Help Guide
Use this guide to set up your household and run the week: plan meals, check stock, move items, shop what is missing, and prep with confidence. Start with a 30-day free trial, then £4.99 pcm.
No card required. After trial: £4.99 pcm. Cancel anytime.
Get Started
Follow this sequence to go from zero to your first saved week plan:
Create account
Sign up with your email. You'll get a household space with your name as the owner.
Add household members
Go to Settings and add each person who eats meals (you, children, family). You'll plan meals for each person.
Add locations
Create places where food is prepared and eaten (Home, Office, Another Home). Meals track where they're eaten and prepped.
Add starter recipes
Go to Recipes and add 5-10 meals your family eats regularly. Tag them (protein, starch, veg, dessert) so planning is fast.
Plan this week
Open Planner, fill in breakfast/lunch/dinner for each person, then Save Week. This is your foundation.
💡 Pro tip
Spend 5 minutes now to add your real stock amounts to Inventory. Next week's shopping list will be much more accurate.
Step 1
Set meals by day and person, then choose where each meal is eaten and where each part is prepped.
Step 2
Check what your plan needs against your current stock. Update to today's date first so missing items are accurate.
Step 3
Before buying more, move ingredients you already have from one place to another.
Step 4
Use the shopping list after planning, checking, and moving. Mark rows as ordered or stored as things progress.
Step 5
Use Prep to do batch tasks ahead of time and make daily cooking easier. Bring what you learn into next week's plan.
Top tip
Use Sunday, or your chosen prep day, as a reset point: finish shopping updates, complete prep, then start next week clean.
Weekly rhythm
Plan -> Check -> Move -> Shop -> Prep. Keeping this order helps cut waste and missed items.
Common Mistakes
❌ Planning without saving
Always click "Save Week" after filling meals. If you don't, your shopping list won't calculate what you need.
❌ Not checking inventory first
Before shopping, go to Inventory and update stock amounts. This stops you buying items you already have.
❌ Skipping the weekly rhythm
Follow Plan → Check → Move → Shop → Prep in order. Skipping steps leads to wasted food and missed ingredients.
❌ Adding too many recipes at once
Start with 5-10 go-to meals. Add more recipes over time as you find new favorites. Quality over quantity.
After Your First Week
📊 Track what works
Use Carry Over to repeat your best weeks. Over time, you'll find patterns that save the most time and reduce waste.
👥 Use one shared household account
Keep planning, shopping, and prep in one shared household account so everyone follows the same weekly plan.
🍽️ Expand your recipes
Add recipes from cookbooks or family favorites as you go. A bigger recipe library makes planning faster each week.
📍 Fine-tune locations
As you use it, you might add more preparation locations (Home, Office, Another Home) for better tracking.
Family Account Setup
Zele is built around one account per family. Use that account to manage people, places, planning, stock, shopping, and prep in one shared space.
FAQ
Most families: 15-20 minutes to add members, locations, and 5-10 recipes. Your first plan takes 10-15 minutes. After that, using Carry Over cuts future weeks to 5 minutes.
No. Start with 5-10 meals your family eats regularly. Add recipes over time as you discover new favorites. Zele gets better the more recipes you build.
Saving your week locks your plan and calculates exactly what you're missing from stock. Without saving, your shopping list won't know what you need—this is the most common mistake.
Three reasons: (1) You haven't saved your week, (2) Your inventory stock is too high, or (3) You haven't updated inventory to today's date. Try all three.
Absolutely. Add yourself as a member and plan just for you. You'll still get full benefits: planning, inventory, shopping list, and prep tracking.
Yes. In Planner, use "Carry Over From Previous Week" to fill in last week's meals, then review and save. Saves 5-10 minutes every week.
You can start planning any day. Just use "Current Week" view and fill in from today forward. Inventory still tracks what you have, so you're still accurate.
Zele uses one account per household. Use that shared account to manage members, planning, stock, shopping, and prep in one place.
Email [email protected] with your question and describe your household setup. We'll help you get the most from Zele.
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