Welcome to Chef Cecil! This guide will show you three easy ways to create your first meal plan, generate a shopping list, and start cooking.
Meal planning doesn't have to be complicated. With Chef Cecil, you have three powerful ways to plan your meals - choose the one that fits your style:
Drag & drop your favorite recipes
Use pre-made meal plans
Let AI create your perfect plan
Perfect for hands-on meal planners
Take control of your meal planning with our intuitive drag-and-drop calendar.
Click "Meal Plans" in the navigation menu or visit /meal-planning
💡 Pro Tip:
Bookmark this page for quick access. You'll be using it every week!
On the left sidebar, you'll see all your saved recipes. Don't have any yet?
Browse RecipesSimply drag a recipe card from the sidebar and drop it into any meal slot:
Click on any meal card to adjust the number of servings. Perfect for cooking for more people or planning leftovers!
Your changes are saved automatically - no need to click a save button! You'll see a small "Saved" indicator when changes are synced.
Fastest way to get started
Start with a pre-made meal plan and customize it to your needs.
In the meal planning page, click "Use Template" button or visit the templates section. You'll find templates organized by:
Click on any template to see a preview of all meals included. Check:
Click "Use This Template" and your meal plan is instantly created! The template meals will populate your calendar automatically.
Don't like a particular meal? Simply drag a different recipe to replace it, or remove it entirely. Templates are starting points - make them your own!
Most personalized option
Let our AI create a perfectly personalized meal plan based on your family's needs, dietary restrictions, and preferences.
Our AI is certified for medical nutrition compliance with:
From the meal planning page, click the "Generate with AI" button or visit /meal-planning/ai-generate
Tell us about your family so we can create the perfect plan:
Click "Generate Meal Plan" and watch as our AI:
Generation typically takes 30-60 seconds.
Your AI-generated meal plan is ready! Review the meals, see the AI's reasoning for each choice, and make any adjustments you'd like.
One click to get your groceries list
Once you've created your meal plan (using any method above), generating your shopping list is incredibly easy:
You'll find this button at the top of your meal plan calendar.
Your shopping list automatically:
At the store, open your shopping list on your phone and:
Prefer paper? Click "Print" to get a clean, printer-friendly version of your shopping list.
You now know three ways to create meal plans and generate shopping lists. Here's what to do next:
Create your first meal plan right now. Pick the method that feels most comfortable and give it a try!
Go to Meal PlannerBrowse our recipe collection and save your favorites. The more recipes you save, the more options you'll have!
Browse RecipesOur support team is here for you. If you have questions or run into any issues, we're just an email away.
support@chefcecil.comA: Absolutely! You can drag recipes around, change servings, add or remove meals at any time. Your changes save automatically.
A: As far as you'd like! Use the week navigation buttons to plan multiple weeks ahead. Many users plan 2-4 weeks at a time.
A: Yes! You can share meal plans with up to 6 family members. They can view the plan, add comments, and even help with the shopping list.
A: No problem! The GENERATE mode creates recipes from scratch based on your preferences. The ASSIST mode requires 7+ saved recipes, but you can browse and save recipes quickly from our collection.
A: Once generated, your shopping list is cached and accessible even if you lose internet connection while shopping. Print it as backup if needed!
A: Yes! When using AI generation, specify your dietary restrictions in the family profile. You can also filter recipes by dietary tags when browsing.
Start creating your first meal plan today. It only takes 5 minutes!
Get Started Now