A system for personalized meal planning is provided which includes a client device and a meal planning center configured to communicate with the client device and to receive a customer's information, including a weight designator, a gender designator, a goal designator, and an activity level designator. The meal planning center includes a storage device and a processing unit. The storage device is configured to store recipe template files having an ingredient designator and a plurality of recipe rule factors, which include a nutrient contribution value, a minimum ingredient value, and a maximum ingredient value. A plurality of recipe rule factors are each assigned to each ingredient designator. The processing unit is configured to determine a nutritional allowance based upon the customer information and to create a recipe that satisfies the nutritional allowance by using the recipe rule factors assigned to the ingredient. The meal planning center is further configured to transmit the recipe to the client device.