A meal train sign-up that neighbors can use without an account

When a family is going through something, the people who bring dinner are mostly not in the household: neighbors, church, coworkers, the school run. They will never install an app. So this one is built around a single shareable link.

You set up the care period, list the nights that need a meal, note dietary needs and how to deliver, and send the link. People claim a night and write in what they are bringing. Two people can never take the same last night.

• One writable share link for everyone outside the household. No sign-up, no app.
• Lay out a whole range of nights at once, or add them one at a time.
• Dietary needs and delivery instructions ('cooler on the porch, don't ring the bell') on the train itself.
• Claims are handled by the server, so a night cannot be double-booked.
• Household members can take nights too; the household sees the whole plan.
• Sign-ups collected through the link cannot be edited or deleted by the app, only viewed.

Anyone organizing meals for a new baby, a recovery, or a bereavement, and who needs the helpers to be able to sign up in ten seconds.

Who can use it

Adults and kids

Where it works

Your household hub and shared Spaces

Price

Included with every household plan, with no per-app charge

• Potluck
• Volunteer Sign-Up
• Event RSVPs

• How siblings can coordinate care for an aging parent without a group text — Set up a care circle across households: a visit rotation, an observation log, medication nudges, a daily I'm-OK check, and the paperwork, in one place.
• Organizing neighborhood mutual aid that is still running next year — Mutual aid groups do not usually fail from lack of goodwill. They fail on coordination. What to put in place so help is asked for, offered, and tracked.
• The first year with a baby, when nobody in the house is sleeping — What is worth tracking in the newborn months, what is not, and how to keep a record of the year without adding a second job to a household running on no sleep.

Meal Train is one of the apps in the Chickadee Bandit library. Every household starts nearly empty and installs only what it uses; there is no per-app charge. Your data lives in your household's own private, encrypted database, with no ads and no data selling. Browse the Family apps or read the source on GitHub.