Plan a week of meals with an AI bot

1. Tell it your real week

Who eats, ages, allergies, dislikes, budget, which nights are rushed, and what equipment you have (sheet pan, slow cooker, air fryer, rice cooker).

2. Ask for ingredient reuse

Bad: "Give me 7 dinners."

Good: "7 dinners for 2 adults and a 6-year-old, $90 total, 3 nights under 25 minutes, reuse fresh herbs and produce across at least 3 meals, no mushrooms."

3. Paste this prompt

Plan dinners Monday-Sunday.
People: [who, ages]. Allergies: [list, or none]. Dislikes: [list].
Budget: $[x] for the week. Store: [store].
Time: weeknights max [x] minutes; weekend can be longer.
Equipment: [list].
Rules:
- Reuse perishable ingredients in at least 2 meals each.
- Plan one leftovers night and one "cook once, eat twice" meal.
- Output a table: day, dish, active minutes, ingredients that carry over.
- Then a combined grocery list grouped by store section.
- Mark any price you estimated as "estimate".

4. Check it

Scan for allergens yourself (bots miss hidden ones like fish sauce, nut oils, sesame in tahini). Make sure the time estimates are realistic for you.

Where these facts come from

• FoodSafety.gov: Safe minimum internal temperatures
• USDA FSIS: Leftovers and food safety
• USDA FoodData Central: nutrient data to check a bot's numbers
• FDA: Food allergies

Checked Oct 29, 2026. Bots make arithmetic and nutrition mistakes. Spot-check numbers against FoodData Central and labels.