Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before you start planning.

What is MealBudgetz?

MealBudgetz is a meal planning app that generates a personalized 5-day meal plan — with a deduplicated grocery shopping list — in seconds. It factors in your protein preferences, cuisines, household size, and weekly budget.

How does the plan generator work?

You set your preferences (proteins, cuisines, people count, budget) and click Generate. The app picks 5 dinners, 5 breakfasts, and 5 lunches from our recipe database, prioritizing bulk-prep meals and ingredient overlap to minimize waste and cost. You get a shopping list organized by store section: Produce, Meat & Dairy, Dry Goods, and Canned & Frozen.

How much does MealBudgetz cost?

MealBudgetz is $8.99 per month after a free 7-day trial. No credit card required to start the trial. Cancel anytime from your billing page.

Is there a free trial?

Yes — every new account starts with a 7-day free trial with full access to all features. No credit card is required to start.

Can I use it on my phone?

Yes. MealBudgetz is a Progressive Web App (PWA). You can install it to your phone's home screen from your browser for quick access from the grocery store.

Can I customize which recipes appear in my plans?

Yes. In the Browse Recipes section you can star your favorite recipes (they get 2× weight in the generator) and hide recipes you never want to see. Hidden recipes are excluded from all plans.

What if a recipe uses an ingredient I don't have?

Each recipe lists base ingredients (things you need to buy) separately from pantry staples (olive oil, salt, spices, etc.) so you always know exactly what to add to your cart.

Can I filter by dietary restrictions?

Yes. You can exclude any combination of proteins (beef, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, beans) and cuisines from your settings. The generator will only pull from recipes that match your filters.

How do I cancel?

Open Billing from your account and click "Manage subscription" to open the Stripe customer portal. You can cancel there in under a minute — no forms, no waiting.

Is my data secure?

MealBudgetz runs on Cloudflare's global network. All data is encrypted in transit. Billing is handled entirely by Stripe — we never store your card details.