3 Free Recipes From Every Creator You Follow
Following is always free. The moment you follow a creator, 3 of their recipes land in your Recipe Box—yours to keep forever, no subscription required. It's the easiest way to fill your Food World with food you'll actually want to cook.
Following Is Free, Forever
You never pay to follow. Follow as many creators as you like, and each one adds 3 free recipes to your collection. These recipes stay in your Recipe Box for good—they don't expire, and you don't lose them if you stop following later.
This is part of your free foundation. PrepSmart is free by default and 100% ad-free. Your full plan-to-shop-to-cook loop—Recipe Box, Weekly Plan, Smart Shopping List, and your Cook List—works without paying a cent.
Where Your Free Recipes Come From
Your free recipes come from a few places, all free forever:
- Starter Recipes: A small, fixed set of diet-matched recipes included with every account. (This set counts as 1 of the 3 follows you choose during setup.)
- 3 recipes from every creator you follow: Each followed creator seeds 3 free recipes into your Recipe Box, kept forever.
- Followed brands, stores, and appliances: Food brands, grocery stores, and appliance brands are fully free to follow, with no recipe caps.
During onboarding, you'll Claim Your Picks—one free recipe per followed creator to start. The first pick is the creator's top-rated recipe; the others are swappable, so you can choose what looks best to you.
Follow vs. Subscribe
These are two different things—and you never need one to do the other.
Follow (always free):
- Get 3 free recipes from the creator, kept forever
- See their new recipes in your following feed
- View their profile, collections, and reviews
- No cost, no commitment
Subscribe (optional, paid, decided in the app):
- Unlocks the creator's full catalog beyond your 3 free recipes
- Price is set by the creator—most fall between $2.99 and $9.99 a month
- Decided in the app whenever you're ready, never during onboarding
- Cancel anytime; you keep your 3 free recipes either way
You can follow a creator for years and never subscribe. And if you do subscribe, you can cancel and still keep your 3 free recipes plus everything else in your Recipe Box.
How Subscribing Works
When you're ready for more from a creator you love:
- Open the creator's profile in the app
- Tap Subscribe (you'll see the price they set)
- Confirm
That's it—you now have their full catalog. As an example, a creator might set their price at around $6.99 a month, but each creator chooses their own. Always check the creator's profile for their current price.
Creator subscriptions are independent of PrepSmart+. You can add a creator subscription, PrepSmart+, both, or neither—you never need PrepSmart+ to subscribe to a creator, and you never need a creator subscription to use PrepSmart+.
How This Fits With PrepSmart+
PrepSmart+ ($4.99/month or $39.99/year, with a 7-day free trial) is a separate, optional upgrade that adds power features to the app itself:
- Save & reload any week
- Import any recipe
- Shop smarter
- One pass, many hands
PrepSmart+ is about how you plan and cook. Creator subscriptions are about whose recipes you can access. They're two independent choices—pick whatever fits how you cook.
Tips for Making the Most of Free Follows
Follow generously: Every creator adds 3 free recipes, so following more creators means a richer Recipe Box at no cost.
Match your YES list: Your Food World is filtered by your diet—the recipes you can eat. Follow creators whose food fits what you love.
Cook the free three first: Your 3 free recipes are the best way to see if a creator's style is for you before you ever consider subscribing.
Subscribe only when it's worth it: If you've cooked the free recipes and want the creator's full catalog, subscribing is right there in the app whenever you decide.
What Happens If You Unfollow?
If you unfollow a creator, the 3 free recipes already in your Recipe Box stay yours. Unfollowing just stops their new recipes from showing up in your following feed. You can re-follow anytime.
Questions?
For pricing details, see our section on creator subscriptions and PrepSmart+, or contact support—we're happy to help.