Here’s How You Can Use AI To Help You Decide What You Should Make To Eat, Since Meal Prepping Is Such A Chore
Artificial intelligence seems to be invading everything nowadays, from scientific studies and social media feeds to marketing and other professional projects.
But have you ever considered using the power of AI to make one common, dreaded task much easier? I’m talking about meal planning.
Figuring out what ingredients to add to your grocery list and coming up with creative, delicious, and nutritious meal ideas that fit your whole family can be a draining chore week after week.
You may even have picky eaters in your household or people with food allergies that make it even tougher.
Enter the power of AI, which can synthesize any kind of information you feed it, including your schedule, preferences, and what’s already in your fridge, to compile a meal plan that’s specifically crafted for you.
How You Can Leverage AI To Take The Guesswork Out Of Meal Prep
Before your next supermarket trip, try sitting down with an AI platform. There’s plenty to choose from, such as the classic ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
Next, consider what your goal is. Do you want to come up with a meal plan that’s nutritious and tailored toward a specific health objective, like losing weight? Do you want to be able to cook each meal, whether it’s breakfast or dinner, in under 40 minutes? Or, perhaps you’d like to nail down recipes that are guaranteed to please your kids.
Regardless, keep your end goal in mind. It will come in handy later when you craft your “prompt” for the chatbot.
Drobot Dean – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person – pictured above a young woman pours dressing on a salad
You should also consider if you have any limitations that will change your weekly meal prep schedule. For instance, does your child go to soccer on Wednesdays? If so, you may want to tell the chatbot that you need a one-pan dinner recipe to make those evenings easier each week.
On the flip side, if you have more time on Friday nights and would like to cook a romantic dinner for a stay-at-home date night with your partner, you can ask for fancier Friday recipes.
Other limitations may include what’s already in your kitchen. Perhaps you have ground beef in your fridge that you need to use before it goes bad, or you have some pasta in your pantry that you want to incorporate into a meal.
Finally, you’ll need to nail down more concrete guidelines for the AI to work with. This refers to the number and kinds of meals you are looking for.
Most people meal plan for the weekdays, as weekends tend to be more spontaneous (and we all deserve a little takeout in our lives, too). So, out of those five days, what meals are you searching for?
If you tend to get breakfast on the go and eat lunch at work, you may only want to prep dinners. Conversely, if you’re looking to spice up breakfasts for your kids before school, you might ask for new morning meal ideas.
When you define the meal, whether that’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a combination, you can also throw in other guidelines, such as making them allergen-free or avoiding certain foods your family doesn’t like.
AI Meal Plan Prompt Examples
Let’s pretend I’m a mom of four kids under 10 who’s just trying to feed my children some nutritious dinners they will actually eat. One of my children has a peanut allergy, and all of them don’t like carrots.
Additionally, on Fridays, we always get pizza after school, so we don’t need a dinner recipe for that day. Lastly, I have some chicken thighs in the freezer that need to be used by Thursday.
My prompt might look something like this: “Please create a four-day dinner meal plan for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week that’s well-rounded but still appeals to children under 10 years old. Avoid including any peanuts or carrots in the recipes. Also, incorporate chicken thighs into at least one meal idea.”
To provide another example, let’s say you’re a young guy who lives alone and wants to get into cooking more. You work longer hours at the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But you have more time to experiment in the kitchen on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
You don’t have to take any allergens into account, but your favorite foods are steak and pasta. You also prefer Italian cuisine.
Your prompt could read: “I’d like to create a five-day dinner meal plan that allows me to hone my cooking skills and fits my schedule. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I need recipes that take less than 30 minutes to cook. Then, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I want to cook more elaborate meals.”
“My favorite foods include pasta and steak, and I love Italian cuisine. Can you come up with five dinner recipes for this week?”
By providing a comprehensive snapshot of your weekly food goals, limitations, and preferences, AI can put together a personalized meal plan in seconds!
So, what are you waiting for? Save yourself time, energy, and stress (both at the supermarket and in your kitchen) by adding AI to your meal prep routine. You can thank us later.
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