The Mealime Promise
Mealime has earned a loyal following for a reason. It's simple, fast, and gets dinner on the table in 30 minutes. The app generates personalized meal plans, creates grocery lists automatically, and guides you through each recipe step by step.
For solo cooks and beginners, it's genuinely excellent.
But as your life evolves—you move in with a partner, start a family, or just want more flexibility—Mealime's limitations start to show.
What Mealime Does Well
Credit where it's due:
- 30-minute meals: Recipes designed for speed
- Automatic meal plans: Choose your preferences, get a week of dinners
- Step-by-step cooking mode: Great for beginners
- Dietary filters: Supports allergies, dislikes, and macros
- Clean, minimal design: No clutter, just cooking
If you're cooking solo and want someone to tell you exactly what to make, Mealime delivers.
Where Mealime Falls Short
Mobile Only—No Exceptions
Mealime is built for phones. Period.
Want to plan your week on your laptop while checking your calendar? Can't. Want to reference a recipe on a larger screen while cooking? Open your phone. Prefer a desktop experience for meal planning? Too bad.
In 2025, being locked to mobile feels unnecessarily restrictive.
The Shopping List Reset Problem
Here's a frustration that drives users crazy:
You build your meal plan. Mealime generates your shopping list. Then you realize you want to swap one recipe. Your entire shopping list resets.
As one user put it: "After we bought the pro version I was expecting to be able to modify a meal plan whenever I wanted without having the grocery list reset."
Rigid Serving Sizes
Mealime only lets you choose servings in increments of 2, 4, or 6.
Cooking for 3 people? You're making extra. Family of 5? Someone's getting short-changed or you're doubling recipes awkwardly.
Recipe Importing Is Painful
Want to add your grandmother's recipe or that viral TikTok dish? Good luck.
You can only paste a URL—no manual entry. If the import fails (which happens often), editing the recipe is nearly impossible. The edit interface is notoriously clunky.
No New Recipes
Long-time users report a troubling trend: Mealime has essentially stopped adding new recipes. Some users claim "they've only put out 5 new recipes this year."
If you've been using Mealime for a while, you've probably cooked through most of their catalog.
No Pantry Management
Mealime doesn't know what's already in your fridge. Every shopping list starts from scratch. No inventory tracking. No "you already have this" intelligence.
How What's for Dinner? Compares
Web + Mobile = True Flexibility
What's for Dinner? works everywhere:
- Plan on your laptop
- Cook from your phone
- Check the list on your tablet
- Access from work, your parents' house, anywhere
One account. Every device. No artificial restrictions.
Smart Shopping Lists That Don't Break
Modify your meal plan anytime. Add recipes, remove recipes, swap days around. Your shopping list updates intelligently—it doesn't reset.
We built it the way it should work.
Cook for Any Number
Need to cook for 3 people? Done. Family of 5? No problem. We support any serving size because real families don't come in increments of 2.
Actually Good Recipe Import
Our AI (powered by Claude) imports recipes from any URL with high accuracy. And if you want to add a recipe manually? We have a proper editor for that.
Plus, with AI suggestions, you can ask "what should I make with chicken and broccoli?" and get real answers.
Real Household Collaboration
This is the big one. Mealime is single-user. What's for Dinner? is built for households:
- Multiple users: Everyone has their own account
- See who's cooking: Assign cooks to meals
- Activity feed: Know what your partner planned
- Shared shopping list: Check items off together in real-time
The free tier includes 3 household members. That's not a typo.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Mealime | What's for Dinner? | |---------|---------|-------------------| | Platform | Mobile only | Web + Mobile | | Household sharing | Single user | Multi-user (3 free!) | | Shopping list | Resets on changes | Updates intelligently | | Serving sizes | 2, 4, or 6 only | Any number | | Recipe import | URL only, clunky | AI-powered, + manual | | Pantry tracking | No | Yes | | AI suggestions | No | Yes | | Pricing | $5.99/mo or $49.99/yr | Free tier or $8-16/mo |
Making the Switch
Will I lose my recipes?
You can export from Mealime and import into What's for Dinner?. Or start fresh—our AI makes adding recipes so fast you might prefer it.
What about the cost?
Mealime Pro: $5.99/month ($72/year) or $49.99/year WFD Sous Chef: $8/month with household sharing, AI features, and web access
For a couple, you'd need two Mealime accounts ($100+/year) for separate profiles. WFD gives you both for $8/month total.
The Bottom Line
Mealime is a solid choice for solo cooks who want simple, phone-based meal planning.
But if you want to plan on your computer, cook as a household, or just not have your shopping list reset every time you change your mind—What's for Dinner? is built for how modern families actually live.
