU). Take note of the units of measurement they use in recipes; 2. do a food audit and use the chosen units of measurement (I've used cups for all dry ingredients and teaspoons for spices and tablespoons for sauces; baking soda and stock powder etc. as this is what was commonly recognised in recipes) 3.organise the week and generate a shopping list. The reason to do it in this order is that it's data and if you use different measurements to do your audit then the recipe does then your shopping list won't be accurate so choosing units of measurement and sticking to it makes sure you have as close as possible list of actual ingredients.

No subscription, clean interface for planning and the other extras are useful and don’t bloat the whole point of the app. You can also share this with your partner or family if you use the same MealBoard login, very helpful for planning in a shared household.

I like the web option for importing recipes - but I’d like to see the database management stuff get a web portal in future, if possible. Only downside is the app doesn’t use all the swipe gestures for navigation making it feel a little dated. It’s also quite a powerful database management app, so the pantry management can be overwhelming. So just take it gradually. Otherwise I reckon this is a very solid and focused meal planner with some useful extras.