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People are using ChatGPT for all kinds of things these days, and I’m finding that one of its best uses is to do things that I could do but that it can do much faster. Meal planning is one of those things—but not just any meal planning. I tried making a list of what your average person might have in their pantry and freezer and asking ChatGPT to make some meals. I was pleasantly surprised at the results! It wasn’t perfect, but it gave me ideas for a few things I never would have thought of. I’m going to share how I did it so you can figure out how to use ChatGPT to plan meals as well.
How to Use ChatGPT to Plan Meals From Your Pantry and Freezer
Remember that ChatGPT is not perfect. When giving me the recipe ideas, I still would need to go google a recipe for that idea. ChatGPT will give you recipes, but I have found them to be extremely basic and bland. You’re better off looking at a recipe blog using the ideas it gives you.
The first thing to do is to make a list of what food you have! I used the Voice Memos app and listed everything in my pantry and deep freezer. Then I played it back and jotted down everything that I said.
Then I went to ChatGPT and used the following prompt:
Here’s a list of what I have in my pantry and freezer. Can you help me come up with some meal ideas? It’s OK if I need to buy a few additional ingredients (like meat or other proteins) to make it a full meal.
The list above is everything I typed in when I had finished inventorying my food. It gave me 10 ideas. I’m going to share the ideas with you and then rate them!
Note that the pictures ChatGPT provided were scraped from recipes it found online. Not all of them are perfect matches with the recipe title.
This first idea was not unique but it hadn’t occurred to me to use creamed soup to make a creamier version of pasta with sausage and broccoli.
This idea was a new one to me. I’d never have thought to combine BBQ sauce with chicken sausage or even make rice bowls with a BBQ theme, but it was brilliant!
This one requires me to buy some chicken, but that’s fine. It’s a simple idea that could be jazzed up with toppings.
I have done alfredo bakes with ravioli, but this is another idea that I haven’t made in years. This is a great way to use up the frozen ravioli I got on sale at Publix recently. i will say I’m not convinced ChatGPT’s idea to just thin out tomato paste would be enough sauce, but it’s something to start with.
My family doesn’t love Asian flavors, but this is actually a great idea for lunch. I love the optional add of scrambled eggs for cheap protein.
This was a classic in my family growing up.
I think this one could use some tweaking to make a good meal.
We don’t actually have many tortillas, so I love that this gave me an idea to do Mexican by only using chips.
The breakfast idea was a nice surprise. You’ll definitely need to have a recipe for this, and you’ll probably need more ingredients than what it lists (such as flour, baking powder, etc.)
This was the most interesting idea. I’ve never thought to do a sheet pan with french fries. However, I think it could work.
Conclusion
Overall, I was pretty pleased with what ChatGPT came up with. None of them were novel, but many of them weren’t on my current radar. Now that you know how to use ChatGPT to plan meals, you can use it for your next pantry challenge!
For more: 3 Ways to Use ChatGPT to meal plan
