Frequently asked questions

Meal planning is deciding ahead of time what you will eat over a set period, usually a week, and buying the ingredients for it in one shop. A good plan covers each meal you intend to cook, reuses ingredients across meals, and fits the time you actually have on busy days.

Meal planning is the deciding and list-making. Meal prep is the cooking and portioning you do in advance, such as batch-cooking grains and proteins on a Sunday. You can plan without prepping, but prep goes much more smoothly with a plan.

Check your calendar for busy nights, look at what you already have, pick 4 to 6 dinners that share ingredients, plan leftovers for lunches, then write one shopping list grouped by store section. Our step-by-step guide at /blog/how-to-meal-plan-for-the-week walks through the whole process.

Most households plan 4 to 6 dinners and cover the remaining nights with leftovers, a simple fallback meal or eating out. Planning every single meal is rarely necessary; start with dinners and add lunches once the habit sticks.

A focused prep session for a week of lunches and dinners typically takes 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on how many recipes you cook and how much you batch. Component prep (cooking a grain, two proteins and roasted vegetables) is usually the fastest approach.

It usually helps, because you buy only what the plan needs, reuse ingredients across meals and throw away less food. The savings depend on your habits; the biggest wins come from planning leftovers and shopping from a list.

Planning makes it easier to control portions and calories because decisions are made before you are hungry. Weight loss still depends on your overall energy balance and health, so talk to a doctor or registered dietitian for personal targets.

It means cooking a larger batch on purpose and turning the extra into a second meal, for example roasting a chicken for dinner and using the rest in wraps for lunch. It is one of the easiest ways to cut cooking time without eating the same plate twice.

According to USDA food safety guidance, cooked leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in a refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below. Freeze anything you will not eat within that window.

Yes. Food kept at 0°F (-18°C) stays safe indefinitely, but quality declines over time. USDA guidance puts best quality for most frozen leftovers at roughly 2 to 6 months depending on the food; soups and stews are best within 2 to 3 months. Soups, stews, chili, cooked grains and casseroles freeze well; crisp salads and fried foods do not.

Reheat leftovers to an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C), checked with a food thermometer, and stir halfway through when using a microwave so the food heats evenly.

Refrigerate cooked food within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if the room or outdoor temperature is above 90°F (32°C). Divide large batches into shallow containers so they cool quickly.

Glass containers with locking lids are durable and microwave-safe without the lid; BPA-free polypropylene is lighter and cheaper. Choose sizes that match your portions, and use freezer-safe containers with headspace for soups.

Delicate greens dressed in advance, fried or crispy foods, cut avocado and apples, and pasta stored in thin sauce tend to go soggy or brown. Store dressings and sauces separately and add crunchy toppings just before eating.

Cool food fully before sealing, keep sauces and dressings in separate small containers, store grains and vegetables apart from wet components, and slightly undercook vegetables you plan to reheat.

Start small: one batch of a grain, one protein and one tray of roasted vegetables that you can mix into different lunches. Once that feels easy, add a full dinner recipe. Our guide at /blog/meal-prep-for-beginners has a first-week plan.

Many adults aim for roughly 20 to 40 grams of protein per meal, but needs vary with body size, activity and health. The US RDA is 0.8 g per kg of body weight per day; athletes often eat more. A registered dietitian can set a personal target.

MealPrepPro, listed on the App Store as “Meal Prep - Weekly Planner”, is an iPhone and iPad meal planning app from J&H Technology. It combines a weekly planner, 1,000+ recipes with calories and macros, 22 dietary filters and a shopping list built from your plan.

No. MealPrepPro is currently available only for iPhone and iPad through the App Store. There is no Android or Google Play version.

Yes. MealPrepPro supports both iPhone and iPad and requires iOS or iPadOS 15.1 or later.

The built-in library has 1,015 recipes: 189 breakfasts, 91 lunches, 590 dinners and 145 snacks. Each lists calories, protein, carbs and fat per serving, plus step-by-step instructions. You can also add your own recipes.

The library combines MealPrepPro’s own catalog recipes with 309 public-domain recipes from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (52) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Healthy Teaching Kitchen (257). Nutrition for the public-domain recipes is computed from USDA FoodData Central, and each one shows its agency credit in the app. MealPrepPro is not affiliated with or endorsed by these agencies.

MealPrepPro has 22 dietary filters: Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Keto, Paleo, Low-carb, High-protein, Kosher, Halal, Nut-free, Red-meat-free, Weight-loss, Mediterranean, Whole30, Low-sugar, Low-glycemic, Kid-friendly, Budget-friendly, High-fiber, Low-calorie, Diabetes-friendly. The filters are part of Premium.

No. Halal, kosher, gluten-free and other filters are tags that describe a recipe’s ingredients, not religious or allergen certifications. Always check product labels and certification marks, and follow the guidance of your own religious authority or doctor.

Yes. MealPrepPro combines the ingredients from your planned meals into one shopping list grouped by store category. You can add your own items, check things off and scan barcodes.

Premium subscribers in the US can send the unchecked items on their shopping list that have a matching Walmart product to a Walmart cart. MealPrepPro checks your pantry first so you do not buy what you already have. Items sent are marked “In Walmart cart”, and everything else stays on your list.

Every built-in recipe shows calories, protein, carbs and fat per serving. Premium adds a nutrition dashboard with weekly totals, a daily calorie chart and progress against calorie and macro goals.

The app’s meal plan generator, labeled “Smart Meal Planner” in the app, builds a week by scoring the recipe library against your goals, calorie target, budget, household size, leftovers, ratings and favorites. It is a rules-based engine, not a chatbot, and it does not send your data to a large language model.

Yes. With a free account you can create and edit your own recipes, including scanning ingredient barcodes, and use them in any plan and shopping list.

Yes. Create a family or join one with an invite code, then share plans so everyone in the household sees the same menu.

Yes. MealPrepPro saves your data on your device first, so you can plan and use your shopping list without a connection. If you sign in, plans sync to the cloud when you are back online.

No. You can plan meals and build shopping lists without an account. A free account is needed to save your own recipes, use family features and sync your plans to the cloud.

Yes. You can scan product barcodes when adding shopping list items or building your own recipes. Product details come from the Open Food Facts database.

Yes. You can set weekly reminders for your meal prep day and your shopping day, and turn on expiration alerts.

Yes. Choose light, dark or match your system setting in the app’s appearance settings.

Yes, MealPrepPro is free to download and includes the weekly planner, a selection of recipes with full nutrition, shopping lists, barcode scanning and cook mode. An optional Premium subscription unlocks the rest.

Premium unlocks all 1,015 recipes, the 22 dietary filters, the meal plan generator with leftover planning, the nutrition dashboard, the pantry tracker, Walmart cart ordering in the US, and exporting or sharing lists and plans.

Premium is offered as monthly and annual subscriptions through the App Store. Prices vary by country and can change, so see the App Store listing or the in-app subscription screen for current pricing before you subscribe.

Eligible new subscribers may be offered a free trial through the App Store. The trial length and the price after the trial are shown on the subscription screen before you confirm, and the subscription renews automatically unless you cancel.

On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, choose MealPrepPro and tap Cancel Subscription. Cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date to avoid being charged for the next period.

Open MealPrepPro, go to Settings or the subscription screen and tap Restore Purchases while signed in to the same Apple Account you used to subscribe.

Subscriptions are billed by Apple, so refunds are handled by Apple. You can request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.

According to the in-app privacy policy, MealPrepPro stores the information you give it to provide the service, such as your account email, dietary preferences, recipes, meal plans and shopping lists, plus basic device and usage information. See the privacy page for details.

No. The in-app privacy policy states that the app does not contain third-party advertising, and the app does not include an advertising SDK.

Open Settings in the app and choose Delete Account. This deletes your account and the data associated with it. If you need help, email support@jandhtechnology.com.

Without an account, your data stays on your device. When you sign in, your plans and recipes are stored with Supabase, the cloud database the app uses, so they can sync. Subscription payments are handled by Apple.

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