Mealime Is Shutting Down: Save Your Recipes and Choose an Alternative

By Mel Schembri · Published 2026-09-21 · Meal Prep

Mealime closes on 21 October 2026. Save your recipes, understand the move to Meals Hub, and compare alternatives for your next weekly meal plan.

Mealime is closing on 21 October 2026, according to its official announcement. If it holds the meals your household actually cooks, make a copy of those recipes before choosing a replacement.

You do not need to move years of dinners tonight. Start with the ten you would miss next week. The rest of this can wait until the kettle's on.

This is a guide from GetLadle, so we have an interest in helping you find a new home for your recipes. We will also tell you where another kind of app may fit better. Product details and the linked announcement were checked on 21 September 2026.

What the announcement actually says

Mealime directs users to Meals Hub in Albertsons Companies store apps and websites. Its recipe catalogue continues there, including former Pro recipes. Shopping at those stores is not required to use the planning tools. The notice says personal data will be deleted at shutdown; it does not promise a complete account migration. Read Mealime's shutdown FAQ.

That distinction matters: finding a recipe again is different from preserving your own notes, favourites and weekly routine. Our recommendation is to keep a separate copy of anything you would be upset to lose.

Save the recipes you actually use

Set aside one short session to make a useful backup. A folder called “Recipes to keep” is enough to start. Work through it in small batches if your collection is large.

1. Start with your regular meals

Make a list of favourites, recipes you added yourself, and anything you changed to suit your household. Prioritise the quick Tuesday dinner, the birthday request and the one lunch everybody agrees on.

Check the app for an export, print or sharing option. We have not verified a complete bulk-export method, so do not make your backup depend on one appearing. If the route is unclear, ask Mealime support while keeping your own readable copies.

2. Capture a complete recipe, not just its photo

For each recipe, save:

• The title and original source link, if there is one.
• The full ingredient list, including quantities and units.
• All method steps, including anything below the first screen.
• The serving count and preparation or cooking times.
• Your substitutions, adjustments and notes.

Screenshots are a practical fallback. Take overlapping images for long recipes, then open them in your camera roll and check that nothing was cut off. A picture of the finished dish will not help much when you need to know how much flour went into it.

If a recipe came from a website, keep that URL as well. The original page may be easier to import into another organiser than a screenshot.

3. Save your planning habits separately

A good meal rotation contains decisions that are easy to overlook: which dinners make leftovers, what works on a late shift, and which meals share ingredients. Write those down with any reusable weekly plans or shopping staples you want to keep.

For example: “Roast vegetables on Sunday; use the rest in Monday's wraps.” That small note may be more valuable than importing another twenty recipes you never cook.

4. Check the backup outside the app

Open one saved recipe from your folder and see whether you could cook it without returning to Mealime. If the amounts, servings or last two steps are missing, fix them now.

Keep a second copy somewhere you control, such as a computer folder or a backed-up drive. The aim is a readable collection that does not depend entirely on your next app. Our guide to getting recipes out of your camera roll can help with the next tidy-up.

Which Mealime alternative fits the way you cook?

The most useful question is whether you want an app to provide the recipes or help organise the ones you choose. Both are reasonable. They are different jobs.

eMeals describes weekly meal plans with recipe choices and grocery lists. Plan to Eat centres its workflow on your saved recipes, planning calendar and automatic grocery list; it should not be mistaken for a direct replacement for a curated recipe feed. Its recipe-import guide covers links, photos and manual entry.

This is a workflow comparison, not a claim that we have tested every feature of every app. Prices, allowances and regional availability can change. Check the product you are considering before paying for a long subscription.

Where GetLadle fits, and what it costs you to try

GetLadle is built around a recipe collection you choose. You can add recipes from supported links or text, organise them, share them in private Circles and use Cook Mode when it is time to make dinner. Photo recipe scanning is available on eligible paid plans.

GetLadle's free Apprentice plan currently includes 15 recipe saves per month and 15 URL or text imports per month. Those are monthly allowances, not a lifetime limit of fifteen recipes in your library. The free plan includes a manual shopping list; automatic shopping lists from meal plans and photo recipe scans require a paid plan. Check the current options in GetLadle before deciding how to move a large archive.

There is no promise of a direct Mealime-account import into GetLadle. For a recipe with an original website link, try importing that supported URL. For a personal recipe, use text entry. For screenshots, use an eligible photo-scan plan and review the extracted result before saving. No importer should be treated as infallible: fractions, units and serving counts deserve a second look.

GetLadle also connects the recipes to other people. A private Circle can hold the family favourites you keep sending each other. An event can let guests claim dishes or jobs, making it easier to see what is covered before a gathering. If your problem extends beyond Tuesday's dinner to “who is bringing what on Saturday?”, that may be useful.

If what you mainly want is a service to supply a fresh set of recipes each week, compare the provided-recipe options first. GetLadle's library-based approach may suit you better once you already know what you want to cook.

Try one real week before moving everything

Choose three meals you know, one new recipe and one leftovers night. Put that small plan through the replacement you are considering.

Can you find the recipes quickly? Can somebody else in the household understand the plan? Does the shopping list combine quantities sensibly while keeping genuinely different ingredients separate? Can you check off an item in the shop without hunting for it again?

Test one serving-size change, too. A recipe that works for two on Tuesday may need to feed four on Friday. Review the quantities after scaling rather than assuming the imported recipe was perfect.

If you are trying GetLadle, start with a few supported URL or text imports on the free plan. Assess the paid planning or scanning features only if those are part of the workflow you need. Our family meal-planning guide gives you a simple week to build around.

Once that small trial feels comfortable, move the next batch. Keep your original backups even after GetLadle or another organiser has the recipes. A successful import is useful; an independent copy is still worth having.

Start with a few recipes in GetLadle, or use the comparison above to try another option. Either way, get the recipes you care about somewhere you can open them first.