5. Yummly
Touted as having one of the most extensive recipe collections, Yummly prides itself on providing you with delicious recipes that match your dietary restrictions and food preferences.
It offers everything from appetizers to smoothies and everything else from main courses to desserts. They have a sort feature that makes it easy to filter through whatever you have a hankering for that day.
Most unique, however, is Yummly’s relationship with Instacart. Instacart is a same-day grocery delivery service that partners with local stores.
So, when you put your zip code into Yummly’s database, the ingredients in the recipes you choose are automatically generated into a grocery list that is sorted by aisle for the store of your choosing. This speeds things up, should you choose not to have the items delivered.
Score!
There is also a coupon link that will pull up offers specific to the grocery store you’ve selected. It will then apply those savings directly to the order.
Pretty amazing, right?
Yummly also uses an algorithm to generate recipes based on your likes and dislikes, with the simple tap of a “yum” button. If you’re diet-conscious, the nutritional information for all of the recipes is included (calories, carbs, fat, and cholesterol).
If you’re using an app like My Fitness Pal, iTrackBites or Weight Watchers, this is a primo feature! Yummly is both an app and a website so you can browse and save recipes that are specifically tailored to your own personal tastes and preferences.
It even provides you with the opportunity to filter your recipes based on skill level and those that have videos, so it is perfect for those novice home cooks looking to learn and refine their skills in the kitchen.
One of the biggest drawbacks to Yummly is that there is no calendar-style meal plan. However, this may not be an issue for you if this isn’t a feature you are looking to have with your meal planning app.
The Yummly meal planning app is available on Google Play and iTunes.
6. Allrecipes Dinner Spinner
This unique meal planning app brings social media into the kitchen with its collection of over 50,000 recipes created by home chefs. You can even follow your favorites for inspiration!
Your feed is personalized – growing smarter with every recipe you save and make, and which cooks you follow. You can rate dishes as well. And, as with similar planning apps, you can search by keyword and cuisine – even dietary restrictions.
But for me, the standout feature with this app is the one that allows you to enter your zip code to find “on sale” items at local stores that are relevant to your recipe and makes meal planning easy.
Now that’s nifty!
The Allrecipes meal planning app is available for download on Google Play, iTunes, Kindle, and Windows Phone.
Note: This is not an “ad free” app, and there are currently no upgrades available to make it so.