Built from receipts
Prices reflect what you actually paid — not estimates.
Know what your meals really cost.
MealCost turns your receipts into clear numbers: cost per meal, cost per person, and simple price trends.
- Cost per meal
- Cost per person
- Grocery price history
- Dining out totals
- 30 days of meal history — free
Track your meal costs for free with 30 days of rolling history.
Private by design. Your data stays on your device (and your iCloud, if enabled).
Want the “why” behind the numbers? Start with a few quick reads.
Want the simplest path? Track the cost of meals (without spreadsheets).
See your real cost per meal
Track monthly food spending
Understand tipping history
Watch grocery prices change
Watch it in action
Quick walkthroughs of the core flow.
Enter a receipt so your prices reflect what you really paid.
Select ingredients, set servings, and see cost per meal and per person.
Add a dining-out total (and tip) to track real nights out.
Trends and charts get better as your history grows.
Why MealCost
Simple tracking that turns into useful insights over time.
Meals, not just groceries
Combine ingredients into meals and calculate true cost.
Simple trends
See what’s going up, down, or staying flat over time.
How it works
Three quick steps. Start small — it gets better as your history grows.
1
Add groceries or dining out
Enter receipt items (or log a dining out total). MealCost remembers what you paid.
2
Create meals
Pick ingredients, set servings, and see cost per meal and cost per person.
3
Review trends
Charts help you spot what’s changing and where your money is going.
Free vs Unlock
Exactly what you get for free — and what the $2.99 one-time unlock adds.
Free tier
Start tracking immediately. No account required.
- Track meals, receipts, and dining out
- Create meals from ingredients and see cost per meal and cost per person
- Dashboard charts: Recent Cost Per Meal + Grocery Spend (Day/Week/Month/Year)
- Budget charts: Average Meal Cost + Dining Out Spending (Day/Week/Month/Year)
- View the last 30 days of meals and receipts (rolling history)
Free includes a rolling last 30 days of meals and receipts in history views and time-based charts. Unlock removes the limit so trends can span months and years.
Unlock (one-time $2.99)
No subscription. Restore anytime.
- Unlimited history (no 30‑day limit)
- Insights over time (month and year trends that keep improving as you log)
- Item price history so you can spot rising prices and track inflation
- Deeper dining out analysis including tip totals and trends
- More detailed summaries across your full history
Get MealCost
Unlock is available inside the app.
At-a-glance
| Feature | Free | Unlock (Insights • $2.99 one-time) |
|---|---|---|
| Create meals + calculate cost per meal / per person | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dashboard charts (Recent Cost Per Meal, Grocery Spend) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Budget charts (Avg Meal Cost vs Target, Dining Out vs Target) | ✓ | ✓ |
| History visible in lists & time-based charts | Last 30 days | Unlimited |
| Insights (long-term trends that span months/years) | — | ✓ |
| Item price history (what’s changing over time) | — | ✓ |
Unlock is a one-time purchase (not a subscription) and can be restored on your devices.
Learn
Short reads that answer the questions people actually ask.
What does a home-cooked meal actually cost?
Why “$180 at the grocery store” doesn’t translate to a real dinner number.
Cost per meal vs cost per serving
The simple difference that makes recipe math less annoying (and more honest).
How much should I spend on groceries each month?
Ranges, reality checks, and why trends matter more than “the perfect budget.”
Eating out vs cooking at home: real numbers
Not guilt. Just clarity. It’s the frequency that sneaks up on you.
Why your grocery bill keeps going up
Shrinkflation, swaps, and the “same cart, higher total” problem.
How to track food spending without obsessing
A practical approach if spreadsheets make you want to close the tab.
These are meant to be useful even if you never download the app. If you do, they’ll make the numbers click faster.
About MealCost
A lightweight way to understand food costs without spreadsheets.
MealCost was created to answer a simple question that most food apps ignore: what does a meal actually cost?
Grocery totals don’t tell the whole story. Ingredients get reused, leftovers stretch across days, and dining out gets mixed in with home cooking. MealCost helps you capture what you really spend, then turns it into cost per meal, cost per person, and easy-to-read trends.
It’s designed to stay lightweight — no budgeting systems, no social feeds, and no pressure to log everything perfectly. Even a little data goes a long way once you can see it clearly.
If you’re curious, start here: cost per meal vs cost per serving. It explains why this app exists in the first place.
Get MealCost
Start understanding your food costs in minutes.
Questions or feature requests? Email: mealcostapp@gmail.com
Need help? Visit the Support page.