Madmakker
A family meal plan — how to make one that lasts the week
A family meal plan rarely fails on the food. It fails because the plan has to be made, the shopping has to match it, and there has to be a way out on the evenings when two after-school activities and a bad day land at once. Here is how to make one that holds, and what the week costs.
Why the family plan falls apart
Not because nobody wants to cook, but because the plan is usually made for a week that does not exist. It counts on seven evenings where everyone is home and has time, and a week rarely has more than four or five of those.
Then comes a training evening, an evening where one of you works late, and an evening where nobody can face it. Three days out of seven are gone, the ingredients for them are in the fridge, and the plan feels like something you are behind on. Next week it does not get made at all.
The failure is not discipline. The failure is that the plan had no room for the week you actually have.
Five things that keep a family plan alive
1. Plan five dinners, not seven
Two evenings without a meal on the plan are not a hole. They are the evenings where there will be leftovers, packed-lunch food or something bought. If the plan counts on them, it does not break because of them.
2. Make double on one of them
A big pot on Monday is Tuesday's dinner. That halves the number of times somebody has to start, and stews are better for a day's rest.
3. Keep one meal everybody eats without comment
It should be on the plan every week. Not because it is the best one, but because it never costs a negotiation.
4. Let the children pick one day each
The choice gets smaller when it is shared out, and a meal you chose yourself gets eaten. Set the frame with »one of these five« so it does not become an open question.
5. Shop for the week, not for the meals
One shopping trip with one list gathered from the whole week. Two extra trips cost not only time but also the things that end up in the basket because you are hungry.
What does a family week cost?
Around 1,075 kr for two adults and two children with five dinners and seven lunches, measured on Madmakker's own price estimates in August 2026. If you set the budget to the app's default of 1,200 kr, the week stays under it 24 times out of 25.
Per person that is about 269 kr a week, less than half of what the same week costs somebody living alone. The whole calculation, and what it does not cover, is on the page about what a week of food costs.
Children count as half portions when shopping and cooking, not as adults. That is why a family of four does not cost twice as much as a couple. The figures are Danish supermarket prices in kroner.
How Madmakker does it
You set the number of adults and the number of children, a weekly budget, and how many evenings should be cooked for. The app then lays out the whole week's lunches and dinners, works leftovers in as real days, and gathers the shopping list, sorted by your shop's order, so the trip is one trip.
The days you are not keen on are swapped with one tap, and the list corrects itself. If you are eating out on Wednesday, that one meal is taken out of the shopping without the meal disappearing from the plan. On the days when there is nothing left in the tank, »Orker ikke« — »can't face it« — gives one suggestion, and bought food is one of the valid answers.
If there are two adults, you can share the plan and the shopping list between two phones with a short code. There are no accounts and no passwords. Whoever is in the shop ticks items off, and the other can see it.
Questions
Can Madmakker make a meal plan for a family of four?
Yes. You set the number of adults and the number of children separately, and portions, the shopping list and the price estimate are recalculated to match. Children count as half portions, not as adults.
What do you do about the evenings when nobody is home?
Plan fewer dinners than there are days. Five is a good starting point. In Madmakker you can also take a single meal out of the shopping without the meal disappearing from the plan, so you can change your mind again.
Can both parents see the same meal plan and shopping list?
Yes. Two phones can share the weekly plan and the shopping list through a short code, without accounts and without passwords. Items ticked off in the shop are visible on both phones.
Can it accommodate somebody who does not eat everything?
Up to a point. You can choose a diet for the whole household (everything, vegetarian or vegan), exclude gluten, lactose and fish, and remove individual meals permanently. It cannot make two different plans for two people in the same household.
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This page was last reviewed on 3 September 2026 against Madmakker 1.2. If something here is wrong, write to kontakt@nixio.dk.