Abstract: Embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to meal planning systems and methods. Meal planning services that implement the inventive subject matter use a platform server (e.g., cloud services) that makes it possible for users to access the service via user device (e.g., mobile phone). Users can input an array of different parameters including meal preferences, dietary restrictions, body attributes, and so on. The platform server uses information collected from a user to provide meal suggestions to the user. Additionally, users can specify that certain meals should be set up as placeholders at the time of meal plan creation. In some embodiments, a user can replace one or more existing meals in a meal plan with a placeholder meal. Placeholder meals have nutritional attributes (e.g., calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates) and can allow flexibility for users to stick to a diet without sticking to specifically selected meals at all times.