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Why: Shopping lists streamline grocery shopping for your members by automatically generating organized lists from meal plans, ensuring they have everything they need for their recipes.
Navigate: App Station > Content Library > Meal Plans
Quick Start
Create a meal plan with recipes.
Access the meal plan's shopping list.
Review the auto-generated shopping list organized by aisle.
Add any manual items (e.g., paper towels) using the Add Extra button.
Share the shopping list with your members.
Understanding Shopping Lists
Shopping lists are automatically generated from meal plans, making it easy for your members to gather ingredients for their recipes. Here's how they work:
Meal Plan Integration
When you create a meal plan, the shopping list pulls in all the necessary ingredients from the recipes included. The quantities are scaled based on the yield specified in the meal plan. For example, if a recipe yields 500g and the meal plan uses 250g, the ingredient amounts are halved accordingly.
Aisle Organization
Ingredients in the shopping list are organized by grocery store aisle, making it easier for members to navigate the store. Items are grouped together based on their aisle, and any items without a specified aisle fall under "Other."
Combining Ingredients
The shopping list intelligently combines ingredients when they appear in different recipes. For instance, if one recipe calls for 200g of chicken and another calls for 1 whole chicken, the system merges these into a single line if the ingredient has portion data available. This ensures that members can see a consolidated view of what they need to buy.
Handling Yield-Based Recipes
Shopping lists correctly handle yield-based recipes. If a recipe is designed to produce a specific weight or volume, the ingredient quantities in the shopping list will scale according to the yield specified in the meal plan. This means that batch-cooked recipes will also adjust the shopping list based on the total batch yield.
Manual Item Addition
Both admins and members can add manual items to shopping lists. When adding a manual item, you can enter a free-text name (e.g., paper towels) and optionally specify an amount, unit, and aisle. By default, items added manually will be categorized under "Other" unless an aisle is specified.
Admin Curation: As an admin, you can curate the shopping list by excluding unnecessary items or adding custom ones. These changes will be reflected for all members generating the list from that meal plan.
Member Interaction: Members can add items directly from the meal plan shopping list block in view mode, allowing them to customize their lists as needed.
Pantry Feature
The pantry feature allows members to maintain a list of ingredients they always have on hand. Items marked as "IN_PANTRY" can be hidden from the shopping list to avoid clutter. Admins can enable or disable this feature in the App Station settings.
Ingredient Merging and Diagnostics
When the system cannot merge ingredients due to incompatible units or missing data, it will display a small warning badge next to the affected items in the admin view. This badge provides actionable insights, such as "Add a clove portion" or "Add a density," with a link to the relevant ingredient editor tab. Members will not see these badges; their shopping list view remains unaffected.
For more details on how combined amounts are rounded and which units are chosen, refer to the article on How Shopping List Amounts Are Calculated.