The simple version
MyGrub helps you move from “What shall we eat?” to an agreed meal plan and a useful shopping list. You can use it by yourself, or create a household so everyone can suggest and vote for meals together.
Set the week that suits your household
Open Account → Settings and choose the day your meal-planning week begins. You can use Monday–Sunday, Sunday–Saturday or any other seven-day arrangement. The Meal Plan calendar, family shortlists and shared plans all follow that choice.
Meal plans and family votes are prepared before their selected week begins. A family shortlist can be prepared for any of the next six planning weeks.
A typical planning cycle with MyGrub
- Choose the planning week. In Family → Shortlist, select one of the next six weeks. Each week has its own separate shortlist and vote.
- Prepare the shortlist. The household owner can create the shortlist, or it is created automatically when the first recipe is added for that week.
- Add meal ideas. Open a recipe, tap Add to family shortlist, choose the planning week, then select the proposed day and meal.
- Start the vote. Once at least one meal has been added, the owner opens Family → Shortlist, selects that week and presses Start vote. Joined household members receive a push notification and email linking directly to that week’s shortlist.
- Let everyone vote. Household members select the same week and use the thumbs-up button on the meals they would like. Voting is unavailable until the owner starts it.
- Choose the final meals. The household owner taps the round circles beside the winning meals and presses Finalise selected meals before that week starts. Members then receive another push notification and email linking to the completed Shared Plan.
- See the result. Open Family → Shared plan and choose the relevant week. Current and future finalised plans can be viewed there.
- Build your personal shopping list. Add the recipes you intend to cook to your own Meal Plan so their ingredients are collected in Shopping List.
What each part of the app does
Discover
This is the main recipe collection. Search by recipe name or ingredient, open any result to see the full recipe, and use Load more recipes when more are available. Free accounts can browse the starter collection; a household subscription opens the full published collection.
Recipe pages
A recipe page shows what you need and how to make the meal. From here you can save it as a favourite, add it to your own Meal Plan, or suggest it for a family vote. When adding to the family shortlist, choose one of the next six planning weeks and then select a day inside that week.
My Fridge
Add ingredients you already have in the fridge, freezer or cupboard. Choose how many extra ingredients you are happy to buy, then ask MyGrub for recipe suggestions that make good use of what is available.
Meal Plan
This is your personal calendar. It follows the week start selected in Account. New meals are planned from the next full week onwards, so the plan is ready before the week begins. Move through different weeks and remove meals when plans change. Adding a recipe here also adds its ingredients to your Shopping List.
Family: Household
Create your household, invite family members and see who has joined. The Household screen also provides a quick view of the nearest upcoming shortlist. A prepared shortlist is marked Ready to start; the owner can start voting from this card once meals have been added.
Family: Shortlist
Select any of the next six planning weeks. Add and review meals while the shortlist is in Draft. The household owner then presses Start vote, after which everyone can cast or remove a thumbs-up vote. The owner uses the round selection circles to choose the final meals. The vote closes when its planning week begins.
Family: Shared plan
Once the owner finalises a shortlist, the agreed meals appear here for the whole household. Use the week selector to view the current plan or a future plan that has already been finalised.
Family: Favourites
Your saved recipes appear here. Open one to view it again, or remove it when it is no longer a favourite.
Shopping List
Ingredients from recipes in your personal Meal Plan are combined into one list. Mark items as bought, switch between Needed, Bought and All, drag items into a useful order, remove individual items, or clear completed items when the shop is finished.
Account
Create an account, sign in, reset a forgotten password and check your household access here. Under Settings, choose when your planning week starts; the finishing day is calculated automatically.
Using MyGrub on the web
Open MyGrub Web and sign in with the same account used in the iOS app. The browser checks the same subscription and household records, so household members covered by the owner’s active subscription should see Full access active.
- Discover: search the full recipe collection and open ingredients and instructions.
- Fridge: add ingredients, choose the maximum number of missing ingredients and open the best matching recipes. Your ingredient list is retained in that browser.
- Household: view joined members and pending invitations. Owners can invite, remove or cancel invitations.
- Shortlist: choose any of the next six weeks, add recipes, start voting, cast votes and finalise the winning meals.
- Shared plan: view the current configured week and future finalised household plans.
- Account: refresh subscription access and select the week-start day used by the browser’s planning selectors.
The website and iOS app use the same household API. A change made on the web can be refreshed in the app, and a change made in the app can be refreshed in the browser.
Notifications and emails
MyGrub asks for notification permission after you sign in. This allows the Apple notification token to be linked securely to the authenticated MyGrub account and device. While signed out, no token is attached to an email address or household member.
If notification permission was already granted before signing in, MyGrub keeps the Apple token on the device and registers it automatically as soon as a valid account session is created.
Joined household members are notified at the two points where they need to act or check the result:
- When voting starts: the push notification opens Family → Shortlist on the correct planning week. The matching email contains an Open family vote button for the same week.
- When meals are finalised: the push notification opens Family → Shared plan on the finalised week. The matching email contains a View shared meal plan button.
On an iPhone or iPad with MyGrub installed, the email button opens the app. On another device, it opens a MyGrub web page with an Open MyGrub button and a link back to this help guide.
Draft, voting open or finalised?
- Draft / Ready to start: meals can be added and reviewed, but members cannot vote yet.
- Voting open: the owner has pressed Start vote and household members can use the thumbs-up buttons.
- Finalised: the owner has chosen the winning meals and published them to the Shared Plan.
Thumbs up or round circle?
They are two different steps:
- Thumbs up means “I vote for this.” It records or removes your personal vote immediately. The number beside it is the household’s total votes for that meal.
- The round circle means “Choose this for the final plan.” It does not add a vote. It is used by the household owner when deciding which meals to publish.
Household access and subscriptions
Only the household owner needs an active subscription. Invited members use their own free MyGrub accounts and receive the same household features after joining. If access does not appear straight away, open Account and tap the access-check button.
Useful things to remember
- Your selected week start applies throughout the Meal Plan, Shortlist and Shared Plan calendars.
- Family shortlists can be prepared for the next six planning weeks, but not beyond that window.
- Adding meals prepares the shortlist; it does not start voting automatically.
- The household owner must press Start vote before thumbs-up voting is enabled.
- A vote must be finalised before its planning week starts. Once the week begins, voting and editing close automatically.
- Notification taps and email buttons retain the relevant planning week, so you do not have to find it manually.
- Saving a favourite does not add it to a meal plan.
- Adding a meal to the family shortlist does not automatically cast a vote for it.
- Finalising the family shortlist creates the Shared Plan; it does not automatically fill your personal Shopping List.
- To build the Shopping List, add the recipes you intend to cook to your personal Meal Plan.
- Pull down on a page to refresh household or recipe information when something has just changed.
Still need help?
If something is not working as expected, contact MyGrub support and describe what you were trying to do.