Simply Cook sends pre-measured spice blends, sauces, and flavour pastes with recipe cards, but fresh ingredients are not included. You still need to go to the supermarket and shop for everything else yourself. Mealia handles the full process: it builds your complete grocery basket automatically at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, or Morrisons, with every ingredient costed and ready to checkout. Start with a free 1-week trial, then a subscription.
Simply Cook is a recipe kit service that sends small packs of spices, sauces, and flavour pastes to your door each month. You still need to buy all the fresh ingredients yourself (meat, vegetables, dairy) at a supermarket. Mealia is a meal planning app that connects directly to your UK supermarket and builds your complete grocery basket automatically from your chosen recipes.
The fundamental difference: Simply Cook helps you cook interesting recipes but doesn't help you shop for them. Mealia handles both the meal planning and the complete supermarket shop in one step.
Simply Cook sends a box containing 4 recipe packs each month. Each pack includes concentrated spice blends, sauces, or pastes for one recipe. You still need to buy the fresh ingredients (chicken, vegetables, pasta, rice, etc.) yourself. The monthly box costs around £9.99 and each recipe serves 2 people.
You choose your recipes for the week, set your budget and serving size, and Mealia automatically builds a complete basket at your preferred UK supermarket (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, or Morrisons) with every ingredient you need. Your household essentials, snacks, and everything else go into the same basket. One checkout, one delivery.
| Feature | Mealia | Simply Cook |
|---|---|---|
| Provides fresh ingredients | Yes, via supermarket basket | No, you still shop for fresh ingredients |
| Full household shop | Yes, everything in one basket | No, you still need to do a full shop |
| Where you buy ingredients | Built automatically into your supermarket basket | You shop manually at a supermarket |
| Recipe variety | Wide selection, customisable | 4 recipes per month in your box |
| Cost | Subscription plus supermarket prices | £9.99/month for spice packs, plus full supermarket shop |
| Time saving | Eliminates planning and shopping | Reduces seasoning decisions, you still plan and shop |
If you find yourself doing a Simply Cook recipe and still spending an hour in the supermarket buying the fresh ingredients, Mealia solves that problem directly. You choose your recipes, and Mealia builds the complete basket at your supermarket, including all fresh ingredients, automatically. No manual shopping list, no separate trip.
No. Simply Cook provides only the spice, sauce, and flavour components of each recipe. You need to buy all fresh ingredients (meat, vegetables, dairy, staples) yourself at a supermarket. This means Simply Cook reduces variety friction but does not reduce your shopping time or effort.
Simply Cook costs £9.99 per month for spice packs, but you still pay your full supermarket shopping costs on top. Mealia replaces the manual planning and shopping effort across your full weekly shop. For households that currently use Simply Cook and still shop manually, Mealia typically delivers more time and money savings overall.
Yes. Mealia's recipe library includes a wide variety of cuisines and cooking styles. Unlike Simply Cook, Mealia also handles the complete shopping step, building your basket at your supermarket with every ingredient you need, including any specialist spices or sauces.
Tasty, healthy, and budget friendly meal plan and grocery shopping done in a few clicks. Download Mealia today for free on the App Store or GooglePlay.
