Smart Meal Planner
Plan your weekly meals, adjust serving sizes, and filter by dietary requirements
Overview
The Meal Planner helps you organize your weekly meals in one convenient location. View your week at a glance, add recipes to specific meal slots, adjust serving sizes, and let the app handle the rest. Your shopping list is automatically generated based on your meal plan.
Navigation
- View one week at a time (Monday through Sunday)
- Current week is selected by default
- Use arrow buttons to navigate to previous or future weeks
- Tap "Today" to quickly return to the current week
Adding Recipes to Your Meal Plan
Method 1: Manual Selection
- Tap the + button on any meal slot (morning, afternoon, or evening)
- Browse or search for recipes
- Select a recipe to add it to that meal slot
Method 2: Surprise Me (Shake Feature)
- Give your phone a physical shake while viewing the Meal Plan
- The app will randomly suggest recipes for empty meal slots
- Accept or decline the suggestions
- Great for when you need inspiration!
Tip: The "Surprise Me" feature takes into account your dietary preferences and suggests recipes you're likely to enjoy based on your previous selections.
Managing Meal Plan Recipes
Viewing Recipe Details
Tap any meal card to open the full recipe view with ingredients, instructions, and nutrition information.
Edit Mode
- Tap the Edit floating button at the bottom right
- Meal cards show checkboxes for selection
- Select multiple meals to remove at once
- Tap "Remove Selected" or "Cancel" when done
Adjusting Servings
- Each meal card shows the number of servings
- Tap the - or + buttons to adjust serving sizes
- The shopping list automatically updates based on serving sizes
- Perfect for scaling meals up for dinner parties or down for solo cooking
Meal Plan Settings
Tap the Settings floating button (⚙️) at the bottom right to access:
Sharing
- Share the shopping list with anyone
- Print the shopping list
Meal Plan Options
- Clear the entire week's meal plan
- Add all the ingredients to your pantry once you have done your shopping
- Reset to start fresh
Meal Planning Tips
Weekly Planning
- Set aside time each week to plan meals
- Review your schedule for busy nights
- Plan simpler meals for busy days
- Use "Surprise Me" for variety
Batch Cooking
- Plan recipes that make good leftovers
- Cook once, eat twice strategies
- Prep ingredients on weekends
- Freeze extra portions for later
Family Involvement
- Let family members pick recipes
- Assign cooking responsibilities
- Share the shopping duties
- Coordinate schedules in the family group
Save Money
- Check for sales before meal planning
- Plan recipes around seasonal ingredients
- Batch similar recipes to use ingredients fully
- Adjust serving sizes appropriately
Related Guides
Ready to Start Planning?
Sign up for Savvy Chef and start organizing your weekly meals today