Real Plans is a comprehensive, web and app-based meal planning tool designed to streamline and simplify the process of planning, shopping, and cooking meals, particularly for those with specific dietary needs or preferences.
What Real Plans Does
Real Plans generates personalized meal plans based on your family size, dietary restrictions, and preferred schedule. It offers highly customizable plans tailored to various diets, including Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), Paleo, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, and more.
Key Features and Functionality
Customizable Meal Plans
- Users can specify their dietary restrictions, including the exclusion or inclusion of entire food groups or individual ingredients. For example, you can eliminate nightshades but reintroduce eggs if needed.
Automated Meal Planning
- Real Plans offers three meal planning options: automated, calendar-free, and blank calendar. The automated option creates a plan using your specifications, while the other options provide more flexibility in planning and using recipes.
Shopping List Management
- The system automatically generates a shopping list based on the selected meal plan. You can remove items you already have, add non-recipe items like household supplies, and organize the list by the layout of your grocery store. The list can also be integrated with Instacart for convenient grocery delivery.
Recipe Import and Management
- Users can import their own recipes or favorites from other blogs and websites. The system recognizes the ingredients in imported recipes and updates the shopping list accordingly.
Manage Pantry Feature
- This feature allows you to enter the foods you currently have at home, and Real Plans will suggest recipes using those ingredients, helping to reduce food waste and save money.
Flexible Scheduling and Adjustments
- You can adjust portion sizes, family sizes, and cooking schedules to fit your needs. The system also allows you to make changes to your weekly plan, swap out recipes, increase serving sizes, or repurpose leftovers, with automatic updates to your shopping list and timeline.
Nutritional and Macro Tracking
- Real Plans offers an add-on tool for tracking calories, fat, carbs, and protein. You can set dietary targets and track your daily intake, making it easier to stay on track with your nutritional goals.
Side Dish Suggestions and Leftover Logic
- The system includes suggestions for side dishes to serve with main meals and helps manage leftovers by suggesting recipes that use leftover ingredients.
Multi-Device Syncing
- Real Plans syncs across all devices, allowing you to plan on a desktop or laptop and access the plans on your phone or tablet in the kitchen.
Additional Features
- Real Plans provides detailed prep ahead instructions, sorted grocery lists by store, and live chat support with meal planning specialists. It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and the option to gift a subscription.
In summary, Real Plans is an innovative meal planning tool that saves time, reduces stress, and ensures variety in your meals by offering highly customizable plans, automated shopping lists, and integrated nutritional tracking, making it an invaluable resource for anyone managing specific dietary needs or preferences.