Wenu vs Mealime: an alternative now that Mealime is closing

Mealime is closing on October 21, 2026. Albertsons Companies, which owns it, is moving its recipes to Meals Hub, inside its grocery store apps, and deleting Mealime’s personal data at shutdown. If you came to Mealime for its recipes, Meals Hub is its direct successor. If you used it to plan your household’s week, our recommendation is Wenu: it plans with the dishes you already cook, and keeps everyone at home on the same menu.

The two apps answer “what are we eating this week?” from opposite ends. Mealime starts from recipes: it suggests quick meals that fit your diet and builds the plan around them. Wenu starts from your household. Below: what’s changing, how they compare, and how to move.

What’s happening to Mealime

According to Mealime’s closing announcement:

• The app is discontinued on October 21, 2026.
• Pro is free until then. Subscribers aren’t charged again, and Pro recipes and features are open to every user.
• The recipes move to Meals Hub, in Albertsons Companies’ store apps and websites, with thousands more. Dietary preferences have to be set up again there.
• Your Mealime data is deleted when the app shuts down, so save what you want to keep before the 21st.

At a glance

	Mealime	Wenu
Status	Closes on October 21, 2026	Active
Approach	Suggests recipes and builds the plan around them	Plans the week with your own dishes
Recipes	Its own catalogue of quick, ~30-minute recipes	Your dish library, with ingredients and categories
Personalisation	200+ options: diet, allergies, dislikes, servings	Your dishes, so it’s already to your taste
Planning	The week’s meals	Breakfast, lunch and dinner, each with a starter, main and side
Shopping list	Built from the plan, sorted by category	Typed by hand, or filled from the week’s menu (Pro)
Cooking	Step-by-step instructions, hands-free mode	Not included
Sharing	—	Everyone at home on the same menu, live (Pro)
Ideas	—	What you haven’t had in a while, what you eat most (Pro)
Where it works	iOS and Android apps	Any browser, on a phone, tablet or computer
Price	Free; Pro features free for everyone until it closes	Free plan; Pro €5 a month or €49 a year

Mealime’s column is what its own site and its closing announcement describe, checked on October 11, 2026; a dash means it isn’t part of what they describe.

Where Mealime is stronger

• New recipes. If you don’t know what to cook and want suggestions, its catalogue of quick recipes is the point of the app. Wenu doesn’t suggest recipes.
• Diets and allergies. Mealime filters its recipes by diet, allergies and dislikes. Wenu plans with your dishes, so it doesn’t filter anything for you.
• While you cook. Mealime walks you through each recipe step by step. Wenu stops at the plan and the shopping list.

Where Wenu is stronger

• The dishes you actually cook. Most households repeat a shorter list of dishes than they think. Wenu plans with that list, instead of asking you to cook from someone else’s catalogue.
• The whole household. With Pro, everyone at home sees and changes the same menu, live, and gets it by email: the weekly menu, or a daily one.
• Every meal of the day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, each with a starter, main and side when you want them. A gap can be marked “Eating out” or “Improvise”, and with Pro each meal is on only the days you need it.
• Ideas from your own history. With Pro, Wenu reminds you of what you haven’t had in a while and shows what you eat most, so the week doesn’t shrink to the same five dishes.
• Anywhere, in English or Spanish. It works in the browser, on any device, with nothing to install.

Meals Hub, Mealime’s successor

Meals Hub keeps Mealime’s recipes, made by the same team, with meal plans and shopping lists, all free. It lives inside Albertsons Companies’ grocery apps and websites, such as Safeway’s, and Mealime says it works even if there’s no store near you. If what you’ll miss is the recipe catalogue and the dietary filters, start there.

Which one fits you

• Choose Meals Hub if you want to be told what to cook, need recipes filtered by diet or allergies, or shop at an Albertsons Companies store.
• Choose Wenu if you already know what you like, plan as a household rather than alone, and want every meal of the week sorted in one place everyone can see.

Moving to Wenu before October 21

1. Save the Mealime recipes you actually cooked: their names and ingredients. The rest you can find again in Meals Hub.
2. Create your household in Wenu: Free needs no card and holds up to 50 dishes.
3. Add those dishes to your library, fill the week, and with Pro invite the people you live with.

New to planning a whole week? The guide on how to plan a weekly menu as a family walks through it step by step, with an example week.

A planner is only useful if it’s there next month. Whatever you choose, pick the one built around how your household actually eats, and move before your data goes on the 21st.