Calmer Kitchen vs Samsung Food
Samsung Food is a big free all-rounder: a catalog of over 240,000 public recipes, a weekly meal planner, shared shopping lists, and grocery ordering, all in one app. Cook The List (the app behind Calmer Kitchen) does a narrower job: it takes one recipe you already saved and turns it into a calm, grouped shopping list, free, in your browser, with nothing to install.
The question is not which app is better. It is which job you are doing.
At a glance
| Cook The List | Samsung Food | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free account | Free; Samsung Food+ $6.99/month or $59.99/year after a 7-day trial |
| Install | None, runs in your browser | App install on iPhone, iPad, Android; web app with fewer features |
| Recipe collection | No, it works from the recipe you paste in | Yes, over 240,000 public recipes plus your saved recipes from almost any website |
| Import a recipe | Paste a link (recipe site, Pinterest, YouTube) or pasted text | Save recipes from almost any website; photo scans capped at 3 on the free tier |
| Servings scaling | Yes, plus and minus stepper before the list is made | Yes, recipe scaling is included |
| Shopping list | Grouped by store category, check off as you shop | Sorted by aisle or by recipe, shareable, up to 100 items per list; aisles cannot be moved |
| Meal planning | No calendar planner | Yes, weekly planner with Plan, For You, Queue and Previous tabs; 3 saved meal plans on the free tier, unlimited with Food+ |
| Pantry tracking | No | Yes, a Food List of what is in the fridge, freezer and pantry; keeping it current after shopping and cooking is a Food+ feature |
| AI features | No | Food+ only: AI-personalized weekly meal plans (2 tailored weeks free), AI recipe customization, smart cooking mode, "Use It Up" |
| Nutrition tracking | No | Nutrition information and health scores free; nutrition goal tracking with Food+ |
| Offline | The loaded list stays openable where reception is patchy | Recipes and lists live in the app on your device |
| Online grocery ordering | No | Yes, 23 integrated retailers across regions, including Walmart, Instacart, Amazon Fresh and Kroger in the US |
| Ads | None | Food+ includes an ad-free experience |
Prices checked November 2026; check the app store before buying, as prices move.
When Samsung Food fits better
If you want discovery, planning and shopping in one free app, Samsung Food is the stronger tool. The catalog alone is a reason to install it: over 240,000 recipes to browse, a weekly planner to drag them onto, and a shareable list that follows from the plan, with grocery ordering built in. For a household that plans the week and shops from the plan, the free tier already covers a full week of cooking.
Samsung Food also fits better if you want your recipes, your plan, your pantry list and your shopping list in one place, and you are happy to pay for Food+ when you want the AI plans, the pantry upkeep and nutrition goals.
When Cook The List fits better
If the recipe lives somewhere else already, in a Pinterest board, a YouTube video, or a link a friend sent, and you just want tonight's shopping list without adopting a whole system, Cook The List is the shorter path. There is no app to install, no collection to build, and no purchase: a free account, paste the recipe, set servings with the stepper, and the list is grouped by store section.
It also fits better if you cook from a different saved recipe each night rather than from one planned collection, because each list starts from the recipe in front of you, and there is no cap on saved meal plans to hit.
What the shopping list looks like in each
In Samsung Food, the list comes from the meal plan: drag the week's recipes onto the calendar and the ingredients arrive sorted by aisle or by recipe, shareable with the household, up to 100 items, ready to send to a grocery retailer. In Cook The List, the list comes from one recipe: paste it, set the servings, and the ingredients arrive grouped by store category, ready to check off as you shop. Both sort by aisle. The difference is where the list starts, a week of planning, or one recipe.
The honest summary
Samsung Food is a free all-rounder for people who want discovery, a planner, a pantry list and a shopping list in one app, with a $59.99-a-year Food+ tier for the AI and pantry upkeep. Cook The List is a free, browser-based shortcut for people who want one recipe turned into one calm list. Many cooks will use both: Samsung Food for the week, Cook The List for the recipe that lives outside it.
Try the free path
Paste a recipe link or the recipe text, set the servings with the stepper, and get a list grouped by store category. A free account is required before you import a recipe or build a list, and there is no card ask.
FAQ
Is Samsung Food free?
Yes. Saving recipes, the weekly planner, shared shopping lists and nutrition information are free. Samsung Food+ costs $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year after a 7-day trial and adds AI-personalized plans, AI recipe changes, smart cooking mode, nutrition goal tracking, pantry upkeep and an ad-free experience. Prices checked November 2026; check the app store before buying.
Is Cook The List really free?
Yes. You create a free account and use it to import recipes and build shopping lists. If paid tiers are introduced later, the free account and your saved recipes stay yours.
Does Samsung Food have a grocery list sorted by aisle?
Yes. The list from your meal plan sorts by aisle or by recipe, up to 100 items per list, and can be shared with the household. Cook The List does the same grouping, but from a single pasted recipe instead of a meal plan.
What is Samsung Food+?
The paid tier: AI-personalized weekly meal plans, AI recipe customization, a step-by-step smart cooking mode, saved meal plans beyond the free cap of 3, nutrition goal tracking, an automated pantry Food List, and an ad-free experience.
Do I need to install anything to use Cook The List?
No. It runs in your browser on your phone or computer. Once a list is loaded it stays openable where reception is patchy.
Can I use both?
Yes, and many cooks do. Keep the discovery, the weekly plan and the pantry in Samsung Food, and use Cook The List for the one-off recipe that lives on Pinterest or YouTube.