Update a meal plan
Use this action to update an existing meal plan in Mealie. You can plan either a recipe or a meal note.
This action can optionally return the updated 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 update a meal plan from an automation or a script:
- Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
- Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
- 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.
- In the Then do section, select Add action.
- From the search box, search for and select Mealie: Update a meal plan.
- Select the Mealie instance you want to use, and fill in the options you want.
- 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
The ID or slug of the recipe to plan. If you want to plan a meal note instead, leave this field empty.
The title of the meal note to plan. If you want to plan a recipe instead, leave this field empty.
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.update_mealplan. A basic example looks like this:
action: mealie.update_mealplan
data:
config_entry_id: YOUR_MEALIE_CONFIG_ENTRY_ID
mealplan_id: AN_EXISTING_MEALPLAN_ID
date: "2025-06-01"
entry_type: dinner
recipe_id: roasted-tomato-soup
This updates the existing meal plan with the roasted-tomato-soup recipe for dinner on the given date.
Options in YAML
The meal type. One of: breakfast, lunch, dinner, side, dessert, snack, or drink.
Good to know
- Provide either a recipe to plan (
recipe_id) or a meal note (note_title, optionally withnote_text). - You can get existing meal plans using the
mealie.get_mealplanaction.
Try it yourself
Ready to test this? Open Settings > 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.
AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude can also explain actions or suggest the right one when you describe what you want in plain language.
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.
-
Set random meal plan: Plan a random recipe on a specific date in Mealie.
-
Get meal plan: Get the Mealie meal plan for a specified date range.
-
Delete a meal plan: Delete an existing meal plan in Mealie.
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Get recipes: Search Mealie for recipes that match your search terms.