What a meal train does
A meal train (or meal roster, or meal calendar) is a simple roster of who's cooking on which day. Instead of five people all dropping a lasagne on the Monday and nothing for the rest of the week, each day gets claimed once, in the open. The people who want to help can see at a glance where the gaps are, and the household gets a steady run of meals rather than a fridge full on day one and nothing by Thursday.
It's for the moments when cooking is the last thing someone has energy for: a new baby, a stint in hospital, chemo weeks, a bereavement. The tool stays out of the way — no accounts, no app, no chasing people in the group chat.
Dietary needs come first
Allergies and dietary needs aren't a nice-to-have here — they're a safety field. Whatever you type in the dietary box shows up prominently at the top of the shared board, so every single person cooking sees "no nuts" or "coeliac" or "dairy-free baby" before they pick a recipe. It's the one detail you can't afford to have buried.
The address stays private
The drop-off address is the one thing that doesn't go on the shared link. A home address — especially a new mum's or a grieving family's — shouldn't live on a URL that gets forwarded around a dozen group chats. You add it on your own coordinator page, and pass it to each person once they've claimed a day. Everything else is open; the address is yours to share deliberately.
How it works
1. Set the days
Pick the first day, how many meals you need, and how often — every day, every second day (leftovers cover the gaps), or once a week. Say how many cooks each day needs; usually one is plenty.
2. Share the link
You get two links: a share link for the group chat or the school newsletter, and a coordinator link that can remove a name, print the roster, download it as a spreadsheet, or delete the lot. Bookmark the coordinator one — there are no accounts, so the link is the only key.
3. Watch it fill in
People tap a day, add their name and (if they like) what they're bringing, done. Each day shows as covered once it's taken; empty days simply read "open", with no red flashing urgency — the family may well be looking at this page too. Changed plans? Anyone can hand their own day back.
FAQ
Is it actually free?
Yes. No account, no trial, no card. It's a small tool, not a platform.
Do people need accounts to sign up?
No — tap the link, tap a day, type your name, done. Their browser remembers which days are theirs, so they can hand one back if something comes up.
Where do I put allergies and dietary needs?
There's a dietary field when you set the roster up. It shows prominently at the top of the shared board for everyone who cooks — that's deliberate, it's the safety detail. The drop-off address, by contrast, stays private to your coordinator page.
Can someone cancel if they can't make it?
Yes. Their own day has a "can't make it?" button — it hands the day back and it opens up for someone else straight away. You can also remove any name from the coordinator page.
Does it handle money?
No — deliberately. It organises who cooks on which day. Nothing to do with dollars; that's never part of it.