TL;DR — Quick Summary

Deploy Mealie, a self-hosted recipe manager with Docker. Import recipes from any URL, plan weekly meals, generate shopping lists, and share with family.

Why Mealie?

Recipe blogs hide a 5-ingredient recipe behind 2,000 words of backstory. Mealie fixes this:

  • URL import — Paste a link, get just the recipe. No story.
  • Meal planning — Drag recipes onto a weekly calendar.
  • Shopping lists — Auto-generated from your meal plan.
  • Family cookbook — Multi-user with shared groups.
  • Beautiful UI — Grid or list view with food photos.
  • REST API — Integrate with n8n or Home Assistant.

Prerequisites

  • Docker with docker-compose.
  • At least 256 MB RAM.

Step 1: Deploy with Docker Compose

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3"
services:
  mealie:
    image: ghcr.io/mealie-recipes/mealie:latest
    container_name: mealie
    ports:
      - "9925:9000"
    environment:
      ALLOW_SIGNUP: "true"
      TZ: America/Mexico_City
      BASE_URL: http://mealie.example.com
    volumes:
      - ./mealie-data:/app/data
    restart: always
docker compose up -d

Access at http://your-server:9925. Default credentials: changeme@example.com / MyPassword.

Step 2: Import Recipes

  1. Click “+” in the top right.
  2. Paste a URL: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-chili-recipe
  3. Mealie extracts: title, image, ingredients, instructions, cook time, servings.
  4. Edit if needed, click Save.

Supported sites include: AllRecipes, Serious Eats, BBC Good Food, NYT Cooking, Bon Appétit, and thousands more.

Step 3: Meal Planning

Feature How
Weekly view Drag recipes onto days
Shopping list Auto-generated from planned meals
Multiple plans Create plans per family member
Nutritional info Displayed per recipe (if available)
Leftovers Mark meals that produce leftovers

Mealie vs Alternatives

Feature Mealie Tandoor Paprika
Self-hosted Yes Yes No (app only)
URL import Excellent Good Good
Meal planning Yes Yes No
Shopping lists Yes Yes Yes
API REST API REST API No
Cost Free Free $5 one-time
Multi-user Yes Yes No

Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
URL import fails Site may not be supported; manually create the recipe or try a different URL
Images not loading Check disk space; verify the mealie-data volume is writable
Forgot admin password Reset via CLI: docker exec mealie python /app/scripts/reset_password.py
Shopping list empty Ensure recipes are added to a meal plan first

Summary

  • URL import strips blog stories, extracts just the recipe.
  • Meal planning + shopping lists for organized cooking.
  • Multi-user family cookbook with shared groups.
  • REST API for integration with automation tools.