Help and support

How does Mealkin check meals?

It compares the names of the ingredients in a recipe or on a label with the foods each person avoids, using a list of about 1,000 food names grouped into families (for example, ghee and whey are milk, satay is peanut). Then it shows a result for each person.

It can miss things, so always read the label of the product you are using. The Health and Allergy Notice explains how it works in detail.

What do the results mean?

No avoided foods found: nothing on that person’s list was found in the information Mealkin had. It is not a promise that the food is safe.

Swap available: a food they avoid was found, and Mealkin suggests a swap it has checked against everyone eating.

Check labels: a food that often contains one of their allergens was found (such as stock cubes or curry paste), or a packet says it “may contain” one.

Has an avoided food: a food on their list was found.

Mealkin missed or misread an ingredient. What should I do?

Please tell us the recipe or product and the ingredient, so we can improve the food list.

Until then, add that ingredient for the person under “Anything else they can’t eat?” in their profile, and Mealkin will look for it.

Why does a product say “Check labels” when the ingredients look fine?

The packet may say “may contain”, or an ingredient such as a sauce or stock is made differently by different brands. Read the packet you are holding.

If a specialist has told the person to avoid “may contain” foods, turn on “Treat may contain as a food they avoid” in their profile.

Where does product information come from?

From Open Food Facts, a free database that anyone can add to. Details can be missing or out of date, so each product links to its page there, where you can check or correct it.

Where do the nutrition figures come from?

Mealkin works them out from each recipe’s ingredients, using figures from USDA FoodData Central (a public database of the United States Department of Agriculture) and its own estimates for foods that database doesn’t cover, with typical weights.

They are estimates for general interest. They can differ from the real figures and are not for medical diets, such as insulin dosing.

Can Mealkin fill my supermarket trolley or show supermarket prices?

Not automatically. Woolworths, Coles, ALDI and Costco don’t let other apps read their prices or add to a trolley, so Mealkin doesn’t try.

In Australia, tap “Shop online” on your list (or press and hold an item) to open each item in the store’s own search. Add it to your trolley there, then tick it off in Mealkin. The prices on your list are the ones you enter, in your own currency.

How do we share the plan and the shopping list?

To keep a partner’s phone up to date, go to Settings > Two phones, one household > Send update, and send the file by message. On their phone, save the file, then Open an update from a file. The plan for the weeks it covers is replaced, list items are added, and anything ticked on either phone stays ticked. Nothing is deleted from the list.

An update carries your family’s names and allergy details, so send it only to your household. After getting one, check each person’s profile. If the two phones were set up with different people, Mealkin asks before using the sender’s.

There is no account and no Mealkin server, so updates are not live: send one whenever the plan changes. To send just this week’s plan or the list to anyone, use the share buttons on the Plan and Shopping screens.

Can Mealkin read a recipe from a photo or a handwritten card?

Yes, on iPhone. In Recipes, tap Add a recipe > From a photo, then take a photo or choose one. Mealkin reads the words on your phone and opens them as a recipe for you to check. The photo is deleted straight afterwards and is never uploaded.

Handwriting and faded print can be misread, so check every ingredient and amount before saving: the allergy checks use the words as saved.

Elsewhere, paste the text instead. On iPhone you can also copy text out of a photo with Live Text and paste it.

What is the “Make soon” list?

Tap the star on any recipe to add it to Make soon. Those recipes are shown first in Recipes, and when Mealkin fills a plan it picks them first, if they suit everyone eating. A recipe leaves the list when you mark it cooked.

Can I plan a meal for guests who eat differently?

Yes. Tap a planned meal, then “Who’s coming?” > Add a guest. Give them a name and tick what they avoid, exactly as you do for your family. Mealkin then checks that meal for them too: its result, the swaps, the “Something else” suggestions and the shopping list amounts all include your guest, for that meal only. Guests you save can be added to another meal in one tap.

Mealkin checks only what you enter, so ask your guest what they avoid, and read labels for them as you would for family. Only record a guest’s details with their agreement. They are kept on this phone only, and are in backups and household updates like your family’s details.

How does the weekly budget work?

In Settings > Planning you can set a weekly food budget. The Plan tab then shows about what the week’s meals cost, and the planner prefers cheaper meals. It works from the prices you have entered on your shopping list (press and hold an item to add one). A meal with no prices is not counted as free, and the screen tells you how many meals have none yet.

It is an estimate, not a quote, and it never chooses a meal with a food someone avoids to save money. Clear the amount or tap Turn off to stop using it.

How do I cook from what I have?

Add what is in the fridge and cupboard in the Pantry, with an amount if you like (“500 g mince” or “half an onion”). Recipes then show “Uses 4 things you have, 2 use-by soon”.

On the shopping list, tick what you bought and tap “Put ticked items in the pantry”. After you cook a meal, Mealkin offers to take what you used out of the pantry: it shows what will change first, and Undo puts it back.

Why does a recipe say “about 150 g” for 1 cup of flour?

A cup of flour and a cup of honey weigh different amounts, so for common foods (flours, sugars, rice, oats, butter, cheese, nuts and more) Mealkin turns cups and spoons into grams, or grams back into cups if you cook in cups. The figures are typical weights, so they say “about”; how you fill the cup can change them by 10 to 20 per cent.

What are “Recipe of the week” and “In season now”?

Recipe of the week on Today is one recipe picked for the week from those that no one at your table avoids. It stays the same all week and changes on Monday. In season now (in Recipes) suggests soups, stews and bakes in the cool months and salads and grilled food in the warm ones, judged from the recipe names and your phone’s region, so it knows whether it is summer or winter where you are.

Is there a home-screen widget?

Yes, on iPhone: press and hold the home screen, tap Edit > Add Widget and choose Mealkin. “Tonight” shows today’s meals and “Shopping list” shows what is left to buy. Tap one to open that screen.

Widgets show meal names and list items, which anyone holding your phone can see, but never people’s names or allergies.

How do I print a recipe, the plan, the list or a food card?

Tap the printer button at the top of a recipe, the Plan screen, the Shopping screen or a food card. On the web it opens the page in a new window and the browser’s print dialog, which can also save a PDF. On iPhone, choose Print for a printer, or Share as PDF to save it or send it.

The page is made on your phone. A printed recipe or plan shows what Mealkin found for each person (including any “Check labels” notes), and a reminder to read labels. A printed food card shows only what is entered for that person.

Can I paste a recipe from Instagram, TikTok or Facebook?

Yes. Copy the caption in that app, then in Recipes tap Add a recipe > Paste the text > Paste what I copied, and Read recipe. Mealkin takes off the hashtags, @mentions, “link in bio” lines and emoji bullets, keeps every amount, and shows you how it read each line.

Mealkin never visits the post, so it only sees what you copy. If the recipe is in a video or the comments, type or paste it instead. Check each amount before saving, because the allergy checks use the words as saved.

What is the sample family?

On the first screen where you add people, “Look around with a sample family” fills Mealkin with four made-up people (a coeliac teen, a toddler with a peanut allergy, and two adults) and a planned week, so you can see who can eat what before typing anything. Each is named “Sample:”, and Today says you are looking at a sample.

Tap “Start my own household” to remove the sample people and their meals, then add your own. A sample cannot be sent as a backup or an update.

Can Mealkin tell me when a timer ends or remind me to thaw dinner?

On iPhone, the first time you start a cooking timer Mealkin explains and then asks your phone to allow notifications. After that, a timer sends “Timer done: step 3” when it ends, even if the phone is locked. Stopping the timer, or leaving cook mode, cancels it.

In Settings > Planning you can also turn on “Remind me the evening before to thaw”. At 6 pm the evening before a planned meal with meat, poultry or seafood, you get a reminder such as “Take the chicken out to thaw for tomorrow’s dinner”. It is off until you turn it on, and Mealkin can’t see your freezer, so it reminds you for every such meal.

These are made on your phone: nothing is sent anywhere, and a notification never names a person or an allergy. You can turn them off in your phone’s Settings.

Where is my information kept? Can I move it to a new phone?

Everything stays on this phone. There are no accounts, and we cannot see it.

To move it, use Settings > Your data > Save backup on the old phone and Restore from a file on the new one. A backup contains your family’s allergy details, so keep it private.

How do I delete everything?

Settings > Delete all my data removes everything Mealkin has stored on this phone. Deleting the app does the same.

Is Mealkin free?

Yes. Meal planning, allergen checks and the shopping list are free, with no ads. If optional extras are offered later, their price will be shown before you buy.