Wanted: The Mother of All Menu Planning Apps

Wanted: The Mother of All Menu Planning Apps

October 21st, 2011

Danielle

Ever since I rooted my Nook, and even before I was carting around my HTC Merge, I’ve wanted a menu planning app that does it ALL. I’ve mixed and mingled a few apps together to meet my purpose, but the process doesn’t stay successful for longer than a week due to their non-cohesiveness. So here’s what I (and other menu planners) need from you developers out there..

1. Recipe storage, unlike Ziplist- with folders

2. Shopping list generator, like Ziplist- sort by aisle and checkout function, with a pricing option so that you know how much that shopping trip will cost you. In addition, the ability to add single items to shopping lists would be nice..

3. Price Book for shopping list that you could record prices and have a checkout total, like Out of Milk Pro

4. From Check out, the ability to move purchased items to a grocery inventory, like Out of Milk Pro

5. A menu planner calendar where you can add recipes from your storage, like Food Planner, or Meals Matter.

6. App sync online integration, like Out of Milk and Zip List. I currently use web-based Meals Matter and enjoy that, but I’d like to not have to print my shopping list. It does have a pantry list system, but not an easy way of adding or removing items.

In terms of shopping lists, it’s great that you have all these ingredients to make these recipes, but the real sticker shock happens at checkout. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a price book, so that we could have a good approximation of how much our total bill would be?

I’ve searched the Android Market for “menu planner,” “food planner,” and “food inventory,” but none of the apps available now fit the bill. For example, the Food Planner (by Henrik Nielson) looks close, but is missing a few things that Out of Milk Pro fulfills.

Recipe organization is the key to success here. Without folders, it’s difficult to sift through every recipe you’ve ever wanted to try. I use a separate system for keeping track of recipes I want to try using Evernote, and organizing them in online notebooks. It works for a large recipe database; however, it’s overwhelming when looking to plan on a weekly or monthly basis.

I realize this may be a lot to ask of in an Android application. But if it could be done, I do believe individuals including myself would pay for such an app.

So, does this challenge interest any of you developers out there? Anyone have something they’d like to add to this list? Leave a comment below!

Connect me on

Posted in Editorial, Mom Approved, Reviews

Tags: android app, android cooking, android developers, android inventory, android mom, android planning, Application idea, calander, calling developers, cooking apps, food planner, HTC Merge, meals matter, menu planning, mil and zip list, out of milk, out of milk pro, rooted nook, Wanted, zip list

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Henrik Nielsen

Hi, I am the developer of Food Planner, thanks for mentioning my app, and I hope it is alright i post a reply even though I am not an android gal, I just wanted to fill in a bit.

It is correct that Food Planner does not have categories for recipes, but it uses tags instead, which I believe is more flexible, since multiple tags can be assigned to a single recipe.
What I do myself, it just to tag all my to-do recipes with todo and filter the recipe list by that tag when I feel like trying out something new. The tags can also be used to separate recipes into meal types (tag with dinner, lunch, cake, dessert, snack, whatever pops up), or even which week days they are best suited for (aftersportfood, mondayfood, weekdayfood, weekendfood etc). I have about 150 recipes in FP on my phone, and by clever use of tags, I get about 10-15 recipes at most when planning a meal for a certain day.

I have never had a request for categories for recipes, mainly because of the tags I think, but if there is a need, I always respond quickly to feedback, and about 80-90% of my users ideas gets implemented, I just need to hear them

Danielle

Ah Fantastic someones listening. Henrik, I just came across your app when writing this up to make sure there wasn’t something out there that had it all. R you interested in working with some of these ideas for a more integrated app? The tags probably do work well, do you have the capability of imputing recipes online. I find it time consuming to re-input these recipes that I already have on another recipe storage site and would like the ability to copy and past or “clipper” ingredients into another program. Have you looked around in Out of Milk Pro? R these things you maybe able to integrate into your app.

On a side note, I have had to uninstall and reinstall the food planner app. I’d like to more thoroughly review the Pro version. Any way you could provide me access?

Henrik Nielsen

I always on the lookout for new ideas to put into the app, with the balance of not making to bloated of course. I have a lot of functions in there that a lot of people do not use, but I try to make them as optional as possible. If I can make a way to implement categories without shoving them down everyones throat, and there is a need for them,i will of course do that.

Recipes can be edited on-line, but for now the website is a bit primitive. I am in the progress of moving to another and more stable platform, but for now recipes can be edited at http://boggie.dk/fp. From there, one can also print plans to put on the door of the refrigerator.

The pro version offers only a bit more than what can be done in the free version (some sales pitch, eh?;) ), the main thing is that there will be no limitation on the number of recipes, and a some smarter sorting modes will be available, like the smart sort that will keep track on how often you use a recipe, and sort according to how much “overdue” it is. As an experiment, I have made the app ad-free until the end of November, but thereafter, ads will be shown at the bottom of the free version.

When I get the website up and running at full speed, there will be some features on there which will only be available for paying users. Well, at least one paying user per house, since both free and pro syncs together just fine.

Franoffaith

How about getting something going for Android users? Thank U in advance.

Capigami

Hey there. I am one of the co-founders and developers of Out of Milk. Thank you for mentioning Out of Milk and for being so thorough with your article to highlight the Pros and Cons of every app you mentioned.

I just wanted to stop by and let you know that we are currently in the process of planning out and implementing a full featured Meal Planner as well as a Recipe Manager / Shopping List builder that is fully integrated with our syncing and website. We are also right around the corner from providing a rather major overhaul to lists that allows users to have a powerful and easy to use aisles and category feature.

We are dedicated to providing great customer support and feedback, so you can contact us at any time at http://support.outofmilkapp.com as well!

Danielle

Capigami,
I appreciate your response. I’ve just purchased Pro so that I may have a better look around. I’ll get back to you on any other feedback I may have. I enjoy the look of website and app and plan to review it further. Thanks again
Franoffaith

That sounds wonderful, I have pro and I look foward to these new features. Any idea on the timeframe?

raifkitch

I really appreciate your article but am a bit disappointed that you haven’t found a “well-balanced” app. I’ve tried a number of free apps and have consistantly found them wanting – mainly because of many of the issues you’ve mentioned. My frustration is also that I don’t want to pay for an app that I may find sitting on my phone useless to me. I’m not sure how a developer would address my concerns since they do need to make money… I would be willing to pay for something that actually was valuable to me but only after I’m sure of its value.
AZCarolyn

So glad to know I’m not alone in my frustration. Since you have a couple of developers ears tuned in… Here is another wrinkle to ponder… a food diary along with all these planning tools. There are a few “big” diet food diary apps that are great as diet tools out there that have some of the recipe functionality, but are lacking the the planning and shopping aspects. I would like to collect my favorite and frequently use recipes/menus in one place, plan my meals for the week, have a grocery list compiled, transfer items from shopping list to inventory, and when I’ve eaten my meal record/transfer it in my food diary that will help me track calories/etc. To be able to do so online and sync to my android. Now I’m having to use at least 2 programs and I’m totally skipping the inventory bit. I realize not everyone wants all those pieces, perhaps modules that we can pick and choose?
http://twitter.com/bigoven bigoven

BigOven is very close to what you describe!

We have a full fledged Menu Planner, not YET available on Android but coming very soon.

BigOven offers recipe posting, recipe synchronization, grocery list generation, and most of the things you mention — check it out at http://www.bigoven.com, thanks!
http://twitter.com/Grocerocity Grocerocity.com

Hi Danielle. I’m just as shocked as you are that there is no all-in-one app that covers all of the basics. So we’re in the process of developing an app that has fully integrated inventory and recipe functionality, along with real-time price per serving for recipes. We’re working on partnering with a national grocery chain to supply the updated pricing. Please follow us and sign up at http://www.Grocerocity.com to stay tuned!
rob

I too have been on a relentless search for a comprehensive meal planning app with all the features you mention. While researching, I came across this iPhone app that looks like it comes pretty darn close to being complete: http://menu-planner.com/
Yeah, unfortunately no Android support, but maybe if enough people bug the developer they will consider porting?
Pingback: Kelley Blue Book Android app hits 1 million downloads
http://www.facebook.com/victoria.oconnor Victoria Deffenbaugh O’Connor

I was just as shocked that there wasn’t something out there, so I did a google search and found an app called Meal Bank. It seems to do what we are hoping for, but I haven’t used it myself yet to know how great it works, but hey, worth a shot!
Riniel

I’m new to android, but very internet savvy. I’ve been looking for an app where you can input a monthly, or weekly budget. Like $200 a month for a single person, or $500 for 3 people. Then the app can help you plan meals around that budget. I can only spend $200 a month on myself, and many times I end up getting food boxes, because I don’t know how to use my budget to last me all month. I have other bills, and sometimes I only have $175 for a month. It would be amazing if someone could somehow make an app for that.
Hbacingmama

I just found this post because I just realized I need exactly what you describe. I’m wondering if there are any updates on any developers rising to the challenge. )
Pingback: Galaxy S “dummybox” prototype reveals custom navigation softkeys | Android Daily News
Pingback: womens leggings
Pingback: The Popular HD Widgets now has Editor’s Choice status,Look inside for a Sneak Preview of v3.0 | Android Daily News