Do I have to add recipes before I can generate a meal plan?

You don't have to add them yourself — Dinnerbell automatically seeds your library with recipes and food items based on your family's diets and allergies when you complete the meal planning preferences. Your meal plan needs at least 10 recipes and 10 food items to generate, and the auto-seed handles that for you on day one. You can absolutely add your own recipes too, and they'll be mixed in with the seeded ones.