best meal planning tool

[yandz]

I am usually not a shameless plugger, but for all the discussion on this forum about meal planning saving money (and it really does), I feel like I should share. Plus it is 50% off through tomorrow.  Affiliate link: https://www.plantoeat.com/ref/a3f1fc5607   Non-affiliate link: www.plantoeat.com

Plan to Eat is an awesome meal planning program.  You import recipes much like how you would pin them to pinterest.  But then you can drag and drop them onto a calendar, adjust the servings you need and it automatically scales, it will generate a grocery list, etc. etc.  These programs never seem to work how you would wish, but this one actually does. It will also track what is in your freezer and makes it available to you when you are meal planning so you drag freezer meals into your calendar.  I travel a lot, our lives are irregular, but this still works so awesome for us.  Couldn't recommend enough if you are looking to improve your meal planning skillz/experience/etc.

[kudy]

I've been using Plan To Eat since last February with much success - highly recommended! I took advantage of this sale to extend my yearly subscription by a year.

[Quinny]

Did you guys already meal plan? I do, and I'm pretty good about it, but I'm intrigued by the ability to import recipes... Worth it for someone like me?

[kudy]

I never did proper meal planning before; I wanted a tool that would make it really simple (and easily shared with my girlfriend), and that's what lead me to them.

A few of my favorite features: a "in the freezer" section so you don't forget what you've frozen, and recipes have a note if you've eaten the meal recently, "planned X times recently" - a little nudge to not make chili every week ;)

Worth a try on the "free trial" if you're not sure. We spent 2-3 hours the first day we signed up adding all of our most common meals to the recipe database. If someone wants to sign up using my referral link, I added it to my most recent blog post (link to blog in signature).

[patrat]

I really like Pepperplate. It is free, has great functionality, and works cross platform (computer to mobile, android, windows, and apple). The recipe import only works well on the computer/web version.

Also, it is free. ;-)

I use it for all my shopping and meal planning now.

[Quinny]

Thanks all! Passed on the black fipriday offer, will likely try the free trial. And look into pepper plate.

[OutlierinMA]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents about PlanToEat. I have been using it since last November and love it. It is simple, easy to use and excellent for disorganized poor planners like myself.

I am a tax preparing CPA and I used it last year to meal plan for "busy season," January through April, by planning freezer meals for the duration. I found the freezer meals online, imported them into the software, created a huge shopping list and did a weekend of prep-work for 3 months of meals! It worked great.

I've also put all of my favorite recipes on there so no more searching for recipes on scraps of newspaper or magazines or cookbooks - I just have to open my computer to have access to the recipes - and no more writing out shopping lists, which I love - you bring up the shopping list on your phone and can check off items as you find them in the store!

Great software, well worth the $20 annual subscription (as mentioned above, this is the discounted price).

[cavewoman]

Just today I downloaded food planner app on Android. It's free, although it has a paid option as well as some plans and recipes available for purchase. I bought the vegetarian cookbook using my Google survey reward money :-)

I used it to meal plan for two weeks. It was easy in the grocery store. You can import recipes, I used budget bytes and hip pressure cooking and the import was easy. It can be used on phone or computer, which is helpful. I liked the way you add ingredients from a recipe to your grocery list, you can choose not to add things you already have. It had an inventory section but I'm not very familiar with that yet.
The paid pro version has a sync with Google calendar, which might prove to be worth it for me when I've built up my Google play credits.

If I remember, I'll come back to the thread after I've used it. I've been hit or miss with meal planning before, and like someone else mentioned, getting back on track after a break can be chaotic.  I'm hoping it helps me stay motivated to cook when I get home.

[LadyStache in Baja]

Just the thought of it sounds exhausting.  The thought of getting it going.  Especially since I tend to not cook from recipes.  I just cook off the top of my head.  And yet, I'd *like* to give it a try, if its true that meal-planning saves $$.  But wow, inventories, and checklists, and planning out in advance.

And then it seems everytime I do have some sort of plan, DH gets a cravings for some other thing.  I suppose with the software you can move stuff around and be flexible.  ugh.  Now I feel like I have to try it.  I wish I had never read this thread...  :)

[LadyStache in Baja]

Ok, I downloaded Pepperplate weeks ago, and put two recipes in: beans and cheese and chicken soup.  Ha, just some easy go-to stuff.  And that was it.  But I just gave it another go.  I saw a blog post for 30 meals for your preschooler, and just imported recipes from that list.  The import was super easy!  Then I was able to just plan out for the next week.  Except from that list of 30, I only got enough for one week.  Oh well.  I'm going to make this work!  So I guess tomorrow, I'll try to go shopping.  Again, weird since I always just buy one day's stuff at a time.  Here goes nothing!