Bring your recipes with you
Import My Recipe Box recipes
Have My Recipe Box recipes in a CSV or TSV file? My Meal Planning can read recipe rows with named columns and ingredients.
Already have an account? Sign in, then use Add recipe.
Which file should I use?
A CSV or TSV file with a recipe-name column and ingredient or instruction columns. The recipes need ingredient data to be added.
Check that your file matches the format above. Export formats can change. Keep the file as exported; you do not need to unzip a supported ZIP before uploading it.
What can come over?
- Recipe names, ingredients, and directions from named columns
- Servings, times, descriptions, notes, and source details when supplied
- Category, course, cuisine, and tag columns when supplied
Only details included in a readable recipe export can come over.
What should I check first?
- Photos are not read from spreadsheet files. Image web links are counted as left out.
- An app backup or database file may use a different format. It works here only if it contains readable recipe rows in the CSV or TSV format above.
Bring in a collection, step by step
The account’s Owner brings in collection files. If you create a new account, you start as its Owner.
- Save your recipes in a CSV or TSV file with recipe names and ingredients.
- Sign in to My Meal Planning.
- Choose Add recipe → Bring in a recipe → From another recipe app.
- Select the exported file and choose Read this file.
- Check the summary. Nothing has been added yet.
- Choose Bring in recipes when you are ready. The button says how many will be added.
The summary shows recipe counts, duplicates, recipes that could not be read, and room on your plan. It also tells you whether photos will be kept and counts photos available only as web links.
You confirm the collection as a whole. There is no screen for selecting or editing individual recipes before this import. You can edit recipes after they are added.
Questions before you bring recipes over
How are duplicate titles handled?
Recipes with the same title are skipped, both within the file and when that title is already in your collection. Capital letters and extra spaces do not make a title different.
This does not compare ingredients. Two different recipes with the same title can be treated as duplicates. A recipe with a different title can be added even if its ingredients are the same. Existing recipes are not replaced.
What happens if my plan has too little room?
The free plan holds up to 10 saved recipes. Recipes already saved use some of that room.
If the file has more new recipes than fit, only the first ones that fit are added. The summary tells you how many before you start. An account with no room cannot start a recipe import.
The paid subscription has no saved-recipe limit. Once you have more room, you can upload the same file again. Recipes already added are skipped.
Check plans and current availability. Reading a supported collection file does not use recipe help.
Which photos can come over?
That depends on the file and your plan. Some formats include a photo inside each recipe. Others need the photo files in the same ZIP. Photos stored only as web links are not downloaded.
The free plan does not store recipe photos. Recipes come over without them. A plan with photo storage can keep supported photos while there is room.
If a photo cannot be saved or storage is full, the recipe can still be added without it. The finished report explains photos left out.
What if some recipes cannot be read?
The summary lists unreadable recipes by name when available. Recipes without a name or usable ingredients cannot be added. If the whole file is not recognized, it is refused without adding recipes.
A recipe can still come over with missing steps, servings, or times. Missing servings become 4. Missing times stay at zero. Missing steps get a reminder to add them.
The finished report counts missing details so you know what to check. Open the imported recipes and check ingredients, amounts, steps, and servings before using them.
If an import stops partway, recipes already added stay saved. Use Continue to carry on. Keep your original file so you can try again or add unreadable recipes by hand.
Ready to bring your recipes?
Need help with a file? Tell support which app it came from.
See all recipe import options.
My Recipe Box is a separate product. My Meal Planning is not affiliated with or endorsed by it.