The best meal plan for one person without leftovers sizes each dinner to a single serving and puts the whole week's shopping on one grocery list. Grocerplan does that for free: set your household to one, tap Plan my week, and you get seven dinners at one serving each, with the grocery list scaled to match. It avoids repeating a dinner in the same week, and leftovers appear only when you plan them.
Free meal plan
Try it: seven dinners for one, by email.
Tell us a little about your household and we'll email you seven dinners picked for it, each with its recipe. Free.
How a plan for one works
Tell Grocerplan you're cooking for one during setup, or later under Profile, Dietary Preferences. Plan my week then picks seven dinners and sets each one to a single serving, so nothing gets divided by hand. The grocery list adds up the week's ingredients, scaled to the servings each dinner cooks, and sorts them by aisle. Check it off in the store, print it, or tap Shop on Instacart.
Seven dinners in one tap, each set to one serving and swappable one by one
One grocery list for the week; an ingredient two dinners share is one line
39 of 78 dinners ready in 30 minutes or less
Any dinner from 1 to 50 servings, for planned leftovers or company
Shop on Instacart, or print the list for any store
No leftovers, unless you plan them
Plan my week avoids repeating a dinner in the same week, so you are not eating one pot of chili four nights running. When you do want tomorrow's dinner from tonight's cooking, open tonight's dinner, set it to 2 servings, then choose Plan leftovers for tomorrow. Tomorrow's copy is marked as leftovers and adds nothing to the grocery list, because the second serving is already on it.
Wasting less when you cook for one
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Shop once for the week. The list adds up every dinner, so two dinners that both use onions become one line.
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Planned dinners are scaled to one serving, so a recipe written for four asks for a quarter of each amount.
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A dinner you add by hand starts at the recipe's own servings: tap it and set it to 1 before you shop.
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Swap or clear any dinner you won't cook before you shop, so you don't buy for it.
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On busy nights, pick from the 39 dinners ready in 30 minutes or less; 11 of them take 20 minutes or less.
Honest limits
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A small catalog: 137 recipes, 78 of them dinners.
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A website, not an App Store or Google Play app. It works in your phone's browser.
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Instacart is the only store handoff on the web today. You can also print the list and shop anywhere.
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Stores sell whole packages, and the planner doesn't look for dinners that share ingredients, so you can still end up with half a bunch of herbs.
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Scaling divides each amount, so some come out as fractions you round yourself; lines without an amount, like salt to taste, stay as written.
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Keto, Low Carb, Paleo, Whole30 and Mediterranean have few recipes so far, so plans for them mix in other dinners.
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No export button yet: print the list, or email us for a copy of your data.
Questions
What's the best meal plan for one person without leftovers?
One that sizes each dinner to a single serving and puts the week on one grocery list. In Grocerplan, set your household to one and tap Plan my week: you get seven dinners at one serving each and a list scaled to match. It avoids repeating a dinner, and leftovers appear only when you plan them.
How do I meal plan for one person without wasting food?
Plan the week before you shop and buy from one list sized for one. Grocerplan scales each dinner to one serving and adds up the week, so an ingredient two dinners share is one line. Swap any dinner you won't cook before you shop. Stores still sell whole packages, so expect a few odds and ends.
Can I scale recipes to one serving?
Yes. Every Grocerplan recipe page has a servings control that goes down to 1, and the amounts follow it. Dinners Plan my week adds start at your household size, so one. A dinner you add by hand starts at the recipe's own servings, so set it to 1; any dinner goes from 1 to 50.
Can I still plan leftovers on purpose?
Yes. Open tonight's dinner, set it to 2 servings, then choose Plan leftovers for tomorrow. Tomorrow's copy is marked as leftovers and adds nothing to the grocery list, because the second serving is already on it.
Are there quick dinners for one?
Yes. 39 of Grocerplan's 78 dinners take 30 minutes or less in total, and 11 take 20 minutes or less, going by each recipe's listed time. Every one can be set to a single serving.
Is it free, and is there an app?
It's free and runs in the browser on any phone or computer; there is no App Store or Google Play app to download. Grocerplan may earn a commission when you check out on Instacart.