Meal Planning App for Couples & Families

Plan your weekly meals together. Create flexible meal plans, sync grocery lists, and track your cooking progress as a team.

5 min read · Updated January 2026

In this article

How Meal Planning Works

Peel's meal planning is designed to be flexible. Instead of assigning specific recipes to specific days, you create a "pool" of recipes for your chosen dates and set targets for how many meals you want to cook.

Why this approach? Real life doesn't follow a rigid schedule. You might plan to cook pasta on Tuesday but end up ordering pizza instead. Peel adapts to how you actually live.

Create new meal plan button in Peel app Empty meal plan ready to add recipes Meal plan pool showing recipes to cook this week

The Recipe Pool

The pool is your list of recipes you're considering cooking for your meal plan. Think of it as a short-list.

Adding recipes to the pool

1

Go to the Meal Plan tab and tap "Add"

2

Browse your recipes and tap to add them

3

Or add directly from a recipe detail page using the "Add to Meal Plan" button

Recipe picker to add meals to your weekly plan Add to Meal Plan button on recipe detail screen

Setting Targets

Targets help you track how many home-cooked meals you're aiming for.

Meal target e.g., 5 meals

The number of home-cooked meals you want to make. This is your goal—no pressure to hit it exactly!

Your progress shows as a simple fraction: "3 of 5 cooked"

It gets easier: The more you use Peel, the faster meal planning becomes. You can start a new meal plan from a past one—just tap "Start from past meal plan" to copy over your recipes and targets.

Select date range for your meal plan Set your weekly meal cooking target goal

Tracking What You Cook

When you cook a recipe from your pool, tap the ring next to it to mark it as done. Your progress updates automatically.

No rigid schedules: You don't have to plan exactly what you'll eat each day. Decide the night before or the day of based on your mood—your pool has options ready to go.

Track cooking progress with visual meal plan tracker

Grocery List Integration

Once you have recipes in your pool, you can sync ingredients to your grocery list in two ways:

Individual recipes

Tap a recipe in your pool to view its details, then select which ingredients to add to your grocery list.

All at once

Tap "Sync to Grocery List" to see ingredients from all your pool recipes combined. Select what you need and sync everything in one go.

Shared Kitchens: In a Shared Kitchen, the grocery list syncs to everyone's phone. Check items off as you shop!

Select recipe ingredients to add to grocery list Sync all meal plan ingredients to shared grocery list

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the best meal planning app for couples?

Peel is designed specifically for couples and families who cook together. Unlike other meal planning apps, Peel lets you share a kitchen with your partner so recipes, meal plans, and grocery lists sync automatically between your phones.

How do I share my meal plan with my partner?

Create a Shared Kitchen and invite your partner. Once they join, your meal plans automatically sync to their phone. Both of you can add recipes, mark meals as cooked, and update the grocery list in real-time.

Can I plan meals for the whole week?

Yes! You can create meal plans for any date range—a week, two weeks, or even a month. Set a target for how many meals you want to cook, add recipes to your pool, and track your progress as you go.

Does the grocery list update automatically?

You control when ingredients are added. Tap "Sync to Grocery List" to add ingredients from your meal plan recipes. You can select specific items or add everything at once. In a Shared Kitchen, the list syncs to everyone's phone.

Is meal planning free in Peel?

Yes, meal planning is included in the free tier. You can create meal plans, set targets, and track your cooking. Shared Kitchens (for syncing with your partner) require a Premium subscription.

Related guides

Questions about meal planning?

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