Grocery Budget Calculator
Weekly and monthly grocery budget for your household, from the USDA food plans.
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Web app (installable PWA) Simmer
Meal Planner
A meal planning app with a grocery list that writes itself: plan the week from your own recipes, see the cost per serving of every meal, use up what's in the pantry and keep the food budget in check, on your phone and computer.
Try the live demo to explore the application — it runs right here on VaultlyApps with sample data, no sign-up needed.
What is Simmer?
Simmer is a meal planning app for your phone and computer that answers "what's for dinner?" before anyone asks. Plan the week from the recipes your family already loves and the grocery list writes itself: amounts added up across recipes, sorted by aisle, with what each item costs. The recipe organizer shows the cost per serving of every meal and scales any recipe, the pantry inventory tells you what to use first, and the food budget tracks groceries against takeout. Fill My Week suggests dinners for empty nights and says why. No account, no ads, no subscription.
What problem does Simmer solve?
Most families plan dinner at 5 p.m. with an open fridge. The grocery list is written by hand from five recipes, so the garlic gets bought twice and the cilantro goes bad in the drawer. Meal planner templates and printables look nice but don't add up ingredients, don't know what's in the pantry and can't tell you what a meal costs. Simmer is a meal planner that does that work, so the week is planned in minutes and the grocery bill goes down.
Key features
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Tonight, already planned
Tonight's dinner on a plate, who it suits, when to start cooking so it's ready on time and what it costs per serving. Too tired? One tap swaps it for something easier, and the rest of the week stays in place.
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A weekly meal planner that starts on shopping day
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, with recipes, leftovers, eating out or a note. Set servings per meal, cook extra for a leftovers night or the freezer, copy last week, and print a menu for the fridge.
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Fill My Week, with reasons
Suggestions from your own recipes for every empty night, each with the reason: a theme night, food about to turn, a fresh ingredient shared with another meal, not made lately, or fits everyone at home. Keep or skip each one.
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A grocery list that writes itself
Built from the plan, sorted by aisle, with what each item is for and its estimated cost. 3 + 4 + 4 cloves of garlic become 11, cups and tablespoons are combined, and weekly staples and your own items are added.
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A recipe organizer with cost per serving
A tabbed recipe box with cost per recipe and per serving, scaling, diet tags, favorites, search by ingredient and "last made". Paste a recipe from a website or a note and Simmer splits it into ingredients and steps.
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Cook mode with timers
One big step at a time with the ingredients scaled to tonight, a timer for every time in the steps, and the screen stays on.
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Pantry inventory and use it first
Fridge, freezer and cupboard jars with use-by dates. Food that turns soon comes first, with your own recipes that use it, so less goes in the bin.
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A food budget, groceries vs takeout
A weekly food budget, groceries against takeout and eating out, cost per home-cooked serving, an 8-week chart and your thriftiest dinners.
Screenshots
Scroll sideways · select to enlarge
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Weekly meal planner with dinners as plates on a gingham table, starting on shopping day, with leftovers and eating-out nights
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Fill My Week suggestions from your own recipes, each with the reason: theme night, food about to turn, shared fresh ingredients
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Grocery list built from the meal plan, sorted by aisle, with amounts added up and the cost of each item
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Recipe organizer with recipe cards showing the cost per serving, scaling and diet tags
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Cook mode with one big step at a time, scaled ingredients and a built-in timer
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Plans changed preview that moves the week's meals for eating out or leftovers, and a meal jar that picks a dinner
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Pantry inventory with fridge, freezer and cupboard jars, use-by dates and recipes that use food first
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Kitchen check and store mode for the grocery list, shared between two phones
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Food budget tracker with groceries vs takeout, cost per home-cooked serving, an 8-week chart and the thriftiest dinners
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Household settings with each person's diet and dislikes, shopping day and theme nights
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The meal planner app on a phone: week plan, tonight's dinner and recipe box
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Phone and laptop linked with a 6-digit code or QR
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Three themes: Kitchen, Late supper (dark) and Picnic
How does Simmer work?
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1
Try the live demo with a sample family kitchen. No sign-up needed.
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2
After buying, open Simmer from your private link and install it on your phone and computer.
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Add who eats at home and your shopping day, then a few recipes (or 8 starter recipes in one tap).
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Tap Fill My Week and your grocery list is ready.
Who is Simmer for?
- Busy families who plan dinners for the week
- Couples and people cooking for one or two
- Meal preppers and batch cooks
- Anyone trying to cut the grocery bill and food waste
Simmer is a meal planning app for your phone, tablet and computer. Plan the week from the recipes your family already loves, and the grocery list writes itself: amounts added up, sorted by aisle, with what each item costs. The recipe organizer shows the cost per serving of every meal, the pantry inventory tells you what to use first, and the food budget keeps groceries and takeout in check. It installs like an app, works offline and keeps everything private on your own devices. You can try the free demo with a sample family kitchen before you buy.
Why a meal planner app instead of a template?
A printable meal planner or a meal planner template is a grid you still fill in by hand. Then you write the grocery list from five recipes, add up the garlic yourself and hope you remembered what's already in the fridge. A template can't tell you what a meal costs, which food is about to go bad or what to cook on the nights you left empty.
Simmer is a meal planner with a grocery list built in. You add your recipes once, and from then on it does the busywork: it builds the list, checks the pantry, works out costs and suggests meals for empty nights. It's a family meal planner, digital recipe book, shopping list, pantry tracker and food budget in one place.
Tonight: what's for dinner, answered
The Tonight page shows tonight's dinner on a plate, who it suits and when to start cooking so it's ready at your dinner time. Under it you'll find the cost per serving, the rest of the week on the table, the food to use first and your grocery list and food budget at a glance. Too tired? "Too tired?" swaps tonight for something easier and nothing is lost.
A weekly meal planner that bends with real life
The week starts on your shopping day, so the plan and the shop line up. Each day can hold breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks: a recipe, leftovers, eating out or a note. Set servings for each meal, cook extra portions for a leftovers night or the freezer, copy last week and print a menu for the fridge.
Plans change. Eating out, too tired, or leftovers to finish? Plans Changed previews how the week shifts (fresh meals move first) before you apply it. Meals without a day go to the Menu Board, and when nobody can decide, shake the Meal Jar. If you're new to planning, our weekly meal plan template explains the method step by step.
Fill My Week: suggestions that say why
Empty nights? Fill My Week suggests dinners from your own recipes, not a stranger's, and tells you why for each one:
- it's theme night (Taco Tuesday, Pizza Friday),
- it uses food about to turn in your pantry,
- it shares a fresh ingredient with another meal this week, so the rest of the cilantro gets used,
- you haven't made it lately,
- it fits everyone at home, diets and dislikes included.
Keep or skip each one. For a quick idea without the app, try the free random meal generator.
A grocery list that writes itself
The grocery list is built from the plan. Amounts are added up across recipes (3 + 4 + 4 cloves of garlic become 11), cups and tablespoons are combined, and everything is sorted by aisle with what each item is for and its estimated cost. Weekly staples like milk and bread are added automatically, and you can add your own items.
Before you shop, kitchen check lets you tick what's already home. In the store, store mode shows big rows you tap once, and two linked phones can shop the same list. Back home, Put away moves fresh food into the pantry with use-by dates and the receipt into your budget in one step.
A recipe organizer that knows what meals cost
The recipe box is a tabbed recipe organizer with search by ingredient, diet tags, favorites and "last made". Every recipe shows its cost per recipe and per serving, and scales to any number of servings. Copy a recipe from a website or a note and paste it in: Simmer splits it into ingredients and steps. Export everything to CSV whenever you like. Our guide on how to organize recipes compares a recipe binder, a recipe box and a digital recipe book.
Want to price a single recipe or scale one quickly? Use the free recipe cost calculator and recipe converter.
Cook mode with built-in timers
Cook mode shows one big step at a time with the ingredients scaled to tonight's servings. Every time in the steps ("simmer 20 minutes") becomes a timer button, and the screen stays on while you cook.
Pantry inventory: waste less, save more
The pantry keeps your fridge, freezer and cupboard as jars with use-by dates. What turns soon comes first, with your recipes that use it, and you can freeze something before it goes bad. Fill My Week uses the same information, so food about to turn ends up on the plan instead of in the bin.
A food budget: groceries and takeout in check
The food budget page sets a weekly budget and shows groceries against takeout and eating out, your cost per home-cooked serving, an 8-week chart and your thriftiest dinners. Not sure what your budget should be? The free grocery budget calculator shows what the USDA food plans say for a household like yours, and our guide on how to save money on groceries has 25 ways to bring the bill down.
Made for real households
Add who eats at home with their diet (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free) and the foods they skip. Recipes that clash are flagged. Set your shopping day, dinner time, the meals you plan, theme nights, a weekly budget, your currency and US or metric units. Simmer works as a family meal planner, for meal planning for two, for cooking for one and for Sunday meal prep.
Make it yours
Choose from three themes: Kitchen (aubergine and lilac gingham), Late supper (dark) and Picnic. Your kitchen name appears on every printed menu, grocery list and recipe card. A guided tour helps on day one, and every page prints cleanly.
Privacy and devices
There's no account, no ads and no tracking. Your recipes and plans live in your browser on your own devices. Link your phone and computer once with a 6-digit code or QR and they stay in step, end-to-end encrypted. Plan the week on your laptop, then tick off the grocery list on your phone in the store. Export a backup file any time from Settings. On a computer everything sits in a sidebar; on a phone, in a bottom bar.
What you get
- The Simmer app: your private link for phone, tablet and computer, with no limits.
- A 15-page Start Here PDF covering install steps for every device, how to link devices and every page explained with screenshots.
- A bonus printables pack with 7 kitchen worksheets (weekly menu, grocery list by aisle, recipe cards, pantry inventory, freezer log, food budget tracker, meal ideas bank), 6 boards (30 home-cooked dinners, theme nights, family favorites, meal-prep Sunday, pantry-challenge week, new recipe passport) and 5 wallpapers.
Good to know
Simmer works in any modern browser (Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox), with no Excel, Notion, Goodnotes or Google Sheets needed. Ingredient costs are optional: add them once and every list after uses them. Simmer doesn't read recipe websites for you; copy the recipe text and paste it in, which keeps it private and working offline. It's a planning tool, not nutrition or medical advice, and diet tags are labels you set, so always check food labels for allergies. For the rest of your money, see Vault, our finance dashboard; for a calmer home routine, Snug, our cozy life planner; and for students cooking on a budget, Semester, a student budget planner.
Simmer FAQ
What is the best meal planning app with a grocery list?
The best one is the one that turns your plan into a list without extra typing. In Simmer, the grocery list is built from the week's meal plan: ingredients are added up across recipes, sorted by aisle, checked against your pantry and priced. You can tick off what's already home and shop from your phone in store mode.
Is Simmer a meal planner app or a template?
It's an app, not a printable, Notion, Excel or Google Sheets template. You open it from a private link in your browser and install it on your phone and computer. It keeps your recipes, adds up the grocery list and works out costs for you.
Can I use it as a recipe organizer or digital recipe book?
Yes. The recipe box holds all your recipes with ingredients, steps, servings, diet tags, favorites and the cost per serving. Paste a recipe from a website or type in a family recipe card, then scale it, cook from it or plan it into the week.
Does it help with a grocery budget?
Yes. Each recipe shows its cost per serving, the grocery list shows estimated costs, and the food budget page compares groceries with takeout and eating out, week by week. For a starting number, try our free grocery budget calculator based on the USDA food plans.
Is it good for families with different diets?
Yes. Add each person with their diet (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free) and foods they skip. Recipes that clash are flagged, and Fill My Week prefers meals that fit everyone.
Can my partner and I share one grocery list?
Yes. Link your phones and computer once with a 6-digit code or QR and they stay in step, end-to-end encrypted. Two phones can shop the same list in the store.
Does it work for meal prep or cooking for one or two?
Yes. Set servings per meal, cook extra portions for leftovers or the freezer, and scale any recipe up or down. It works for meal planning for two, cooking for one and Sunday meal prep.
Is there a subscription?
No. Simmer is a one-time purchase with free updates, no account and no ads. One household per purchase.
Free tools
Free calculators
Quick answers with the same maths — then let the app keep them up to date.
Recipe Cost Calculator
Recipe cost, cost per serving, food cost % and menu price.
Open calculatorRecipe Converter
Scale a recipe to any number of servings with kitchen fractions.
Open calculatorFurther reading
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See Simmer in action
The live demo runs in your browser with realistic sample data. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.