Is there an app that plans meals for type 2 diabetes?

What "plans my meals" should actually mean

When someone newly diagnosed with type 2 asks for an app that plans their meals, they usually mean one thing: tell me what to eat this week, so I don't have to work it out from scratch every day. That is a different job from the one most apps do.

• Logging apps ask you to record what you ate, then show you the numbers. Useful if you want data; no help at 6pm when you still don't know what's for dinner.
• Carb and calorie reference apps tell you what is in a food. Essential if you count carbs for insulin, but they don't choose the meal.
• Recipe apps give you hundreds of options. The deciding, shopping and "what about Thursday" is still yours.
• A meal planning app, in the sense people mean, makes the decision: here is your week, here is the shopping, and here is what changes when you eat out on Wednesday.

Bolus is the last kind. It is built on the view that most people with type 2 already know roughly what healthy eating looks like, and that knowing was never the hard part. The hard part is doing it in a full week, repeatedly.

How Bolus plans the week

You tell Bolus how you like to eat (vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan or lower-carb-style, allergens, foods you won't touch), how many people you cook for, and how much time each meal can take on each day. A busy Tuesday dinner can be under six minutes; Sunday can take longer. Bolus then builds the week from ordinary recipes the rest of the house will eat, scales the portions and the shopping to your household, and helps you buy it in store or online at your usual UK supermarket.

There is no food diary and no calorie counting. Meals are already in the plan, so you tap to say whether you ate them, and that is all. When plans change, you swap a meal, mark that you ate out, or use what is already in the fridge, and Bolus reshapes the rest of the week around it, including the ingredients you have already bought.

What the food is based on

The meals follow a nutrition framework developed by a specialist diabetes dietitian who previously worked in NHS diabetes services. In practice that means everyday food built around vegetables, beans and pulses, higher-fibre wholegrains, fish, eggs, yoghurt and olive oil, with sensible portions. Nothing is banned, and there are no "diabetic" products, shakes or bars.¹² There is no single diet that suits everyone with type 2, so the framework sits above the low-carb versus Mediterranean argument rather than picking a side.¹ You can read more in our approach to nutrition.

What it costs

The weekly food plan is free and does not expire: the plans, the shopping, swaps and reshuffles, marking meals off, and the weekly review. If you use a CGM, the glucose chart and time in range are free too. Bolus Premium adds Emily, the healthy eating coach built into the app, a weight goal, your exercise brought in from Apple Health, and a closer look at how individual meals sat with your glucose. Premium is paid monthly or yearly through Apple, and the price is shown on the screen where you subscribe.⁴

Who it isn't for

• Android users, for now. Bolus is iPhone only and Android is on a waitlist.
• People outside the UK. The recipes, supermarkets and guidance are UK specific.
• Anyone who needs carb counts for insulin dosing. Bolus is not a medical device, does not count carbs for dosing, and never gives insulin or medication advice. If you have type 1 and want a meal plan alongside your own carb counting, it works for that, but it will not do the counting.

The apps people usually find first

None of these is a bad app. They just do a different job from the one in the question, and it helps to know which before you download.

• MyDiabetes (Diabetes Solutions UAB) sells a personalised diabetic meal plan with recipes, weekly grocery lists and home workouts, built around calorie and carb targets, alongside a free glucose and HbA1c log. It is the closest to a planner, with calorie counting at its centre and no coach.
• Second Nature is a UK behaviour-change programme with a human coach, daily lessons and a recipe library, free by NHS referral or self-pay. The in-app planner can generate a week from its recipes, but the programme is built around habits and lessons rather than deciding your dinners.
• Carbs & Cals is the UK reference for what is in a food, with portion photos and a diary, developed with NHS dietitians. Essential if you count carbs; it does not plan the week.
• SNAQ logs meals from a photo and estimates the carbs, with an AI nutritionist to chat to. Logging first, suggestions second.
• Noom is a calorie-budget weight-loss app with psychology lessons and optional coaching. General weight loss rather than diabetes, and logging rather than planning.

A week of meals, decided for you

Bolus plans the week around how you like to eat, helps you buy it at your usual UK supermarket, and adapts when a night falls apart. Emily, the healthy eating coach built into the app, is there any hour to help turn it into realistic next steps. No calorie counting, and the weekly plan is free.

Download on the App Store

On a computer? Scan with your iPhone.

Just been diagnosed and want the food list first? See what to eat with type 2 diabetes. Been told you have prediabetes instead? See what apps help with prediabetes in the UK.