Preset Plates
Meals, handled.
Preset Plates plans the meals you choose for the people you actually feed, tells you exactly how much to cook, and writes the grocery list to match. Nutrition tools are there if you want them, and optional.
The problem
Deciding what's for dinner, working out how much to make for everyone at the table, and turning it into a grocery list is a job nobody asked for, and it comes back every single day. Preset Plates carries it for you and takes the thinking out of the equation.
Most food apps hand you homework: log what you ate, look up every ingredient, reconcile the math at 9pm. Preset Plates does the work before you eat. You say who is at the table and how much each person usually eats; it tells you what to cook, how much, and what to buy. If you love your tracker, keep it.
How it works
01
Tell us about your household.
Who eats, roughly how much, what you won't eat, which days you shop, and which meals the plan should cover. Names are optional, and so is everything about nutrition. A couple of minutes, once.
02
Get your personalized plan.
Choose breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in setup. Your dated plan keeps going week after week, with nothing to restart. Lunch can use dinner leftovers or its own recipes. Want the same breakfast all week? Choose a recipe and a prep day: one batch, several eating days, and the ingredients on the shopping trip before you prep. A change shows you the new amounts before it applies.
03
Cook, shop, done.
Every dated recipe lists the exact amount of each ingredient for the people eating that day, and the grocery list for each shopping trip adds up the same amounts. You might want a few basic kitchen items; my recommendations are below.
Kitchen tools & protein picks
Use what you already own. The picks below cover weighing, cooking and storing meals, plus optional whey and plant protein powders.
Paid links
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Smart body scale
Track weight, estimated body fat and BMI in the free RENPHO app, with Apple Health syncing. A scale I use myself.
RENPHO smart body scaleView on Amazon ↗ -
Food scale
For weighing ingredients and portions.
Etekcity rechargeableView on Amazon ↗Budget digital scaleView on Amazon ↗ -
Meat thermometer
For checking when meat is cooked through.
Instant-read digital thermometerView on Amazon ↗ -
Slow cooker
For slow-cooked meals and larger batches.
Ninja PossibleCooker PLUS, 8.5 qtView on Amazon ↗ -
Rice cooker
For rice and other grains.
Toshiba fuzzy-logic, 6 cupView on Amazon ↗Aroma ARC-363NG rice cookerView on Amazon ↗ -
Meal-prep containers
For storing prepared meals and leftovers.
KOMUEE glass setView on Amazon ↗Plastic meal-prep containers — 50 packView on Amazon ↗ -
Sheet pans and racks
For roasting; choose a coated rack or an uncoated stainless set.
Nordic Ware aluminum pan with nonstick rackView on Amazon ↗ROTTAY stainless: two pans and two racksView on Amazon ↗ -
Large sauté pan with lid
Choose one; use silicone on nonstick. The T-fal does not work on induction.
T-fal 5-quart nonstickView on Amazon ↗Cuisinart 5.5-quart stainless steelView on Amazon ↗ -
Chef’s knife
Choose one everyday knife: value or higher-end.
Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-inch — valueView on Amazon ↗WÜSTHOF Classic 8-inch — higher-endView on Amazon ↗ -
Cutting boards
For everyday chopping; hand-wash bamboo boards.
Royal Craft Wood bamboo board setView on Amazon ↗ -
Colander
For draining pasta and rinsing beans.
OXO 3-quart colanderView on Amazon ↗ -
Tongs
Use silicone on nonstick; steel on uncoated cookware or the grill.
U-Taste 12-inch silicone tongsView on Amazon ↗Stainless tongs — 9- and 12-inch setView on Amazon ↗ -
Turners
Use silicone on nonstick; stainless on uncoated cookware.
BUNDLEPRO silicone turner pairView on Amazon ↗OXO stainless steel turnerView on Amazon ↗ -
Measuring cups and spoons
For liquids and seasonings; weigh recipe ingredients on your scale.
Pyrex glass measuring cups — 1, 2 and 4 cupsView on Amazon ↗TILUCK stainless measuring cups and spoonsView on Amazon ↗ -
Whisk
For mixing sauces and dressings.
OXO 11-inch whiskView on Amazon ↗ -
Bench scraper
For moving chopped vegetables from board to pan.
OXO bench scraperView on Amazon ↗ -
Breakfast jars
For oats or chia pudding; use larger containers for bigger portions.
Ball wide-mouth 16-ounce jars — three-packView on Amazon ↗ -
Whey protein powder
An optional whey protein powder for shakes and recipes.
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey — Double Rich ChocolateView on Amazon ↗ -
Plant protein powder
An optional plant protein powder for shakes and recipes.
Orgain Organic Plant Protein — Creamy Chocolate FudgeView on Amazon ↗
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What you get
A real plan, not a food log.
Your meals and ingredients are laid out before the week starts, with a sourced nutrition estimate on every recipe. Follow the plan or use it to enter meals into your own tracker ahead of time.
One dinner, every mouth fed.
Say how much each person usually eats, from a small taste to a big appetite, and add guests for a night. Cook once, serve everyone, and the leftovers for lunch are counted once.
The recipe, not the life story.
Ingredients, cooking steps, and serving amounts on one card, with a sourced nutrition estimate you can open if you want it. No scrolling through 2,000 words about someone's summer in Tuscany to find the oven temperature.
Groceries written for you.
Each trip's list covers exactly the meals between now and your next trip.
Your week, your rules.
Slow-cooker nights, grill nights, nights out. The plan bends to your schedule instead of demanding adherence to it.
An assistant that knows your plan.
Ask what's for dinner Thursday, what's left today, or for a different meal tonight. The assistant is sent only the question you type.
Questions
What is Preset Plates?
A meal-planning app for households. Choose which meals to plan: breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. It tells you how much to cook and generates your grocery lists. A recurring prep routine lets you make several days of the same meal together. Calorie and macro targets are available if you want them, and included during the beta.
What does it cost?
The household beta is free. Optional nutrition features are included while we test and improve the app. We'll explain any future paid options before introducing them.
How is this different from a calorie tracker?
Preset Plates plans what you will eat; a calorie tracker records what you actually eat. The ingredients and sourced nutrition estimates are laid out for you, making it easier to enter planned meals into your tracker ahead of time and adjust them if your day changes.
Do I have to weigh and log everything I eat?
No. Each recipe gives you the amounts to cook for the people eating, and a serving is a share of the recipe, not a weighed plate. If you want exact plates and weigh-ins, the detailed nutrition view is there as an option. Either way, keeping a record of what you actually eat is up to you.
Do I get calorie and macro targets?
If you want them. Nutrition is optional, per person, and included during the beta. Turn it on for yourself and your stats, activity, and goal set daily calories using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, with a protein target and safe floors on how low calories can go. Weight check-ins are optional and follow the calendar; there is no program with a start and a finish. Nobody else in the household is asked for anything.
Where do the nutrition numbers come from?
Every recipe's figures trace to a named source, primarily published USDA FoodData Central figures. We never estimate a number we can't back. If you add a custom recipe, we will do our best to ensure the macros are accurate and fit into your plan, but there may be some variance.
I cook for people who aren't dieting. Does this still work?
Yes, that is what it is built for. You say how much each person usually eats and the app scales one dinner for the table. These are meals my own household enjoys regularly, including our two toddlers. I also routinely cook them for my parents, who are pretty picky eaters, and they usually enjoy what's on their plates. — Dalton
What if I don't cook every night?
You can use dinner leftovers for lunch, plan separate lunch recipes, or set a recurring prep routine. Pick the recipe, prep day and eating days, then use household appetites or a fixed serving amount each day. The whole batch is bought once on the trip covering the prep day. Follow the recipe's storage instructions and freeze portions when appropriate.
Is my data private?
Your account information and plan live in your account, protected so that only you and anyone you invite to your household can see them. The chat assistant is sent only the sentence you type, never your plan or your numbers.
Do I need to download an app?
Preset Plates runs in your browser and installs to your home screen from there. No app store required, and it works on your phone and your computer.
How far ahead does it plan?
The plan is dated on a calendar and keeps going, whether you use the household view or turn on nutrition. It is dealt a few weeks ahead and extends itself week by week, so there is no end date to reach. The days you have already lived keep the amounts they had, and the week you are in is kept.
Do I ever have to start a new plan?
No. There is no plan period to finish and no restart: new weeks are added as you go and the week you are in is kept. You can change who is eating, your food rules or a meal along the way, and the days you have already lived keep the amounts they had. Your account, household, recipes, and history stay where they are.
Can I add my own recipes?
Yes. Your recipes stay yours, private to your household, and the app computes the calories from the macros you enter.
Can two people in one house use it?
Yes. Invite someone you live or cook with and you share one household plan. Each person can have their own appetite, and their own nutrition targets if they choose to turn that on.
A note from the founder
My wife Kathleen is a great cook. But someone still had to decide every meal for the house, every week, turn that into a grocery list, and work out how much to cook. With young kids and a busy kitchen, that mental load fell on us every day.
So I built a system that did the deciding for us: a shared meal plan, a grocery list that fits our shopping rhythm, and recipes with the amounts we need. It started with our own nutrition goals, but you don't need targets to want an easier answer to "what should we cook tonight?"
Whether you share a kitchen with a partner, kids, roommates, siblings or other people in your household, I hope Preset Plates makes cooking at home easier. The plan and shopping list come first. Nutrition help is here if you want it.
— Dalton, founder
Questions? Ideas? Something broken?
Write us at hello@presetplates.com.
Mail goes to the founder. It's a one-man show over here for now, so please be patient.
Every meal, decided.
Set up your household for free and see your planned meals, how much to cook, and what to buy.