Contents
Meal Planning — Plugixa Recipe
Meal plans are a special kind of Collection with type = meal_plan. Each recipe in the plan is placed in a day number (1–7 for a week, 1–30 for a month) and a meal slot (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack).
Why it’s different
A plain collection stores a flat list of recipes. A meal plan stores the same recipes plus:
| Field | Typical values |
|---|---|
day_number |
1, 2, 3, … (arbitrary integer — the UI treats 1-7 as a week) |
meal_type |
breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack (free text) |
Both are columns on wp_plugixarecipe_collection_recipes, nullable for non-meal-plan collections.
Creating a meal plan
From Recipes → Collections → Add New, set the Type to Meal Plan. The picker then renders as a grid of day / meal slots. Drag recipes into the slots. The same recipe can appear in multiple slots (e.g., Monday dinner leftovers as Tuesday lunch).
Displaying a meal plan
On the frontend, the meal plan template groups recipes by day, then by meal type. Use:
[plugixarecipe collection="week-of-march-28"]
The plugin detects the collection type and switches to the meal-plan template automatically.
Shopping list from a meal plan
A one-click Build Shopping List button on the meal plan page iterates every recipe in the plan, groups ingredients by name, and produces a single shopping list. See Shopping Lists.
Scheduled meal plans (future)
A “rolling week” mode is planned: upload a meal plan template, and the plugin publishes this week’s version automatically every Monday. Watch the roadmap for the advanced_meal_planner Pro feature slug.
Privacy
Meal plans are often personal. Set the collection’s visibility to private to keep them off the public archive.