I’m all about saving time and money whenever and wherever I can.
With that being said, I just asked ChatGPT write me a meal plan and grocery list and I am going to share with you, how it went.
The best part is, I was able to do this in just minutes and I even was able to tell ChatGPT the grocery budget I was working with.
By the way, if you’re looking for ways to save on groceries, make sure you check out my post on Grocery Shopping at Dollar Tree and Shopping Online on Amazon!
I Had ChatGPT Write Me A Meal Plan and Grocery List. Here’s How It Went.
Before I got started, I gathered a few key pieces of information including:
- My ideal budget for groceries for 1 week (I estimated about $100 a person for my family of 5 so $500 total).
- Any dietary restrictions (for us, we are a nut-free household)
- My location (for example, I live in Sandy, UT) this is simply because I wanted it to try to factor in costs based on location.
Once I had that info ready, I went over to the ChatGPT website and gave it prompts.
Now, if you’ve never used this website before, it is an AI software that can do all sorts of things for you.
This time, I asked it to make me a full meal plan for 7 days while staying within my budget ($500) and I even asked it to make a grocery shopping list for me.
If you are following along with me, here’s what it looked like:
Okay, so once you are on the website, you will see a box that looks like this:
In that box, I wrote the prompt:
make me a meal plan for 7 days that includes no (insert dietary restrictions here), will feed a family of (how many are in your family) and keep it under the budget of (your budget $xxx). I live in (your location) for reference
The first time around I realized it didn’t have a lot of foods my kids would eat so I rewrote mine to include making it kid-friendly recipes. So, mine looked liked this:
I then hit ENTER (or you can click the little arrow symbol).
It then spit out something like this:
Here is a 7-day meal plan for a family of 5 in Sandy, UT that does not include nut ingredients, includes kid-friendly food, and stays within a budget of $500:
Day 1:
- Breakfast: Pancakes with fresh fruit and syrup
- Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
- Dinner: Baked chicken thighs with roasted vegetables (carrots, potatoes, and broccoli)
Day 2:
- Breakfast: Cereal with milk and fresh fruit
- Lunch: Pita pockets filled with hummus, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes
- Dinner: Spaghetti with marinara sauce and garlic bread
Day 3:
- Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast and orange slices
- Lunch: Turkey and cheese sandwiches with carrot sticks and ranch dressing
- Dinner: Homemade pizzas with pepperoni, olives, and bell peppers
Day 4:
- Breakfast: Yogurt with granola and fresh fruit
- Lunch: Tuna salad on crackers with apple slices
- Dinner: Beef and vegetable stir-fry with brown rice
Day 5:
- Breakfast: French toast sticks with syrup and strawberries
- Lunch: Grilled chicken strips with honey mustard sauce and sweet potato fries
- Dinner: Baked salmon with roasted asparagus and quinoa
Day 6:
- Breakfast: Bagels with cream cheese and jam, and fresh fruit
- Lunch: Chicken quesadillas with salsa and guacamole
- Dinner: Beef tacos with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and sour cream
Day 7:
- Breakfast: Oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, and apple slices
- Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with banana slices
- Dinner: Meatball subs with green salad
Then (without refreshing the page) I wrote this prompt:
now write me a shopping list to match
And it spit this out:
Great! Here is a shopping list for the 7-day meal plan for a family of 5 in Sandy, UT that does not include nut ingredients, includes kid-friendly food, and stays within a budget of $500:
Produce:
- Apples
- Asparagus
- Bananas
- Bell peppers (assorted colors)
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Cucumbers
- Garlic
- Lettuce
- Onions
- Oranges
- Potatoes
- Strawberries
Dairy:
- Cheese (cheddar and mozzarella)
- Eggs
- Milk
- Plain yogurt
- Sour cream
- Unsalted butter
- Whole wheat bread
- Whole wheat tortillas
Meat and Seafood:
- Chicken thighs
- Ground beef
- Pork chops
- Salmon fillets
- Turkey breast
- Turkey pepperoni
Pantry:
- Brown rice
- Cereal
- Cornbread mix
- Dried pasta (spaghetti and ziti)
- Garlic bread
- Hummus
- Marinara sauce
- Oatmeal
- Peanut butter and jelly
- Pita bread
- Quinoa
- Salsa
- Spaghetti sauce
- Syrup
- Tuna
- Whole wheat crackers
Frozen:
- French toast sticks
- Meatballs
- Sweet potato fries
Miscellaneous:
- Olive oil
- Ranch dressing
- Soy sauce
Now, of course this won’t be entirely perfect and you can go in and add things/remove things or even update your shopping list to include things you need or remove things you already have.
However, overall, this does a pretty good job at giving meal ideas for a week for a family. Especially, if you struggle with coming up with new meal ideas (like I do).
And let’s be honest here, it’s pretty incredible that AI can actually do something like this in minutes!
It can give you back so much time and help you stay within your budget, create new meal ideas for your family and take the stress of groceries off your table.
So, head over the ChatGPT website and give it a try yourself. I am curious how well this will work for you!