Mealime Is Shutting Down (Oct 21, 2026): Keep Your Recipes

By The Citron team
Updated on October 16, 2026

Mealime will be discontinued on October 21, 2026, and all personal data will be deleted when the app shuts down, according to Mealime's closing page (read October 16, 2026). Every Mealime recipe stays available in Meals Hub, in Albertsons Companies' grocery store apps and websites, where certain preferences and settings must be set up again. To keep the recipes you cook in your own recipe box, save them before October 21.

What happens on October 21, 2026

According to Mealime's closing page, as of October 16, 2026:

Mealime is discontinued as of October 21, 2026.
All personal data will be deleted when the Mealime app is shut down.
All Mealime recipes stay available in Meals Hub, in Albertsons Companies' grocery store apps and websites, along with thousands of additional recipes.
Pro subscribers won't be charged any more subscription fees before October 21, and all Pro recipes and features become available to all Mealime users.
Certain preferences and settings will need to be set up again directly in Meals Hub.

The page doesn't describe a way to export your data.

How to keep your Mealime recipes before October 21

Every Mealime recipe stays available in Meals Hub. Your personal data doesn't come along. Mealime deletes it at shutdown, and you'll set certain preferences and settings up again in Meals Hub. Nothing moves from Mealime to Citron on its own either, so bring recipes over one at a time, starting with the ones you cook most.

The Citron recipe app imports recipes from web links, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, photos (even handwritten), and voice notes. Paste a Mealime recipe link and it's in Citron in about 10 seconds, with ingredients, steps, servings and photo.

Open the recipe on mealime.com.
Copy the link, open Citron, tap the green + button, then Paste link and Import recipe. Or tap Share in your browser and pick Citron.
Citron imports the recipe.

In Safari on iPhone: Share, then Citron. The recipe opens in Citron, ready for your grocery list.

In our test, the recipe kept its US measures (½ cup, 16 oz), and the ingredient list has an Original units setting at the top. Long recipe titles may be shortened.

If a link doesn't import, copy the ingredients and steps into a note before October 21.

Worked example: one Mealime recipe

Here's the method on one public Mealime recipe, imported in the Citron app on October 16, 2026.

Open Apple Quinoa Salad with Celery, Almonds & Dried Cranberries on mealime.com. The page shows 35 minutes and 4 servings.
Copy the page's address from your browser. It ends in /748, the recipe's number on mealime.com.
In Citron, tap the green + button, then Paste link and Import recipe.

Citron's Add a recipe sheet with Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and A website, then Paste link, Photo and Voice — Tap the green + button, then Paste link.

Citron's Paste a link screen with a Mealime recipe URL filled in and the Import recipe button — Paste the Mealime link, then tap Import recipe.

Citron's Importing Recipe screen with the lemon mascot, a progress bar and a Close button — You can close this screen while the recipe imports.

The recipe arrives as "Apple Quinoa Salad", with 13 ingredients, 8 steps, 35 minutes and 4 servings.
The ingredients keep their US measures, such as ½ cup almonds and 16 oz broth, with an Original units setting at the top of the list. Each step shows the amounts it uses.

The imported Apple Quinoa Salad in Citron with its Mealime photo, 35 minutes, 4 servings, and a note that it was read from mealime.com with 13 ingredients and 8 steps — The imported recipe, read from mealime.com.

The Apple Quinoa Salad ingredient list in Citron with an Original units setting, ½ cup almonds, 4 stalks celery and 16 oz chicken or vegetable broth — The ingredients, in the recipe's US measures.

The Apple Quinoa Salad steps in Citron, each followed by the ingredients and amounts it uses — The steps, with their ingredients.

From the recipe, Groceries then Add to my grocery list puts its ingredients on your list, and Start Cooking walks you through the steps one at a time.

Citron's Groceries sheet for the recipe, with all 13 ingredients for 4 servings and an Add to my grocery list button — Add the ingredients to your grocery list.

Citron's cooking mode on step 1 of 8 of the Apple Quinoa Salad, with the ingredients for that step — Cook it step by step.

Short on ideas? Use Discover

Discover shows what other Citron users are importing right now and collections picked by the Citron team, with diet filters. Weekly Menu is one of those team-picked collections. While you have fewer than 5 recipes, Home also shows a row of 6 Discover recipes that many people are importing and that fit your diet. Discover recipes are free for your first 7 days after you create your account, then part of Citron Pro.

Citron's Discover tab: a search bar with a filter button, a Weekly Menu collection row, and the first Discover recipes — Discover, with the Weekly Menu collection at the top.

Mealime, Meals Hub and Citron compared

Mealime and Meals Hub facts come from Mealime's closing page, read on October 16, 2026. Citron facts come from the Citron recipe app's own pages, and its import of Mealime links from our own test on October 16, 2026.

	Mealime (until Oct 21, 2026)	Meals Hub	Citron
What it is	A meal planning app	Albertsons Companies' recipe and meal-planning platform, in its grocery store apps and websites	A recipe app for iOS and Android. Also on the web at citronapp.co.
Where recipes come from	Its own catalog: guided meal plans of healthy recipes made by the Mealime chef team	All Mealime recipes plus thousands more, with new ones from the same Mealime chef team	The recipes you import from web links, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, photos (even handwritten), and voice notes. Discover shows what other Citron users are importing right now and collections picked by the Citron team, with diet filters. Discover recipes are free for your first 7 days after you create your account, then part of Citron Pro.
Meal plan	Meal plans and meal-planning tools	Create meal plans	Put your recipes on the days of the week, from breakfast to dinner.
Grocery list	Shopping for the recipes you plan	Shopping lists, and an easy way to shop for groceries	Your grocery list fills itself in from your plan: ingredients sorted by aisle, amounts added up across recipes. Send your grocery list as a message.
Diets	Dietary preferences and food restrictions	Dietary preferences and food restrictions, set in your Meals Hub profile	Adapt recipes to a diet: healthier, vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free.
Price	Pro subscribers no longer charged; all Pro recipes and features available to all users	100% free, including recipes from Mealime Pro	Free to start, with limited imports and the core features. Citron Pro is an annual plan, with a 7-day free trial, or a monthly plan. The free trial is on the annual plan only.

Mealime gives you guided meal plans of healthy recipes written by its chef team. Citron has no chef-written meal plans. Its Discover tab offers a pool of recipes instead, with what other cooks are importing and collections picked by the Citron team.

If you want Mealime's own recipes and plans, Meals Hub is the better fit. It keeps those recipes, with the same team behind them, and according to Mealime's closing page it works even without an Albertsons Companies store nearby.

If you want to cook from recipes you collect, or pick from what other cooks are importing and team-picked collections, with a grocery list from your week, Citron is the better fit.

Sources

Read on October 16, 2026:

Mealime's closing page: the shutdown date, personal data, Meals Hub, Pro subscriptions, preferences and settings.
Mealime's home page: its "Get cook'n healthy" pitch, for the healthy recipes in its catalog.
Citron's import of Mealime recipe links: tested by the Citron team on 3 Mealime links, all imported.
The worked example's recipe on mealime.com.

Frequently asked questions

Can I export my Mealime data?

As of October 16, 2026, Mealime's closing page describes no export option. It says all personal data will be deleted when the Mealime app shuts down on October 21, 2026, and that certain preferences and settings will need to be set up again directly in Meals Hub. To keep a recipe you cook in your own recipe box, save it before then: paste its link into a recipe app such as Citron, or copy its ingredients and steps.

What's a good Mealime alternative with a grocery list?

Meals Hub is the official successor: according to Mealime's closing page, it has all the Mealime recipes, meal plans and shopping lists, inside Albertsons Companies' grocery store apps and websites. If you'd rather cook from recipes you collect yourself, the Citron recipe app is another option. It imports recipes from web links, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, photos (even handwritten), and voice notes, including Mealime recipe links. Discover shows what other Citron users are importing right now and collections picked by the Citron team, with diet filters. Discover recipes are free for your first 7 days after you create your account, then part of Citron Pro. Put your recipes on the days of the week, from breakfast to dinner. Your grocery list fills itself in from your plan: ingredients sorted by aisle, amounts added up across recipes. Send your grocery list as a message. Free to start, with limited imports and the core features.

Will my Mealime recipes still work after Oct 21?

The Mealime app is discontinued on October 21, 2026. According to Mealime's closing page, all Mealime recipes stay available in Meals Hub, along with thousands of additional recipes, and Pro recipes and features become available to all users. To keep a recipe in your own recipe box, paste its link into the Citron recipe app before October 21. It brings in the ingredients, steps, servings and photo.

Try the Citron app

Free to start, with limited imports and the core features.