Your Mealime grocery list.

Understand which list you are looking at.

Mealime’s grocery-list guide, updated 29 July 2019, says building a new meal plan replaces the list with that plan’s ingredients. The number above the list icon counts pending items. Its 3 December 2020 getting-started guide explains that ingredients are combined across selected recipes and grouped by grocery department. These categories help you walk the shop; they are not a map of numbered aisles in your local store.

Before heading out, compare the quantities against your kitchen. Having a bag of rice does not tell you whether enough remains. Also check whether the ingredient is reserved for another meal. Cross off an item only when its role in this plan is covered.

Keep the recipe’s form of an ingredient visible: dry rice, cooked rice and ready-to-eat rice are different purchasing requirements. The same applies to drained beans and a tin’s total weight. Automatic grouping makes the list readable; it does not remove the need to inspect unclear descriptions.

To see which dishes need an item, tap the middle of its row rather than the checkbox. The ingredient-details guide, updated 29 July 2019, documents recipe references, quantity guidance and substitutes; on the web, click the right-hand side of the row. This is useful when a combined amount looks unexpectedly large.

The list combines recipe needs. Your pantry check and choice of shop products turn those needs into a purchase. Partly owning an ingredient calls for reviewing the remaining quantity, not simply marking the entire row complete.

Add the groceries the recipes cannot know about.

The custom-item guide, updated 29 July 2019, gives distinct routes. On mobile: Grocery List → Add something… → enter the item → Next on the keyboard. On the web: Meal Plan → Grocery List → +, then choose the item, amount and category before Add item. Web additions are documented as italicized to distinguish your own entries. Use these controls for breakfast, drinks and household essentials.

To correct an existing item, Mealime’s editing guide, updated 20 August 2019, describes opening its details and choosing Edit, or long-pressing the ingredient. Change the name, quantity or category, then choose Done; Cancel discards the edit. Adjust the shopping entry for what you need to buy while keeping the original cooking quantity with the recipe.

For example, your recipes may need 350 g of rice but the shop may sell a 500 g bag. A note recording the intended purchase is useful; the extra 150 g does not automatically belong in the cooking pot. Our pack-size guide keeps these amounts separate.

A checked item may be hidden, not gone.

Mealime’s completed-items guide says checking an item hides it. On mobile, the documented More menu offers Show completed items; unchecking an entry returns it to the active list. On the web, the article places completed items in a “Got’em” group at the bottom.

Before adding a duplicate, inspect the completed section. Someone else may have bought it, or you may have checked it while looking for details. Agree what “complete” means in your household: bought, already owned, or no longer needed. If that distinction matters later, add a note outside the checkbox.

Changing meals can also change the list. The meal-plan editing guide, updated 29 July 2019, says generated ingredients are replaced, custom additions carry over and completed entries may need checking again. “Added item” and “edited generated item” are different cases: the guide promises carryover for additions, not preservation of every manual change to a recipe row. After changing the plan, review quantities and purchases already made.

Save the list and the recipes as separate things.

A shopping list tells you what to buy. It does not preserve the full cooking method. Mealime’s December 2020 guide places share/print in the list’s top-right menu. Its older July 2019 sharing help documents a web fallback: Meal Plan → Grocery List → printer icon at the bottom → print or save PDF. Use the controls in your installed version and inspect the resulting copy. Our printing guide covers the practical steps.

The help pages establish printing and sharing, but do not guarantee which completed-item state every export format includes. Open the copy before relying on it at the shop.

Before keeping a list for another week, label it with its meals and serving counts. Then recheck pantry stock when you reuse it. An unchecked copy of last month’s list is a starting point, not proof you need to buy everything on it again.

Test the shopping routine in MealPot.

If you want to keep choosing recipes from the Mealime catalogue, free Meals Hub continues recipe planning and grocery lists through Albertsons Companies apps and websites, including without a nearby store. This does not establish transfer of your current custom additions or checked-item state.

MealPot presents a shopping list alongside its meal plan. Test a small selection of dinners and inspect the resulting entries: are the descriptions clear, do the amounts make sense for your portions, and can you shop comfortably from the categories? A successful test should end with a list you can use in your usual shop.

The website’s recipe backup tool produces recipe copies, not a transferred Mealime grocery list. Keep that distinction when switching. For the manual process behind any planner, follow the worked aisle-list example.

Common questions