Plan a gluten-free week of Trader Joe's meals on $125 with ChatGPT
- Posted
- by Julia Ries Wexler (Outside)
- Last checked
- Method:
- How we verify
Evidence: Article or interviewA newsletter, journalist or interview account of what happened.
PartialThe source says it only partly worked, or had a significant problem a person had to deal with.
What went wrong: Missing ingredients, inaccurate prices and two out-of-stock items; the receipt was about $35 over budget.
Outcome
Outside's Julia Ries Wexler asked ChatGPT for a week of gluten-free meals and snacks, plus dog treats, with a Trader Joe's grocery list, item names and prices on a $125 budget. She says the plan was missing items needed for the recipes, prices were inaccurate and two items weren't in stock; her receipt came to $160, about $35 over budget.
Agent
Prompt Original prompt
Exact prompt as published in the source.
I want a meal plan for a week filled with delicious and nutrient-dense, gluten-free recipes. Please provide meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Beverages like smoothies are also okay to include. I have a budget of $125 and can only purchase my ingredients from Trader Joe’s. Please show me the meal plan, separating it by day from Monday to Sunday, with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and one snack listed for each day. Add in treats for my dog Ollie. Then, please show me a list of all the specific grocery items I need to buy from Trader Joe’s, including the specific item name of each individual product, so I know exactly which items to look for. Please include the prices next to each item on the grocery list. Please include the actual item names from the Trader Joe’s store in my grocery list, but not in the meal plan itself.
Optional stronger version
Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Plan a week of meals for my diet with a store-specific shopping list that's realistic on price and complete. Fill in before running: - Who's eating: [NUMBER OF PEOPLE, AGES] - Days and meals to cover: [e.g. Mon–Fri breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks] - Weekly budget: [AMOUNT] at [STORE] - Must avoid (allergies, dislikes): [LIST] - Max cooking time on weeknights: [MINUTES] - What's already in my pantry: [LIST] - Diet: [e.g. gluten-free] - Pets to shop for: [if any] Rules: - Only use products you can confirm the store sells; if unsure, give a generic item and say so. - Check every recipe's ingredients are on the list (including oils, spices and sauces) unless I said I have them. - Mark prices as estimates and add a 15% buffer to the total. - Suggest a swap for any item that's often out of stock. - If a site asks for a login, a CAPTCHA or payment details, stop and hand control back to me. - Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. - Give a cheaper version of the list too, in case prices are higher than you estimated. Output: Meal plan by day, a store-section shopping list with estimated prices, the buffered total, and a 'check at home first' list. You'll know it worked when: I can cook every recipe from what's on the list plus my pantry, and the receipt lands within my budget. Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.
Source
https://www.outsideonline.com/health/nutrition/chatgpt-meal-planning/
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