On a Budget? This Tool Can Help Plan Your Grocery Lists

If you don’t like planning a grocery list, then this might be for you.

Nobody loves grocery shopping more than I do. It brings me joy, and I honestly find it fun — but I’m very much aware that’s not the way everyone feels.

Even for someone like me, grocery shopping comes with challenges, especially when prices keep going up. Too tired to plan your list this week? Strategizing smarter grocery options on a budget? Or did you just vow to eat more fiber this year? It’s a lot to think about, but quite a few content creators think they may have found the answer — and it’s ChatGPT. 

Users on TikTok and Instagram are highlighting how they use the AI chatbot — which launched to much fanfare in 2022 — to create grocery lists, with rave reviews about how the tool is making their food shopping easier. According to their content, ChatGPT can customize a grocery list according to your specific needs, including budget, number of people within a household, dietary restrictions, and nutritional priorities. Some influencers have even provided examples of prompts that you can enter into the chatbot to generate your own grocery list — so I decided to put it to the test myself.

How do you use ChatGPT to create a grocery list?

If you’re unfamiliar with this AI tool, it’s easiest to think of it like a customer service help chat on a website. You go to chatgpt.com, and are immediately met with a box that says “Message ChatGPT.” This is where you’ll enter any prompts, questions, or tasks you want ChatGPT to help you with.

It’s easy to leverage the chatbot to build a grocery list, but you do need to be detailed and explicit. Tell the platform exactly what you’re looking for, and include any relevant information that might impact the kind of grocery list you want. You can be very precise and include details like the grocery store you shop at or how many people you need to feed based on one grocery shopping trip per week. Here’s an example of what I input into ChatGPT to generate my own grocery list:

I would like a grocery list that provides enough food for one full week, for a household with one person. I want to spend less than $100, I am a pescatarian, I shop at Wegmans, and I need easy lunches that I can bring to work.

I will note that I’m not actually a pescatarian, but I wanted to test the tool’s ability to customize a shopping list to dietary restrictions. The response I received was thorough and supplied suggested items across a variety of categories like proteins, vegetables, fruits, and pantry staples. Although I didn’t ask for it, ChatGPT also provided options for how to use the groceries. The suggestions were sparse, but several creators have noted that they asked the chatbot for recipes or meal plans based on the grocery list they were given — so if you want it to do every step of the food planning for the week, it can.