# CartBrain: Meal Plan & Budget — Feed the family, beat the bill > Feed the family, beat the bill (iPhone/iPad app by Francis Bosse.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cartbrain-meal-plan-and-budget/id6781247736 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Francis Bosse](https://appshunter.io/developer/1894475477) - Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 15.0 · 34 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-08-31 - Data updated: 2026-09-09 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cartbrain-meal-plan-and-budget/id6781247736/reviews.md ## What is CartBrain? CartBrain plans your family's whole week of meals around the money you actually have — and the prices at the stores you actually shop. Tell it who's eating, what your budget is, and which stores are near you. CartBrain builds a week of real meals, prices them against current local flyer deals, and hands you an organised shopping list split by store. BUILT AROUND YOUR BUDGET Set what you can spend this week. Every plan is built to fit it, using what's on sale near you and what's already in your pantry. You see the running total before you shop — not a surprise at the till. REAL FAMILIES, NOT SERVING SIZES Adults, teenagers, school-age kids and toddlers all eat differently. CartBrain sizes portions from each person's age, and handles allergies, diets and the food your kids will genuinely eat. SCHOOL AND DAYCARE LUNCHES Nut-free, cold-only, no reheating, thermos or no thermos — set it once per child and every packed lunch respects it. Rotating shifts are handled too. YOUR SHOPPING LIST WORKS IN THE STORE Grocery stores have terrible reception. CartBrain's list is saved on your phone, so you can tick items off with no signal at all — and everything syncs the moment you're back online. Close the app mid-shop and nothing is lost. ONE RUNNING SHOPPING LIST Your own list, always in sync with your plan. Tick something off in either place and it's ticked in both — it's the same item, not a copy. Add anything you like, and see this week's real flyer prices from shops near you before you do. Archive a finished list and it's kept exactly as it was. TRAVEL MODE Going away? Tell CartBrain where you're staying and it follows you: stores near you, that area's flyers, and prices in the local currency. Your home address, your usual stores and your billing all stay exactly as they are, and coming home is one tap. Available for Canada and the United States. BREAKFAST, LUNCH, SUPPER AND SNACKS Plan whichever meals you want. Regenerate a day you don't like, swap a single meal, or lock the ones everyone loved. IT LEARNS YOUR HOUSEHOLD Loved meals come back. Rejected ones don't. Must-have items — the specific snacks and brands your family insists on — are added to every list automatically and counted in the budget. BILINGUAL Entirely available in English and Canadian French. Switch any time. WHY PEOPLE USE IT • Stop staring into the fridge at 5pm • Stop overspending on groceries without knowing where it went • Stop buying what you already have • Get the week's cooking decided in a few minutes Start free — no credit card. Live flyer deals cover Canada and the United States; meal planning, budgeting and shopping lists work anywhere. Questions? info@cartbrain.ca Privacy: https://cartbrain.ca/privacy Terms: https://cartbrain.ca/terms ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | CartBrain Family | $17.99 | per month | | CartBrain Pro | $9.99 | per month | | CartBrain Pro | $99.99 | per year | | CartBrain Family | $179.99 | per year | ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.1.47 — 2026-09-07 • The header shows today's weather where you are: a sky icon that changes with the conditions, your town and the temperature. • A recipe's ingredient list now names every seasoning its steps use — garlic, salt, pepper — and new plans buy them; recipes you already have are completed as you open them. • A redone day or a swapped meal brings its recipe along, instructions and calories included. Redo day asks first. • Store groups on the grocery tab and the shopping list have a calm header: the store's mark, the number of items and that store's total. • A loved recipe can be told which meal it is — breakfast, lunch, supper or snack — and lands there when pinned into a plan. Ingredient levels now read Love, Like, Neutral, Not as often and Never. • Nothing in Settings changes until you press Save. After you confirm your email, the app moves you into setup by itself. • The planner has three views, chosen in Settings: days as rows with the meals across, the classic columns, or one day at a time with a date picker that opens on today. Every day shows its date. • Meal cards are tighter and line up across the week; each swap button has its own calm colour. • Choosing meals is clearer: your last choice is remembered, each card shows how many times it is planned, and the week's total stays in view. A plan with only a few days asks first and offers the full week. • Your plan opens as soon as the meals and grocery list are done; photos keep arriving on their own for a few minutes after. • The budget step says what your number means per person per day. The stores step shows your chosen stores first, then everything nearby; every branch shows its street. • The grocery list wears each store's banner. Next week opens on Friday, once the flyers are out. • Grocery lists buy what the recipes use and a week over budget swaps its dearest meals for cheaper dishes. Cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles and almond flour no longer trigger a diet alert. ### 1.1.44 — 2026-09-07 • Grocery lists now buy what the week’s recipes actually use — no more five bags of potatoes for four meals — and near-duplicates like two breads or two mustards are combined. • A week still over budget after pricing whole packages swaps its dearest meals for cheaper dishes built from what is already on the list, and tells you which. • Cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash and almond flour no longer trigger a diet alert on low-carb, keto, paleo or gluten-free menus. • While your menu is being made, every step of the checklist lights up in turn instead of jumping to the end. • Dish photos are back for everyone: every meal gets a real photo again, on the free plan too. • New accounts start with a free full week for the whole family — every day, every meal you asked for, and the grocery list to match. ### 1.1.29 — 2026-09-05 Travel mode — going away? Tell us where you're staying and CartBrain follows you: stores near you, that area's flyers, and prices in the local currency. Your home address and your usual stores stay exactly as they are, and coming home is one tap. Canada and the United States for now. Shopping list — one running list per household that stays in sync with your plan. Tick something off in either place and it's ticked in both. Adding an item now searches real flyer prices near you first. Also: prices say whether they're CAD or USD, your grocery list shows the plan total plus anything you added, and signing in with Google or Apple works again. ### 1.1.25 — 2026-09-04 • Your first plan on a new account is planned for your whole household, on us. Your free monthly plan after that covers 1 adult, as before. • Planning a short week now asks first: if your start day leaves 3 days or fewer, choose next week (a full 7 days) or just those days. The day picker is now “First day to plan”. • Plans are written in the language you use in the app. • When choosing stores for a plan, you can type your town instead of using your device’s location — handy on a VPN or with location off. • Stores near you stay in your own country, and a chain that exists elsewhere in the country but wasn’t offered in your town now shows up. • Your food preferences show a photo of each ingredient, and the dashboard shows real groceries behind the headline. • Stores show their real logos, and choosing stores for a plan uses the same photo cards as the Stores page. • The money card on every plan is a new deep panel with the week’s groceries behind it. • Flyer items that are prepared meals no longer count as ingredient deals, and the flyer’s own description shows in the deal window. • Your currency is chosen from your location and shown in one place, Settings. • French: several screens that still showed English are translated. • Better dish photos for pasta salads, and fresh photos for the Cheap and Quick cooking styles. ### 1.1.24 — 2026-09-03 • Your first plan on a new account is planned for your whole household, on us. Your free monthly plan after that covers 1 adult, as before. • Planning a short week now asks first: if your start day leaves 3 days or fewer, choose next week (a full 7 days) or just those days. The day picker is now “First day to plan”. • Plans are written in the language you use in the app. • When choosing stores for a plan, you can type your town instead of using your device’s location — handy on a VPN or with location off. • Stores near you stay in your own country, and a chain that exists elsewhere in the country but wasn’t offered in your town now shows up. • Your food preferences show a photo of each ingredient, and the dashboard shows real groceries behind the headline. • Stores show their real logos, and choosing stores for a plan uses the same photo cards as the Stores page. • The money card on every plan is a new deep panel with the week’s groceries behind it. • Flyer items that are prepared meals no longer count as ingredient deals, and the flyer’s own description shows in the deal window. • Your currency is chosen from your location and shown in one place, Settings. • French: several screens that still showed English are translated. • Better dish photos for pasta salads, and fresh photos for the Cheap and Quick cooking styles. ## More apps by Francis Bosse - [AxisForge](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/axisforge/id6762512016) All apps by Francis Bosse: https://appshunter.io/developer/1894475477 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-09.*