Plan your family's meals for the week
What's for dinner Monday? Thursday? A weekly meal planner answers those questions in advance, day by day. PlateMate builds your plan day by day, from 1 to 14 days, around the foods your family genuinely enjoys.
Why plan your meals ahead of time?
Without a plan, every evening looks the same: open the fridge, improvise, fall back on the same three dishes — or a quick fix nobody really likes. Planning ahead changes everything: groceries are done once for several days, dinner is already decided, and the question "what's for dinner?" disappears from your household.
Organize the whole week's meals
PlateMate lets you choose the length of your plan — from 1 to 14 days. Plan a classic Monday-to-Sunday week, or cover two full weeks at once. Each day, lunch and dinner are scheduled, and you can regenerate a single slot or swap one meal at any time without starting over.
A plan that adapts to everyone's tastes
A weekly meal planner is useless if it ignores what your family actually eats. In PlateMate, every member has their own profile with liked and disliked meals:
- Disliked meals are avoided automatically.
- Favorite meals come back regularly through the week.
- Set a maximum prep time and choose which meal categories to include.
- Tradition mode cooks classic family-friendly dishes for everyone.
A sample week
Take a household where one adult hates mushrooms and a child refuses fish. PlateMate builds a week where fish never appears when the child is present, mushrooms are kept to dishes the adult doesn't have to share, and every day includes at least one meal everyone accepts. The result: a full week of menus without the daily negotiation.
How does PlateMate work?
The weekly plan comes together in four steps, explained in the full user guide:
- 1. Add your family members and their tastes.
- 2. Set up your meal catalog and constraints.
- 3. Choose the plan length (1 to 14 days) and the starting day.
- 4. Generate: PlateMate assembles the week, and you fine-tune as needed.
Frequently asked questions
Everything to know before creating your weekly meal plan.
Can I create a meal plan for a full week?+
Yes. PlateMate plans from 1 to 14 days: pick 7 days for a classic Monday-to-Sunday week, or more if you want to cover two weeks.
Can I change a meal after the plan is generated?+
Yes — each slot can be regenerated or replaced individually, without regenerating the whole plan. The days you already like stay untouched.
Does the plan take cooking time into account?+
Yes, you can set a maximum prep time. Meals that are too long for your busy evenings are automatically left out.
What is the "joker" feature for?+
The joker replaces a meal with an outside meal (restaurant, cafeteria, takeout). Handy for evenings when nobody wants to cook.
Can I share the plan with my family?+
Yes — the plan can be copied in seconds and shared on WhatsApp, so everyone in the household knows what's on the menu.