Plan Dinners From Your Fridge First and Stay Under Budget
List what you already have, your budget, your diet and your time. The AI plans dinners that use your food first, lists only what you still need to buy and roughly what it may cost, as ranges marked estimate for you to check at your own shop.
Make it yours
Fill in the inputs. Your prompt updates as you type.
Your prompt
Plan {{days}} dinners for {{people}}. Use only the facts below. Do not use memory or earlier chats.
What I already have (fridge, freezer, cupboard; mark anything to use up soon with "use soon"):
{{have}}
Budget for extra shopping: {{budget}}
Where I shop: {{place}}
Foods or diets to avoid: {{diet}}
Time I have to cook each night: {{time}}
Rules:
1. Plan each dinner to use items from my list first. Use the "use soon" items in the earliest dinners.
2. Do not assume I own anything that is not on my list. If a dinner needs another item, put it on the BUY list and say which dinner needs it.
3. If my list may not be enough for the number of dinners (for example, one tin for three meals), say so and ask me about the amount.
4. For each item I must buy, give roughly what it may cost, only as a range from low to high, written as "estimate". This is the price gap: the difference between what I have and what I must pay for. You cannot see my shop's real prices, so never give one exact price and never say what something "costs". Add a blank column "Price at my shop: ____" for me to fill in.
5. Add up the low prices and the high prices separately and show the sums. Say whether the high total is above my budget. If it is, suggest swaps that cut the buy list.
6. Respect the foods and diets to avoid. If I list an allergy, do not choose that food, but say plainly that you cannot check labels or cross-contact and that I must read every label myself. Do not make health claims. If I say a food is old, tell me to check it with official food safety guidance and do not judge it yourself.
Show: (a) a table of dinners with night, dinner, items used from my list, items to buy, minutes; (b) the BUY list with the estimate range and the blank column; (c) the two totals against my budget; (d) the two things most likely to push my spending over budget.7 inputs still blank. Empty inputs stay as placeholders when copied.
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Example result
Illustrative example; not tested on the listed platform. Example inputs are stated in the preview. No platform test or measured performance is claimed.
How to use this prompt
- 1Use it when you want fewer food shops and less waste, and you can open the fridge and read what is there. Do not use it for medical diets, strict allergy plans or exact price comparisons: the AI cannot see your store's prices. In plain words, it tells you what you still need to buy and roughly what that may cost.
- 2Open the fridge, freezer and cupboard and type what you see, with rough amounts ("half a bag", "1 tin"). Add "use soon" to anything that will spoil first. Do not type your address or anything private.
- 3Copy the prompt, fill in the seven boxes and run it in a new chat.
- 4Cross out any dinner you will not eat, then ask: "Replace night 3 only. Keep the rest." Fill in the blank price column at your shop, or on your shop's website, and add up your own total.
- 5Three knobs. Length: change the number of dinners (3 for a short week, 7 for a full one). Tone: add "Keep the instructions to one line per dinner" for a plain list, or "Add a short method for each dinner" for a cooking guide. Format: ask for a table, a checklist you can tick off, or a plain message you can send to a family group chat.
- 6Do this today in 10 minutes: open your fridge, type what you see, run the prompt for three dinners, and cross out any you will not cook.
Tips & limitations
Check the result: 1. Every item in the "used from my list" column is really on your list, and no dinner needs something you do not have that is missing from the BUY list. 2. Every price is a range marked "estimate", and the two totals add up when you do the sums yourself. 3. Nothing on the plan breaks your diet or allergy line, and you read each product label in the shop. Honest limits: the AI cannot see your shop's prices, offers or stock, so every price is a guess. Quantities are rough, so a half bag of rice may not stretch as far as the plan says. This prompt gives no medical, allergy or nutrition advice and cannot tell if food is safe to eat. MoneyLion (9 June 2026) warns that AI output can contain inaccuracies, and Lilach Bullock's guide says ChatGPT has no live access to your local store's prices. Example output is illustrative; independently verify any claim before acting on it.
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Illustrative example · 2026-11-09
Read on 9 November 2026: MoneyLion (9 June 2026), whose short template asks for a number of meals, a budget and a store, and which warns that AI output may contain material inaccuracies (it also carries a giveaway promotion, so treat it as marketing); and Lilach Bullock's budget meal-planning prompt page (no date shown), which uses fridge-and-cupboard lists and says ChatGPT has no live access to local store prices and is "guessing on price". Both are non-official guides: demand evidence is LIKELY at best. The prompt wording, the price-range rule, the blank price column and the quantity question are original. The example prices are made-up round numbers. We chose the Business & Productivity category because the site has no food category and the task is budget planning.