# Plan Buy Cook meal planner — meal planning made simple

> Meal planning, recipe management, and smart grocery list generation. (iPhone/iPad app by Simon Crone.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/plan-buy-cook-meal-planner/id913834496 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Simon Crone](https://appshunter.io/developer/1632358931)
- Category: Food & Drink, Health & Fitness
- Price: Free (on sale, was $3.99)
- Rating: 1.86/5 from 7 App Store ratings · 57 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 10.0 · 125 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2014-09-18
- Data updated: 2026-06-10
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/plan-buy-cook-meal-planner/id913834496/reviews.md

## What is Plan Buy Cook meal planner?

Tired of getting to 5pm without knowing what to cook for the family? Made a last minute decision on the meal only to discover you are missing most of the ingredients?

PlanBuyCook is meal planning made simple using our no-fuss app. It makes planning, shopping for and cooking your meals easy. 

Whether you are a household of 1 or 10, this is the meal planning app to get dinner done easily. 

PlanBuyCook is available for iPhone and iPad. Go further and check out the Plan Buy Cook Book for more detailed meal planning know-how.

PlanBuyCook offers a real life meal planner: use any of our 160 recipes or write your own favourites. You can also schedule in events such as eating out or takeaway – just like you plan your meals in real life. You can match your meal plan to the 4+2+1 formula in The Plan Buy Cook Book to cut your cooking time in half.

The PlanBuyCook app automatically scales main meals to match your household size, from 1 to 10 serves for every main meal recipe.

Write your own recipes and the ingredients will automatically be added to the shopping list and aggregated along with any PlanBuyCook recipe ingredients you choose. The PlanBuyCook app will automatically scale your recipes to your household size, or locks the scaling for desserts or recipes you do not wish to scale. AirDrop your own recipes to other PlanBuyCook users.

Switch between metric and imperial measurements, and the app will automatically switch to match AU/UK or USA/Canada ingredient names. 

The PlanBuyCook smart shopping list includes all meal ingredients plus you can add in everyday items which are automatically sorted into grocery section. Mark off items you already have in your refrigerator or pantry, or edit amounts of each ingredient. When using the iPad version, send the shopping list to your smart phone or someone else's, and tick off the items as you do your shopping. On your iPhone simply tap each item as you walk through the supermarket.

We have also included more than 160 everyday PlanBuyCook dinner, breakfast and snack recipes for you to try using ingredients available in the supermarket. 

• Scale meals (1 to 10 serves)
• 160+ everyday recipes for dinners, sides, salads and lunchbox snacks
• Add your own recipes
• Choose metric or imperial measurements and ingredient names
• Real life planner integrated with your calendar. Share your calendar between household members
• Generate an aggregated shopping list like magic
• All freezable meals marked to allow you to double each meal and freeze extra meal for later weeks
• 1300 standard ingredients in shopping list to make sure you add everything (including household non-food items)
• Share recipes between PlanBuyCook users via AirDrop
• Print and email recipes
• Built in timers
• Support from planbuycook.com.au

At planbuycook.com.au we provide weekly suggested meal plans, helpful planning and cooking tips, extra recipes and kitchen basics to help you find economical ways to feed your household and save time in the kitchen. 

No more "What’s for dinner?" Plan your meals, shop once, cook simply – dinner done.

## Key features

- Meal planning and scheduling
- Recipe scaling for household size
- Automatic shopping list generation
- Add custom recipes
- Metric/Imperial measurement conversion
- Share recipes via AirDrop

## Recent user reviews (10 of 57)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/plan-buy-cook-meal-planner/id913834496/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Useless App

*2025-02-11*

Could not see more than one recipe. Could not add the one recipe to my planner or ingredients from that recipe onto the shopping list. What’s the point of this app if nothing it claims to do does anything?

### 2/5 — Disappointed

*2024-07-06, version 2.4.10*

I desperately wanted to like this app, but it’s got too many bugs. It doesn’t confirm my email address, I can’t transfer my grocery list to any other apps, I can’t share my list with my partner (it won’t let me cause it doesn’t recognize my email), and it misses some of the recipe items on the grocery list (I had bean quesadillas on my meal plan but the red kidney beans were not added to the grocery list). I also have to double check the names of many of the items on the menu because we say it differently in Canada vs Australia. I really wanted this to work. If they spend more time updating the app I will happily return to it.

### 2/5 — It was great, but zero support once it failed

*2024-03-24, version 2.4.10*

I used it regularly as my sole meal planning tool for five years. Then all of the recipes that came with the app disappeared (the recipes I entered are still there). My attempts at contact for tech support went unanswered.
Really disappointing for a paid app that is still active.

### 2/5 — Disconnect with book & Like the calendar function.

*2023-08-09, version 2.4.10*

I was expecting to find all the recipes in the companion book I bought ‘The Ultimate Meal Prep Cookbook’ in the app. Sadly I need to carry the book around the supermarket as there is seemingly no cross over. This could be easily fixed without changing a line of code. If one day recipes from book are also in the app I’d really like to be able to load whole ‘week plans’ from the book into the app.

 I do like the calendar function in the app - adding chosen recipes automatically. Now off to share my calendar with family.

### 1/5 — Disappointing

*2023-04-10, version 2.4.10*

Literally have never been able to use the app. It crashes out of the app every time you touch an option. I’ve updated and even changed phones but still no joy. Nice little money spinner for the app owner but big waste of mine!

### 5/5 — Love love love it

*2021-07-20, version 2.4.8*

This is brilliant, just what I needed. My suggestions to improve are: 
a link to export shopping list to Woolies online shop (csiro app does this, so it’s doable) 
An export shopping list by sms function
Some budget /spend tracking 
I’d happily pay extra for these features 

But I love it as is

### 3/5 — Needs some tweaks... then amazing

*2021-03-30, version 2.4.8*

I really love the book and app... but for the app to really be useful I would love to be able to photograph my existing family recipes rather than typing them in (knowing that this would not allow them to be scaled up) 
Not crash every time I try and upload a screenshot 
Allow you to create a pantry staples list and add to your shopping list.

### 1/5 — Very disappointing

*2021-03-25, version 2.4.8*

The app crashes constantly. No recipes can be accessed. Terrible. Feeling cheated!!

### 2/5 — App crashes

*2021-01-15, version 2.4.8*

Great idea and love the book. App constantly crashes and is practically unusable. 
Would love the issues to be sorted.

### 2/5 — Fantastic idea

*2020-07-10, version 2.4.6*

I came to this app from the ‘Plan Buy Cook’ book! Fantastic book, I recommend it to everyone looking for great recipes and phenomenal management of dinners each night! However, it recommended this app and unfortunately it just does not seem to work and crashes constantly! Which is a bummer as this would be so helpful! Fingers crossed an update promptly fixes the issues being run into by so many!! 😁

## Frequently asked questions about Plan Buy Cook meal planner

### What does the Plan Buy Cook app do?

This app simplifies meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. It allows users to plan meals, add their own recipes or use provided ones, and automatically generates a smart shopping list based on selected meals. It's designed to make meal preparation easy for households of any size.

### What are the key features of the meal planner?

Key features include the ability to scale recipes for 1 to 10 servings, access to over 160 everyday recipes, the option to add your own recipes, metric/imperial measurement conversion, a real-life planner integrated with your calendar, and an automatically aggregated shopping list. Recipes can also be shared between users via AirDrop.

### Is the Plan Buy Cook app free to use?

Yes, the Plan Buy Cook app is completely free to use. It does not have any in-app purchases or advertisements, offering a straightforward and cost-free experience for all its features.

### What devices is the Plan Buy Cook app compatible with?

The Plan Buy Cook app is available for both iPhone and iPad. This allows users to plan meals and manage their shopping lists across different Apple devices.

### How does the app help with grocery shopping?

The app generates a smart shopping list that includes all ingredients from your planned meals. You can also add everyday items, and the list is automatically sorted into grocery sections. Users can mark off items they already have or edit quantities, making grocery trips more efficient.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.4.10 — 2021-09-12

NEW: Ability to switch meals between days once planned by simply dragging and dropping in the Planner on iPhone version. 
Minor bug fixes

### 2.4.9 — 2021-08-28

NEW: Ability to switch meals between days once planned by simply dragging and dropping in the Planner. 
Minor bug fix on calendar

### 2.4.8 — 2020-09-03

Minor bug fix
Allows you to email shopping list to Outlook email accounts from iPhone or iPad

### 2.4.7 — 2020-07-19

Fixes bug for iOS 12 users

### 2.4.6 — 2020-06-30

Minor bug fix 
Compatible with iOS 13

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## More apps by Simon Crone

- [Lazy Darts](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lazy-darts/id6444273844)

All apps by Simon Crone: https://appshunter.io/developer/1632358931

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*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 2026-06-10.*