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AI prompts for cooking and meal planning

The daily question of what to cook is one an AI assistant answers cheerfully. It can suggest dishes from what is in the kitchen, turn a week's menu into a shopping list and scale a recipe for twenty guests. Think of it as a talkative cousin who has read many cookbooks but has never tasted food: full of ideas, sometimes wrong about quantities and timings.

The prompts

A weekly meal plan

Plan our meals for a week.

Family: [NUMBER OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN]
We eat: [VEGETARIAN / EGGS / NON-VEGETARIAN ON CERTAIN DAYS], mostly [REGIONAL STYLE, FOR EXAMPLE PUNJABI HOME FOOD]
We avoid: [DISLIKES AND THINGS WE DO NOT EAT]
Time for cooking on weekdays: [MINUTES]

Give breakfast, lunch and dinner for seven days. Use ordinary ingredients, repeat vegetables sensibly so that nothing is wasted, and use leftovers where it makes sense. Show it as a table.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Cook with what I have

I have these in my kitchen: [LIST THE VEGETABLES, DALS, GRAINS AND OTHER ITEMS]. I also have the usual spices, oil, onions and tomatoes.

Suggest five dishes I can make without buying anything, in [STYLE] home cooking. For each, one line on how it is made and how long it takes. Then give the full method for the one I choose.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

A shopping list

Here is my meal plan for the week. Make a shopping list grouped as vegetables and fruit, dairy, grains and dals, spices and other items. Combine quantities for [NUMBER] people. Mark what is needed fresh mid-week and should not be bought on day one.

[PASTE THE MEAL PLAN]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Scale a recipe

This recipe serves [NUMBER]. I need it for [NUMBER] people. Give the new quantities in a table, in [GRAMS AND MILLILITRES / CUPS AND SPOONS]. Tell me which ingredients should not simply be multiplied, such as salt, chilli and raising agents, and how the cooking time or vessel should change.

[PASTE THE RECIPE]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Fix a dish

I was making [DISH] and this went wrong: [TOO SALTY, TOO THIN, BURNT AT THE BOTTOM, DOUGH TOO STICKY, AND SO ON]. I have these to hand: [WHAT IS IN THE KITCHEN]. What can I do right now to rescue it? Give the most likely fix first.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

A menu for guests

Plan a [LUNCH / DINNER] for [NUMBER] guests, [VEGETARIAN / MIXED]. I want [NUMBER] dishes that go well together, can mostly be made ahead, and do not all need the stove at the last minute. Give the menu, the order in which to cook, and what can be done the day before.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

How to adapt these prompts

Name your cooking style. "Punjabi home food", "South Indian tiffin", "simple hostel cooking with one burner". Otherwise you may get dishes foreign to your kitchen.
State what you avoid, whether by taste, habit or belief: onion and garlic, eggs, certain days of the week.
Say what equipment you have. A pressure cooker, no oven, one gas burner, an induction plate.
Give your units. Katori and spoon, or grams. Ask for what you actually use.
Ask for the method in steps with what to look for at each stage, such as "until the oil separates", and not only minutes.

Use your own judgement at the stove

Quantities and timings from an assistant are estimates. Salt, chilli and water especially need tasting and adjusting. When scaling for a crowd, trust an experienced cook in the family over the arithmetic.

Take care with food safety. Do not rely on an assistant for how long food keeps, for preserving and pickling methods, or for feeding infants. Where safety matters, follow reliable guidance and your own good sense.

Meal suggestions here are for ordinary home cooking. For a diet connected with a health condition such as diabetes, kidney disease, pregnancy or a food allergy, follow your doctor or a qualified dietitian. An assistant's meal plan is not medical advice, and it can suggest foods that are unsuitable for you.

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This is an independent site. It is not connected with any company that makes AI assistants. The prompts are plain text and can be used in any AI chat assistant. An AI assistant can give wrong or made-up answers: check anything important before you rely on it, and do not paste private details into a prompt.