How to get ChatGPT to do your meal planning

Save recipes wherever you find them

Recalo shows up in your iPhone's share menu like any other app. When you see a recipe you want, tap the share button in whatever app you are in, choose Recalo from the list, and tap send. Recalo reads the page or the post and fills in the ingredients, steps, servings and cook time for you.

1. From a website.

   In Safari, tap the share icon, then Recalo. Works with food blogs, recipe sites and newsletter links.

2. From Instagram or TikTok.

   Tap Share on the reel or post, then Recalo. Recalo pulls the recipe out of the caption and the video description, so the "recipe in caption" posts land as a proper recipe.

3. From a ChatGPT or Claude conversation.

   Asked ChatGPT for a recipe and liked it? Tap Share on the conversation, copy the link, and share that link to Recalo. Links from ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI Mode usually import straight in. Sometimes the page has to load on screen first and you tap through a quick check.

4. From anywhere else.

   Copy the text and paste it into Recalo. A photo of a recipe card works too.

Saved recipes are yours to tweak. Open one and say "swap the cream for yogurt" or "make a high protein version".

This gets useful at about a dozen recipes. That is enough for ChatGPT to have real choices.

Paste this and let ChatGPT run the whole thing

Paste this into a new chat. ChatGPT reads this page, connects Recalo if needed, and asks you a few questions before it starts.

Read https://recaloapp.com/guides/chatgpt-meal-planning/ so you know the workflow. If Recalo is not connected yet, walk me through connecting it first using the steps on that page. Then plan my dinners for this week from the recipes I have saved in Recalo, checking when I last made each one. Save the plan as a page in Recalo with the week's dates in the title, linking each night to its recipe. For the groceries, either save a checklist to Recalo with sections per store or per recipe, skipping pantry staples, with buy-by dates on a section or a single item where that helps (not on every item), and embed that checklist in the plan page, or build the order on Instacart, whichever I ask for. Then add a plan to make each recipe with a date and time. Before you start, ask me which nights, how many people, any food preferences, how I like to cook (a fresh dinner every night, or a couple of big batches to freeze and reheat), whether I want a shopping list or an Instacart order, whether the list should be grouped by store or by recipe, and where and when I shop.

Copy prompt Show the whole prompt

That's it, you're done. ChatGPT takes it from here. Below are ideas for what to ask it along the way.

Ask for the week's plan

ChatGPT asks about your week, picks from your saved recipes, and can see when you last made each one. It comes back with a plan and the reasons behind it.

The plan gets good when you answer like you would to a friend who is cooking for you. Things worth saying:

• "Skip anything I made in the last two weeks."
• "Two of the nights should be vegetarian, and Thursday needs to be under 30 minutes."
• "I cook fresh most nights but want one big batch I can freeze half of."
• "Swap Tuesday for something with the chicken I already have."
• "Fewer new recipes, more of what the kids will eat."

Tell it how you actually cook. Some people want a fresh dinner every night. Some want two big pots on Sunday and Wednesday and leftovers in between. Say which, and the plan, the servings and the grocery list all follow from it.

Settle the servings

Before the grocery list, tell ChatGPT how many people you are feeding each night. It scales the quantities in the list for you, so a recipe saved for four becomes a shopping list for six. While you are cooking, the recipe in Recalo has its own serving control, so you can scale it on the stove too.

Save the plan as a page in Recalo

Once the week looks right, ChatGPT writes it down in Recalo so it is there on Tuesday when you have forgotten what Tuesday was.

You get a page with the week's dates in the title, like "Meal plan, Sept 14 to 18", one line per night with the recipe linked and the servings, and the grocery checklist sitting right on the page underneath. Worth asking for: "add a line on anything to prep the night before."

The page sits in Recalo next to your recipes, and each night links straight to the recipe it names. Open the plan, tap the night, start cooking. Next week's plan gets its own page, and the old ones stay as a record of what you ate.

Turn the plan into a grocery list in Recalo

ChatGPT writes the list into a Recalo checklist, grouped by store, minus the things you already have. If you would rather not shop at all, skip this and say "order it on Instacart" instead, see the ordering step below.

1. Tell it how to group the list, and when you shop.

   Sections per store or per recipe, your call. "Produce, dairy and bread from Trader Joe's, everything else from Costco. Costco on Saturday, Trader Joe's on Monday. Skip pantry staples like oil, salt, spices and rice." ChatGPT adds buy-by dates so the shopping shows up in your to-dos in Recalo before the cooking does. Say it once and ChatGPT follows it for the whole list. If you want it remembered for good, ask ChatGPT to save a short page in Recalo called "How I shop" and start next week's chat with "read my How I shop page first."

2. Update instead of starting over.

   Already have a list going? Say "add these to my existing Groceries checklist" and ChatGPT edits that one rather than creating a second.

3. Edit it right there in the chat.

   ChatGPT shows the list as a live checklist card inside the conversation. Tick things off, add an item, move one to a different store, and the change lands in Recalo. Those edits don't count against the free tier's saves.

4. Check it on your phone.

   The same list is in Recalo the moment ChatGPT confirms, with each store as its own collapsible section.

5. Or send it to Instacart.

   Say "order everything on this list on Instacart" and ChatGPT builds the cart in the same chat. You can keep the Recalo checklist too, for the things you still want to pick up yourself.

Put the cooking on the calendar

ChatGPT adds a "plan to make" on each recipe in Recalo for the night it is on. Tell it when: "Biryani Tuesday at 6, Chana Masala Wednesday at 6:30."

Recalo sends you a push notification 30 to 60 minutes before each one, so the chicken is out of the freezer in time. Give it a time, not just a day. A plan with only a date shows up in your morning summary instead of getting its own reminder.

Share the list with your household

Open the checklist in Recalo, tap Share, and send it by link or by email. Whoever you share it with sees the same list, live, and can tick things off from their phone while you are in a different aisle. If they are not on Recalo yet, the link signs them in.

Shop, or let ChatGPT order it

The list is on your phone, so go shop. Or stay in the chat: Instacart has an app inside ChatGPT with checkout built in. Say "shop for everything on this list on Instacart" and it builds a cart from stores near you, you review it, and you pay right there. DoorDash has the same thing. That part is ChatGPT's own integration, Recalo is not involved, but it is the natural last step of the same conversation.

Cook with the screen on

When it is time, open the recipe in Recalo and tap Cook. The screen stays awake, you get one step at a time in big type, and the timers for each step are built in. Tap "Made it" at the end. That is what ChatGPT reads next week when you ask it to skip anything you cooked recently.

Questions people ask

Can I do this without ChatGPT?

Yes. Recalo has its own AI built in. Open Recalo and ask it to plan the week from your recipes and it does the same thing. ChatGPT is nicer for long back-and-forth, and it is the one with Instacart in it.

What if a recipe link doesn't import?

Copy the recipe text and paste it into Recalo instead. That always works. Links from AI chats are the ones most likely to need it, because some of those pages check that a person is loading them.

Does my partner need ChatGPT to use the list?

No. Share the checklist from Recalo and they get a link. One tap signs them in, and from then on they see the same list on their phone and can tick things off.