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AI meal planner from what's in your fridge

Tell your AI what you have, get a week of dinner ideas with a shopping list

Tell your AI what's in your fridge, any dietary restrictions, and how many people you're feeding. Get a week of practical dinner ideas with a combined shopping list for what you're missing. No setup required if you use Claude.ai.

BeginnerFree15 minutes

Tools used

Claude.ai (free at claude.ai — no setup needed)Or Ollama + Open WebUI if you prefer to keep things local

How to do it

  1. 1

    Go to claude.ai in your browser — it's free, no credit card needed

  2. 2

    Start a new conversation and paste this prompt (fill in your own details):

  3. 3

    PROMPT: 'You are a friendly meal planner. Here is what I have in my fridge and pantry: [list what you have]. We have [number] people eating. We can't eat: [allergies or dislikes, or write none]. Give me 5 practical dinner ideas for the week with simple instructions, then a combined shopping list for anything I am missing. Keep it practical — I am not a chef.'

  4. 4

    Copy the shopping list to your phone's notes app or text it to yourself

  5. 5

    Save the whole conversation — you can come back to ask follow-up questions

Watch out for

  • ⚠

    The more specific you are about what you have, the better the suggestions

  • ⚠

    Ask it to adjust for cooking time ('nothing that takes more than 30 minutes') or spice level

  • ⚠

    Claude.ai free tier has a daily message limit — plenty for weekly meal planning

  • ⚠

    Claude.ai (the website) sends data to Anthropic's servers. If that concerns you, use the local Ollama version instead.

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