I recorded this video to show how you can use ChatGPT to generate full meal plans — tailored to your budget, diet, and even the store you prefer to shop at.
This is one of my favorite “real-life” use cases for ChatGPT. Whether you’re trying to eat healthy, save money, or just get out of the “what’s for dinner?” cycle, this method works incredibly well.
Step 1: Be specific with your prompt
In the video, I show how to ask ChatGPT something like:
“Create a weekly meal plan for a family of 4, with a $100 budget, shopping only at Aldi. Focus on quick, healthy dinners.”
This level of detail helps ChatGPT generate plans that are actually usable.
Step 2: Review and refine
ChatGPT will usually respond with a full 7-day meal plan, complete with meals like:
- Monday: Chicken stir-fry
- Tuesday: Spaghetti with lentil sauce
- Wednesday: Tacos with ground turkey
If something doesn’t fit your diet or taste, just ask it to swap ingredients or make it gluten-free, vegetarian, etc.
Step 3: Ask for a shopping list
This is the real time-saver. You can ask:
“Generate a shopping list based on that meal plan, categorized by section (produce, dairy, etc.)”
And it’ll return a super organized list that you can take to the store or plug into your delivery app.
Step 4: Get creative with leftovers
In the video, I show how to ask ChatGPT to “reuse ingredients across meals to minimize waste.” This leads to smarter plans where, for example, a roast chicken becomes chicken tacos and later chicken soup.
Step 5: Save or regenerate
Once you’re happy, save the plan and reuse it. Or tweak it to create a rotation of plans you can alternate each week.
This method has made grocery planning so much easier in my household, and it’s especially helpful for people trying to cook more at home without going over budget.
Have you tried using ChatGPT for meal planning yet? Or still manually writing everything out?