Build a Meal Plan
Choose AI Plan or Manual Plan, edit flexible meal slots, and turn the selected plan into a Shopping List.
Meal planning in RecipMe is now flexible enough to work two ways: let `AI Plan` draft a week for you, or start with `Manual Plan` and build it yourself slot by slot. The goal is still the same: fewer last-minute decisions and a smoother path from recipes to groceries to cooking, but now you can shape the week as tightly or loosely as you want.
Step by step
Follow these steps in order for the smoothest first pass.
Open My Kitchen and switch to the Meal Plan tab
The Meal Plan tab gives you a weekly planner where you can switch between saved plans, open the current week, and manage the exact plan you want to shop and cook from.
Use `Create New Plan` to choose `AI Plan` or `Manual Plan`
Pick `AI Plan` when you want RecipMe to draft a recipe-backed week for you. Pick `Manual Plan` when you want an empty week that you can fill in yourself from the start.
Start an empty week with `Manual Plan` when you want full control
Manual plans begin as a blank weekly draft, which is useful for weeks built around your real schedule, leftovers, takeout, or a few anchor meals instead of a fully generated plan.
Use `AI Plan` when you want a draft you can still edit later
AI-generated plans are not locked. After the plan is created, you can open it in the same editor, move meals around, replace them, or turn generated slots into something more realistic for your week.
Add recipe-backed slots or custom meals across the week
You can plan more than just breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Add as many slots as you need across breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, and appetizer, and use custom meals for things like leftovers, takeout, or restaurant nights.
Edit slots as the week changes
Open any saved plan to move meals to another day or meal type, update notes and servings, mark meals as cooked, reorder slots inside a section, or archive the plan when the week is done.
Generate a Shopping List from the plan you actually selected
When the week looks right, switch to Shopping List and generate groceries from that plan. Recipe-backed slots contribute grocery items, while custom meals stay visible in the planner but do not add items to the list.
Quick tips
Small habits that make the feature easier to use.
- Use custom meals for leftovers, takeout, or any plan placeholder that should stay visible without becoming a grocery item.
- Start with the most important meals first. A realistic partial plan is better than a perfect week you will never follow.
- If AI gets you close, treat it like a first draft and edit the slots instead of starting over.
- Shopping List is most useful when you generate it from the exact plan you intend to cook from this week.
Related guides
Keep going with the next features people usually learn after this one.
Use the Pantry Tab in My Kitchen
Add ingredients, appliances, and equipment in the Pantry tab so planning and recipe checks feel useful.
Cook with Hands-Free Mode
Move through a recipe step by step with less screen touching while you cook.
Use the Shopping List Tab in My Kitchen
Turn meal plans into practical grocery lists, check items off, and keep active lists organized.
Related FAQs
Short answers connected to this guide.
Use `Create New Plan` and start with either `Manual Plan` for a blank week or `AI Plan` for a draft you can edit. Most people have the easiest start when they plan a few anchor meals first, then fill in the rest as needed.
`AI Plan` asks RecipMe to draft a recipe-backed week for you based on your preferences and pantry context. `Manual Plan` starts with an empty weekly draft so you can add recipe slots or custom meals yourself.
Yes. AI-generated plans open in the same planner editor as manual plans, so you can edit the plan, move meals, change meal types, replace generated slots, and delete anything that does not fit your week.
Yes. Use a custom meal slot when you want to plan something that is not tied to a saved recipe, such as leftovers, takeout, date night, or a family dinner that does not need imported recipe details.
Yes. Saved plans are editable, so you can move meals to another day, switch them between meal types, and reorder slots inside the same section when the week changes.
No. Custom meals stay visible in the planner for schedule context, but only recipe-backed slots contribute grocery items when you generate a Shopping List from the selected plan.
Yes. The planner supports multiple slots per day across breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, and appetizer, so you can build a fuller week than a fixed three-meal layout.
My Kitchen is the full page. Pantry is one tab inside it, alongside Meal Plan and Shopping List. Use Pantry for ingredients and tools, not for the whole planning workflow.
Open the meal plan you want to shop from in My Kitchen, then move to Shopping List and generate the list from that selected plan. Recipe-backed slots become grocery items, while custom meals stay in the planner only.
Need another hand?
If you are still stuck after trying the guide, the Modern Method Discord is the best place to ask for help.