KithfulSwitching from Mealime
Mealime is shutting down. Save your recipes first.
Mealime closes on October 21, 2026, and there’s no export button — your saved favorites, meal plans and lists are deleted with it. Here’s how to keep your favorites, where Mealime’s recipe library is going, and how Kithful does the same “pick a few recipes, get the grocery list” flow if you’re looking for a new home.
Last day: October 21, 2026. Personal data is deleted when the app shuts down.
No export: there’s no way to download your recipes, plans or grocery lists.
Where the recipes go: Mealime’s recipe library moves to Meals Hub inside the Albertsons Companies grocery apps (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco and others). Pro is free for everyone until the end.
Which way should you go?
There are two honest answers, and it depends on where you buy groceries.
- You shop at an Albertsons Companies store (Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Shaw’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Pavilions, Star Market, United, Haggen or Carrs): Mealime’s own recipes are moving to Meals Hub in that store’s app (tap More, then Meals Hub). That’s the most direct path for the recipes themselves. Your personal favorites list and plans don’t move, so still screenshot the ones you love.
- You shop anywhere else (Kroger, Walmart, Aldi, Target, a local grocer): Meals Hub is tied to stores you don’t use. Any meal planner works; below is how Kithful handles it, including this week’s sales at your own stores.
Save your recipes this week
- Make an album first. In your Photos app, make an album called “Mealime recipes” so every screenshot lands in one place.
- Open your saved recipes in Mealime and go through them one by one.
- Screenshot the ingredient list and the steps. Scroll and take a second or third screenshot if a recipe runs long. Include the serving size if you changed it, because the amounts follow it.
- Add each screenshot to the album as you go. Ten favorites takes about ten minutes.
- Write down your go-to weekly rotation (or screenshot your current meal plan). It’s the part people forget, and it’s deleted too.
- Do it before October 21. Screenshots don’t expire, so you can bring them into any app afterwards, including Kithful.
Turning screenshots back into recipes in Kithful: Plan → Recipes → Scan a recipe. Pick the screenshots and it reads the title, ingredients (amounts kept exactly as written) and steps into an editable recipe for you to check and save. One upload can hold several recipes. New households get 14 days of unlimited scans, which is plenty of time to bring a whole collection over.
How Kithful handles meals
- Browse recipes by category — breakfast, soups & stews, skillets, bowls, pasta and more. Tap ＋ Add to week on the ones you want.
- One grocery list for the whole week — after you’ve picked your meals, one tap puts every ingredient you don’t already have on the list.
- A weekly meal plan — a card per day; move a meal to another day with a tap.
- Your own recipe box — search, an A–Z index for big collections, and recipes typed in, scanned from a photo, or saved from meal ideas.
- Only buy what you’re missing — open a recipe and it checks off what’s already in the house, then adds the rest to the shared shopping list.
- A grocery list sorted by aisle and store, shared with everyone in the house.
- “What can I make?” — ideas built around food that’s about to expire, so less gets thrown out.
- This week’s deals from your stores, flagged on the things you actually buy (how the deals work).
It also runs the rest of the house — a color-coded family calendar, to-dos, chores and Kid Mode — but you can use it just for meals. Here’s a sample week of family dinners to start from.
What’s different — honestly
A smaller recipe library than Mealime’s. You can browse by category and pick meals for the week, but it doesn’t have Mealime’s huge collection yet. It grows every week, and nutrition info is only on some recipes.
It’s a web app for now. You add it to your home screen from the browser; there’s no App Store or Google Play version yet.
It’s in early access. We’re inviting families a few at a time — join the list, and save your screenshots in the meantime.
What it costs
| Plan | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Every feature, for the whole family. 30 photo/PDF scans a month; typing and pasting a text are unlimited. | $0, forever |
| Plus | Everything in Free, with unlimited scans. One price covers the household. | $39.99/year or $4.99/month |
Questions
When does Mealime shut down?
October 21, 2026. Personal data, including saved recipes, meal plans and grocery lists, is deleted when the app shuts down.
Where are Mealime’s recipes going?
Mealime says its recipes will continue on Meals Hub, inside the Albertsons Companies grocery apps (Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME Markets, Shaw’s and others), with a web version on those stores’ websites. Your own saved list and meal plans do not move.
What is the best Mealime alternative?
If you shop at an Albertsons Companies store, Meals Hub in that store’s app carries Mealime’s recipes. If you shop elsewhere, pick a meal planner that makes one grocery list from the week’s recipes and can bring in your saved recipes from screenshots. Kithful does both, free, and also shows this week’s sales at your own stores.
Can I export my recipes from Mealime?
No — Mealime has no export button. The practical way to keep them is to screenshot each recipe’s ingredients and steps before October 21.
Can Kithful import my Mealime recipes?
Yes, from screenshots. In Recipes, choose Scan a recipe and pick your screenshots; Kithful reads the title, ingredients and steps into an editable recipe you check before saving. Several recipes can come in with one upload.
Does Kithful have recipes I can browse, like Mealime?
Yes, a smaller library that grows every week. Browse by category (breakfast, soups, skillets, bowls, pasta and more), tap Add to week on a few, and one tap makes a single grocery list from all of them.
Does Kithful make a shopping list from my meal plan?
Yes. After you pick your meals for the week, one tap adds every ingredient you don’t already have to the shared shopping list, grouped by aisle. You can also shop a single recipe.
Is Kithful free?
Yes. Every feature is free, with 30 photo/PDF scans a month; typing and pasting are unlimited. Kithful Plus removes the scan limit for $39.99 a year or $4.99 a month per household, and new households start with 14 days of Plus, no card needed.
Try Kithful
Every feature is free, for the whole family. New households get 14 days of unlimited scans — no card. We’re letting families in a few at a time; leave your email and we’ll send your invite.
Get early accessSources, checked 2026-10-07: Mealime: closing notice · Plan to Eat: Mealime is moving · Pann: Is Mealime shutting down?. Kithful isn’t affiliated with the apps named here; their names belong to their owners.