Meal planning guides

How to plan a week you will actually cook, and how to judge the apps that offer to help — including the parts most of them would rather not put in the listing.

• How to meal plan for a week

  A seven-step method that survives contact with a real week.

• Meal planners without a subscription

  Why these apps charge monthly, and how to read the word "free".

• Offline meal planners and apps with no account

  What on-device planning gives you — and what it takes away.