Mealime is the most recent app that we are going to review in a healthy lifestyle binge we’ve been doing recently. It’s a meal planning app that makes grocery shopping (or food shopping for us Brits) that little bit easier.
And with an overall average score of 4.7/5, the app has its fair share of good reviews. We’ll have a look and see what makes it so highly rated in depth here.
Mealime App Review
Overall, the app is deserving of its high rating – it’s one of the best healthy recipe apps when it comes to finding new and inventive meals to cook.
One thing I appreciated was a summary of the app when it’s first loaded. This seems like something that you’d think was common among apps, but it’s not. Rather than diving straight in it gives three slides entirely based on the three main functions of the app and the benefits they provide.
It doesn’t necessarily give a lot of value if you know anything about the app before downloading it but it’s a nice reminder and can be quickly skipped passed if not needed.
When first going through the app set up process it was very to the point with its options – it didn’t feel like there were any unnecessary questions. However, completing them in full can help to customise your experience.
Simple questions like “what type of diet are you looking for?” and “any foods you particularly dislike?”. A quick reminder notification for setting up your meal planning time and then we’re into the app.
A quick account set up with your email and you’ll be done with the start up. You can then browse the meals you like (which include a cooking utensils list, ingredients list and instructions).
Once you’ve selected the ones you want in your meal plan, the ingredients are automatically added to the groceries tab where an entire grocery list has been made with easy check off markers for your convenience. Go to the store, get your ingredients and we’re straight to cooking!
Pros and cons
Pros
Let’s start with the pros. One of the first things to make a note of is the general aesthetic of the app. How does it look? In this case, good. It’s clean and clear, and those are my two most important points for the general look and feel of an app.
The animations are clearly well done and of a good quality. Animations aren’t make or break but a nice bonus. The images associated with the meals are great, they’re well made and explain exactly what the meals contain.
One of the biggest pros for me is the simplicity and ease of the app. If you struggle coming up with meals for your week, then this app is there to help.
In fact, you could use it exclusively for your dinners. If you’re a busy bee in the mornings and during your day, then you’ll probably have a fairly standard meal. You can use the app to help you have a more interesting and nutritious dinner.
Cons
There’s only one con – it’s a frustrating one, but there is a solution thankfully. The one thing missing from the meals is that they don’t have the nutritional information on them, which is rather important for a lot of people.
The solution is the paid version, which has this additional information that allows you to eat healthier. If you’re looking for a free app it’s great, but it is missing that important information unless you’re willing to pay for their subscription.
Meal plans
This is first and foremost a meal planning app, and this is where it excels. They’re so easy to work with and can allow you to eat healthier and improve your own diet. There are quite literally hundreds of meal plans on the app and thanks to the app it even helps to sort the meals.
You’ll be glad to hear there aren’t literally a hundred meals in front of you to scroll through, you’ll have various categories to browse such as the recently added section.
The most popular section, top rated, the quick and easy section and that’s just to name the main ones.
Groceries
Firstly, with the grocery section the list is incredibly easy to use. It has a check-off feature, which lets you know the amount needed as well so you don’t need to worry about that.
In fact, they even categories them to make it a little easier to get all the ingredients in one go rather than walking back and forth around the store. But why even go to the store? This is a first for me, but this app has a function for browsing options and selecting what you want online.
For example, if part of your recipe includes a clove of garlic you will be offered the options for garlic from your chosen to store then you have the option to add which one you like, quickly select the suggested option, or skip if you already have the ingredient. It’s very easy to use and does all the leg work for you.
Paid option
The paid version for this app has a number of benefits. For myself the main benefit is that the app then gives you a detailed list of the nutritional information for each of the meals in the plans.
It’s a core part of the decision making when it comes to meals for a lot of people so I would argue the paid option is near mandatory to get the real value from the app.
I’m personally ok with this as the app is so well made and so useful, you likely save the money you’d spend on the app with their money saving benefits anyway.
There are a few other benefits to the app as well just to sweeten the deal as it were, some are smaller and maybe more niche for most users but always nice to have more options.
There’s a calorie filter for your meals so you can aim to reduce your calories with this filter. Pretty handy if you’re planning on losing weight or getting a bit fitter.
You also gain access to the full range of recipes, can add notes to recipes and can view previous plans you’ve made so you can maybe add a little note about something that was difficult about cooking or a specific ingredient you liked for the recipe.
Common Questions about Mealime
Is the Mealime app free?
When you sign up to Mealime, you can use the free version of the app to get to grips with how it works. However, you won’t get full access to everything the app has to offer unless you sign up for the paid version of the app. The paid option includes a detailed nutrition list for each of the meals, calorie filters, full access to all the meals available and more.
How many recipes are there in the Mealime app?
It is hard to give an exact number, there are currently dozens, even hundreds of recipes and more are added consistently. If you check the recently added section the meals you will see which meals have been added for each month. The app consistently adds at least a dozen new recipes each month.
Conclusion
In conclusion I really can’t praise the app enough, it’s simple where it needs to be simple and gets the job done for what it’s intended purpose is. There is an enormous list of meals compared to other apps and the interface makes it really easy to understand the ingredients, utensils, and instructions for each meal.
If you’re looking for an app that will give you meal ideas and even help with not just getting the ingredients but even helps you save money on the ingredients, then this app is practically a god send.
It does have to be said that the free version is limited without the nutritional information of the meals, for me at least it’s important to know and I would not have an issue subscribing for the membership.
