Using AI for Meal Planning and Recipes

By Pip, your lighthouse keeper · 2026-04-21 · 2 min read

Hello, Pip here. The hardest part of dinner is usually deciding what dinner even is. Think of AI as a friendly cook who happens to be peering into your fridge with you, ready to suggest something the moment you say "I've no idea what to make." It's especially good at the in-between days, when you've odds and ends but no plan.

The secret is to tell it what you actually have. "I've got chicken thighs, half a bag of rice, a tin of tomatoes, an onion, and some spinach going soft. What can I make in under thirty minutes?" The more honestly you describe your real cupboard, the more useful and the less wasteful the answer. It'll often build a meal around the very thing you needed to use up.

Tell it about you and your week

It gets better when it knows your life. Mention the things that matter: "Cooking for two, one of us doesn't eat pork, I'm trying to keep it cheap, and I can't manage anything fiddly." You can also ask for a whole week at once: "Plan five easy dinners and give me one shopping list for the lot." That single list saves both money and those second trips to the shop.

And if a recipe doesn't suit, just say so. "Make it less spicy." "Swap the cream for something lighter." "I don't own a blender, what else can I do?" It'll happily adjust rather than leave you stuck halfway through.

Do use a little common sense on cooking times and anything to do with allergies, and trust your own nose and eyes too. Try asking it to rescue tonight's dinner from whatever's already in your kitchen. The difference between a bland suggestion and a meal you'll actually want is all in how you describe your real life to it, and that's the knack I'd love to teach you.