Is Mealime Shutting Down? Yes, Oct 21: Save Your Recipes

We make RecipeScan. On the App Store the name is RecipeScan: Save Any Recipe. We have tried to be straight about when it is and is not the right place for your Mealime recipes.

Mealime’s closing page says the app will be discontinued as of 21 October 2026, and that “all personal data will be deleted when the Mealime application is shut down.” If you have spent a year or two building up favourites, meal plans and notes in it, that is the part to act on. The recipes themselves are not disappearing. Your copy of them, and everything you added, is.

What happens on 21 October 2026

• The app stops. Mealime is owned by Albertsons Companies, and its closing page points people to Meals Hub in the Albertsons grocery apps — Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, Jewel-Osco and others — and on the web.
• Mealime's recipes move there. The closing page says “all Mealime recipes will continue to be available on Meals Hub, along with thousands of additional recipes.”
• Your personal data is deleted. That includes whatever you saved, planned or changed in the Mealime app.
• Pro is free until then. Mealime says Pro subscribers will not be charged again before it closes.
• There is no export. The closing page does not mention one.

If you liked Mealime as it was, start with Meals Hub

This is the honest first answer. If what you valued was Mealime's own recipes and its weekly plans, Meals Hub is where they are going, it is run by the same team, and Mealime's FAQ says it works even if there is no Albertsons store near you. You sign in with an account in one of the Albertsons apps.

Moving your favourites somewhere else makes sense if you do not want a grocery chain's app, if you had changed recipes and want your versions, or if you want Mealime recipes to sit in the same place as the recipes you collect from everywhere else.

Step 1: List the recipes worth keeping

There is no button that downloads your Mealime account. The closing page does not mention an export. What you can move, before 21 October 2026, is a short list of recipes plus anything you changed yourself.

1. Open Mealime. Go to Favorites, then open the current meal plan. Those two lists are the recipes you actually cook.
2. Write down the ones you have made more than once. For most people that is ten to thirty titles, not the whole catalogue.
3. Next to each title, write the changes that exist only in your account: a swapped ingredient, a note, a different serving size. Mealime says personal data is deleted when the app shuts down. Those edits are not on the public recipe page. The closing page does not say they are copied into Meals Hub; it says preferences and settings have to be set up again there.

Step 2: Copy a link for each recipe

Mealime’s recipes have public pages on mealime.com, usually under mealime.com/recipes/. Those pages carry the full recipe in a format other apps can read. Copy that address. Do not copy a link to the meal plan or the grocery list.

Mealime’s own iOS help says to open the recipe from the meal plan, Favorites, or a builder preview, tap the More button, then tap the share icon in the action sheet. That article was last updated on 29 July 2019, and we could not capture the live Mealime screen for this update. If the control has moved, use whatever share control is on the open recipe.

1. Open one recipe from the list you just made.
2. Tap More, then the share icon.
3. On the iPhone share sheet, tap Copy.
4. Paste the address into Notes and open it in Safari. You want the recipe itself. If Copy gave you something else, search the recipe title on mealime.com and copy the address of the matching recipe page from Safari (Share, then Copy).
5. Repeat for the rest of the list. Keep one address per line.

A paper copy is the backup when a link will not open. Mealime’s print help says printing is not available in the iOS or Android app. Log in to Mealime on the web, open the recipe, and use the printer icon under the instructions. Save it as a PDF. You can photograph that PDF later. The help article was last updated on 20 February 2018.

Step 3: Bring the copies into an app you control

A. Paste the recipes’ web addresses

This is the cleanest route, and it gives you Mealime’s original version, not your notes.

1. Open RecipeScan and go to My Recipes.
2. Tap Add recipe.
3. Choose Paste a link and paste one address. RecipeScan saves the recipe with its title, ingredients with quantities, steps and times.
4. Repeat for each recipe on your list.

Importing from recipe links is free. The free plan keeps 3 recipes of your own; past that, the import needs Premium.

B. Scan a screenshot of your own version

Use this when you changed the recipe. The public page will not have your notes.

1. In Mealime, open the recipe so the ingredients and your note are on screen. If the method runs past one screen, scroll and take a second screenshot.
2. In RecipeScan, go to My Recipes, tap Add recipe, choose Scan a recipe, then Photos, and pick the screenshot.
3. Read the draft before you trust it. One screenshot is scanned at a time. Add any steps that were on the next screen by editing the recipe.

C. Copy the text across

Use this for a long recipe that will not fit in one screenshot, or when you already have the words in Notes.

1. On the recipe web page, select the ingredients and the method and copy them. From a screenshot, long-press the text in Photos (Live Text) and copy that.
2. In RecipeScan, go to My Recipes, tap Add recipe, and choose Paste text.
3. You can paste ingredients and method together. RecipeScan separates them. Check quantities after.

Step 4: Check them, then rebuild the week

Check each one after it lands: quantities, units and oven temperatures are where any import goes wrong. The free plan keeps 3 recipes of your own and scans are Premium, so if you are moving thirty recipes, a free trial of Premium, if you are eligible, is the practical way to do the move.

Mealime's appeal was that it turned recipes into a plan and a shopping list. Once your recipes are in RecipeScan you can put them on the weekly planner and build a grocery list from them, which checks your pantry first. It is a different app, so expect it to feel different: RecipeScan starts from your own recipes, not from a curated weekly menu.

Other places your recipes could go

Choosing an app is a separate question from moving recipes tonight. RecipeScan vs Mealime vs SideChef is the decision guide: dinner from a fridge photo, a large library with classes, or Mealime’s plans on Meals Hub.

The short page is Moving from Mealime. The taps, one screen at a time, are in how to move Mealime recipes into RecipeScan.

• Meals Hub — Mealime's own continuation. Keeps its recipes and plans; lives in the Albertsons apps.
• Plan to Eat — a paid meal planner built around importing your own recipes and planning with them. A good fit if the calendar is what you will miss most.
• Paprika — a long-running recipe manager for people who want a tidy personal cookbook across devices.
• RecipeScan — ours. Strongest when your recipes come from everywhere: cookbooks and handwritten cards you photograph, websites, and TikTok, Instagram and YouTube posts, alongside a planner, grocery list and pantry.

Who RecipeScan is not for

If you want someone else to choose your meals — a ready-made, balanced weekly menu with the shopping already worked out, the way Mealime's plans did — RecipeScan is not that. It will help you plan with recipes you choose, and it can suggest dishes, but it is a recipe keeper first. For the done-for-you plan, Meals Hub is the closer match.

Frequently asked questions

Is Mealime shutting down?

Yes, Mealime’s closing page says the app will be discontinued as of 21 October 2026, and the homepage and App Store notes give the same date. Published recipes continue on Meals Hub, in Albertsons Companies grocery apps and on the web. Saved meal plans are not described as copying over: Mealime says all personal data is deleted when the app shuts down, and that preferences and settings have to be set up again in Meals Hub.

Can I export my Mealime recipes?

Mealime’s closing page does not mention an export. It says its recipes will stay available on Meals Hub, inside the Albertsons family of grocery apps and on the web. If you want copies in another app, copy each recipe’s link, a screenshot, or the text yourself before 21 October 2026.

Will Mealime recipes still be online after 21 October 2026?

Mealime says its recipes will continue on Meals Hub. The recipes section at mealime.com/recipes was online on 9 October 2026. Whether each public recipe page stays up after the shutdown is not something Mealime has promised, so save the ones you want now.

Do I need a Safeway or Albertsons store nearby to use Meals Hub?

Mealime's FAQ says Meals Hub works even without a nearby Albertsons store. You do need to create or sign in to an account in one of the Albertsons apps.

Sources, checked 9 October 2026: Mealime’s closing announcement (discontinued as of 21 October 2026; published recipes continue on Meals Hub; all personal data deleted; preferences and settings set up again in Meals Hub; Pro subscribers are not charged again; no export mentioned), the Mealime homepage banner (“Mealime will shut down on October 21, 2026.”), the US App Store version history (4.21.35, listed Sep 2: “Mealime is shutting down on October 21st, 2026”; 4.21.37, listed Oct 2, still preparing for that date), Mealime’s share instructions (More, then the share icon; article last updated 29 July 2019), and Mealime’s print instructions (web only; article last updated 20 February 2018). The recipes index at mealime.com/recipes returned a page on 9 October 2026.