Best meal planning apps in the UK

Quick answer

For a free app you can install in the UK now, MUNCH’s website and Google Play listing say there is no subscription, and they name UK supermarket prices and a shopping list. Samsung Food’s basic planner is free. Tailored plans are the paid Food+ tier, and a sterling price was not verified. Eat This Much lists free daily plans and Premium at $5 a month on an annual subscription. No sterling price was shown, and the delivery shops on that page are not UK supermarkets.

Mealime is a poor lasting choice. Its own site says the app shuts down on 21 October 2026, with Pro features free until then. BestBody publishes £6 a month or £50 a year and is in UK early access, so it is not an app-store install today. The supermarket price comparison is being built, not live.

The shopping-list and Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Asda detail lives on the companion page. This page answers which app to try when free use, the household or the food budget comes first.

Best meal-planning apps in the UK

The tables use provider pages and store listings checked on 2 October 2026. This is not a hands-on grocery test, and it does not rank recipes. Where a price or a shop was not published, the cell says so.

Installable now: MUNCH is on the UK App Store and Google Play. Samsung Food’s help centre documents the current planner. A UK store page for Samsung Food was not re-opened on 2 October 2026. Eat This Much’s pricing page is live. Mealime is still online, and the download buttons on its site go to the closure notice. BestBody has no public app-store download. Tesco’s Meal Planner help pages did not open on 2 October 2026, so that planner is not in the table.

Best free meal-planning apps

Free means the provider says you can plan without a subscription, not that every convenience is included.

MUNCH is the strongest free option that is clearly installable in the UK today. The UK site and the Play listing both say there is no subscription. The UK App Store listing is free to download. Its update notes mention munch+ and do not give a price, so this guide does not treat a paid tier as confirmed.

Samsung Food’s own planner page says basic meal planning is free for all users: daily and weekly plans, community recipes, recipes from the web, and notes. The help centre, updated 10 September 2026, says free accounts can save up to three meal plans, and that adding the plan to a shopping list is part of the app. Tailored plans are paid.

Eat This Much’s free plan generates a day at a time. The weekly plan and the automatic grocery list are Premium. If the household does one weekly shop, the free tier is a different product from the paid one.

Mealime’s closure page says every Pro feature is now free, and that current subscribers will not be charged again before 21 October 2026. Free for the next few weeks is not a free app to adopt.

Best meal-planning app for families

A family needs portions for more than one person and a list more than one adult can use. The sources do not support a single winner.

Samsung Food is the best documented match among apps that are not closing and not in early access. Its help centre describes shared planning and a shopping list that can be shared with family and friends.

BestBody’s published plan uses household size and shared portions. That is the right shape for a UK family shop. It is not available as a general download yet, so it cannot be the app a family installs this week.

MUNCH can share plans with flatmates. The product is described for students, not for a household with children. Mealime can set servings, and then it closes.

Best meal-planning app for budget shopping

A budget feature is a spending limit, a pack price or a basket total. A page of inexpensive recipes is a different search, and it is not what this guide covers.

MUNCH asks for a budget and says the plan uses UK supermarket prices. That is the closest installable match when the shop cost is the point. Treat the prices as advertised until you compare a basket at the checkout.

Eat This Much can produce a grocery list on Premium. The pricing page does not show UK supermarket prices. Samsung Food organises the list. It does not, in the pages checked, price that list at Tesco, Aldi, Lidl or Asda.

BestBody can keep a budget with the meal plan. Comparing that plan across Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Asda is the part being built. It is not a live price, and it is not available as a finished checkout.

Free vs paid meal-planning apps

Pay when the paid tier is the feature you will use every week. A free daily plan is enough for someone who decides tomorrow’s dinner tonight. It is a weak fit for one weekly shop.

MUNCH’s published model is free. Samsung Food charges for tailored plans and for saving more than three plans, and the sterling amount was not verified. Eat This Much charges for the week and the automatic list, at $5 a month on an annual plan, with no sterling price on the page. Mealime is not selling a future subscription.

BestBody’s published price is £6 a month or £50 a year. There is no free plan on this site, and no free trial is promised here. Judge that price against food logging and training as well as the meal plan, because that is the membership being sold. Public access is still early access.

Which app is best if supermarket price matters?

If you need an app this week and you want a UK shop named in the product, start with MUNCH and then check the basket yourself. It is the only installable app in this table whose current UK listing names Tesco, Aldi and Lidl and says the prices are part of the plan.

Do not read that as a tested cheapest-shop result. This guide did not buy the basket. A list of ingredients, a price per serving and a checkout total can all be different numbers.

BestBody is the product aimed at comparing one planned basket across Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Asda. Use it for that job when early access is open and when the prices you see are current ones you can verify. Until then it is the direction of the product, not a finished price tool.

Samsung Food, Eat This Much and Mealime can still make a list. None of them, in the sources checked on 2 October 2026, compares those four UK supermarkets.

How BestBody compares

BestBody is published by the same team as this guide. The rows above use the same standard as the other apps: what the site actually says, dated, with gaps left visible.

Available as a described product: household meal plans, an editable shopping list, food logging and training, at £6 a month or £50 a year. People in the UK can register interest for early access.

Not available as a finished feature: a live supermarket basket or a live price comparison. BestBody is being built around turning a meal plan into a UK supermarket-aware basket, including price comparison across Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Asda. Any dated basket shown on the website is a sample. The limitations page is the boundary, and the retailer remains the source of the current price.