Set random meal plan

Use this action to plan a random recipe on a specific date in Mealie.

This action can optionally return the created meal plan in a response variable, which you can use in later steps of the same automation or script.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To set a random meal plan from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Mealie: Set random meal plan.
6. Select the Mealie instance you want to use, and set the date and meal type.
7. Select Save.

This action does not support targets. In the UI, you are not prompted to choose an area, device, entity, or label. You select the Mealie instance instead.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as mealie.set_random_mealplan. A basic example looks like this:

action: mealie.set_random_mealplan
data:
  config_entry_id: YOUR_MEALIE_CONFIG_ENTRY_ID
  date: "2025-06-01"
  entry_type: dinner

This plans a random recipe for dinner on the given date.

Options in YAML

Good to know

• To plan a specific recipe or a meal note instead, use the mealie.set_mealplan action.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Set a meal plan: Plan a recipe or a meal note on a specific date in Mealie.

• Get meal plan: Get the Mealie meal plan for a specified date range.