HomeArticles Earth First Can AI technology take the guesswork out of meal prep, helping us eat better while saving time and food? I let ChatGPT plan my meals for a week. Here's what worked, what didn’t, and why human intuition still matters in the kitchen. In theory, I love cooking. But in practice, between work and life, I mostly don’t have the time (or energy) to plan balanced meals every day and end up eating a yoghurt bowl or soup for dinner more often than I would like to admit. So, after hearing rumours from friends and colleagues who did this, I decided to put ChatGPT to the test: Could AI meal-plan, prep, and guide me through a whole week of meals that fit my quirks and preferences?To start, I gave it some clear ground rules:VegetarianNo dairy, but eggs are fine.Fibre- and protein-rich meals are my non-negotiables, as I want to feel satiated after eating. Minimal daily cooking: batch prepping is the only way for me to eat proper meals. When possible, I prefer to use the oven and steaming over pan-frying (less mess, more flavour).Available in Spain: no obscure ingredients.I also casually mentioned that my favourite cuisines are Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and Vietnamese.Your list of must-haves might be different, depending on your preferences, health goals, nutrition needs or allergies. But with my rules in mind, ChatGPT instantly got to work, generating a structured meal prep plan, a shopping list, and easy recipes in a matter of seconds. Even better, it was free. It even gave me some cooking tips along the way, some useful, others completely impractical. I still had no idea if AI could keep up with my particular cravings and busy schedule for a full seven days.The PlanChatGPT suggested a batch-cooking strategy, where most meals could be prepped in advance and mixed and matched throughout the week. The idea was simple:At first, AI suggested steaming my proteins—like chickpeas and lentils—which would have taken hours (and is an uhm… original method to prepare legumes). A quick adjustment later, I swapped in canned legumes for convenience.The Shopping ListChatGPT also gave me a grocery list, which was refreshingly realistic, though I had to ask it to substitute bulgur for something else, as I haven’t often seen it in Spanish supermarkets and I don’t particularly like the taste. Day 1: The Meal Prep MarathonI followed AI’s strategy: grains on the stove, veggies in the oven, soup simmering, and bolognese bubbling away. Here are the instructions that were given to me for the meal prep marathon:I’ll admit, I didn’t always stick to AI’s instructions to the letter. There were times I added extra toppings, swapped in different ingredients, or took a few shortcuts. For example, I skipped the broth in my miso soup and just used miso paste, as that’s how I typically prepare it. Similarly, I prefer adding almond butter (or any nut butter) as a topping rather than mixing it into the oats, so I made a few of my own adjustments. Day 3: When AI is Too Smart for Its Own GoodBy Day 3, I had the AI meal prep system figured out. The batch-cooked lentil bolognese was still going strong, the roasted sweet potatoes kept their delicious caramelisation, and the overnight oats were the ultimate grab-and-go convenience. I could switch up the mix-ins daily: some mornings, plums; other days, blueberries and walnuts; sometimes, a handful of nuts and seeds. But here’s the thing: it all started to feel like I was eating on autopilot.Wanting a bit more variety, I asked ChatGPT, "How can I remix my existing prepped meals to make them feel fresh?" The response was logical and efficient:"Transform your lentil bolognese into a protein-packed grain bowl by serving it over brown rice with a tahini drizzle and fresh greens. Add roasted chickpeas for crunch."It was a good idea. It made use of what I had, reduced waste, and added variety. But the AI approach always felt... mathematical. A human meal prepper, in contrast, might instinctively throw the bolognese into a wrap with avocado and chili flakes for something completely new. Or mash the roasted sweet potatoes into a warm, spiced dip to eat with crackers. A human cook doesn’t just think in terms of maximising ingredients: they think about texture, cravings, and what sounds good in the moment.That night, I followed AI’s advice for efficiency, but added a human twist: I lightly sautéed the lentils with extra garlic, crisped up the chickpeas, and tossed it all onto toasted sourdough. AI got me halfway there, but instinct gave me the final push.The overnight oats were the ultimate grab-and-go convenience.Day 5: When AI and Real-Life ClashBy Day 5, the AI-generated meal plan had proven itself technically successful. I was eating balanced, home-cooked meals with almost no daily effort. The overnight oats made breakfast a breeze, the miso-ginger soup reheated perfectly, and the roasted sweet potatoes stayed flavourful all week.But here’s what AI didn’t account for: real life isn’t a spreadsheet.Mid-afternoon, after back-to-back meetings, I found myself completely starving. AI had structured my meal times neatly, assuming my hunger levels would be static. But human hunger is unpredictable—some days you need more, others you need less. I wanted something immediately satisfying, but my AI-designed meal plan had no built-in flexibility.A human meal prepper might prepare for this: keeping extra snacks, leaving room for flexible meals, or simply recognising that sometimes, you need a break from the plan. But my AI meal plan didn’t have any room for unexpected hunger pangs. To be fair, you could argue that I should have given AI those precise instructions; after all, it only followed the framework I provided. Maybe next time, I’ll ask AI to factor in hunger fluctuations and last-minute cravings.But that night, instead of heating another prepped meal, I broke protocol. I mixed the leftover tofu and broccoli with a sweet and sour sauce I had in the fridge. It took 5 minutes (barely longer than reheating), but it felt fresher and more spontaneous.AI Has No Gastronomical SensitivityI told ChatGPT that I live in Spain and like Mediterranean flavours, so it tried to tailor its ingredient suggestions accordingly. But the way it applied that knowledge was, at times, questionable. It immediately gravitated towards Tortilla de Patatas, a Spanish classic, but since I mentioned I preferred oven cooking to using the stove, it confidently told me to bake it instead. "Thinly slice potatoes and onions, mix with whisked eggs, bake at 180°C for 25 minutes until golden."I could already hear my grandmother gasping in horror. While I understand the appeal of not having to flip a tortilla or deal with oil splatters, anyone who has grown up with Spanish food knows this is a crime. It’s like asking an Italian to make a one-pot pasta or telling a French chef to blend all the elements of a croissant into a muffin tin. It just isn’t done.I admired AI’s adaptability in reworking recipes to fit my preferences, but it lacked an intuitive understanding of food culture, the little rituals and techniques that make certain dishes special. The AI solution was practical, sure. But some traditions shouldn’t be optimised.The Environmental Trade-Off AI models like ChatGPT require massive computing power, which means significant energy and water use, both for manufacturing the microchips that power AI and for cooling the data centres where they run. But could AI reduce food waste and overall emissions by making meal prep more efficient? Possibly. Globally, one-third of food is wasted, and planned meal prepping could help ensure all our ingredients are used up. Plus, batch-cooking saves energy by reducing daily stove and oven use. Beyond consumer food waste, AI also promises to optimise supply chains in the food industry, helping to reduce inefficiencies and minimise waste at multiple stages of production and distribution. Is the energy AI uses justified by the food it helps save? It’s a question worth asking - but we don’t have all the answers yet.The Conclusion: Is ChatGPT a Good Meal Planner?This experiment turned out to be one of the best meal-planning decisions I’ve ever attempted. ChatGPT wasn’t just a meal planner: it became a recipe developer, grocery shopping assistant, sous-chef and a time-saver. The grocery list was a revelation. Every ingredient had a purpose throughout the week, and for once, I walked into the shop with a clear plan rather than aimlessly picking up things that I might use or crave at the moment. There was no food waste, no last-minute ingredient swaps, and no missing key components. I had everything I needed, and that alone made my week feel smoother.The meal prep itself was surprisingly seamless. I cooked everything in under two hours and was rewarded with 5 days of effortless meals. Heating up the lentil bolognese felt like a treat, the sweet potato and chickpea bowl stayed crispy and satisfying, and the miso-ginger soup was a perfect quick meal after a long day. Of course, AI (and meal prepping in general) has its limits. It doesn’t anticipate cravings, spontaneous hunger spikes, or the joy of making something from scratch on a whim. But it does remove the stress of planning, streamlining the process so that cooking feels less like a daily obligation and more like something I’m happy to do.Would I use ChatGPT for meal planning again? Absolutely. But next time, I’ll blend its structure with my intuition: keeping the efficiency, but leaving room for those spontaneous, delicious moments that make cooking feel human.