With the right prompts, AI can generate a customised plan at the click of a button.
For many people, especially mothers, figuring out what to cook for breakfast, lunch, or dinner can feel like an arduous task. "Leo tunakula nini?" (What are we eating today?) is a question dreaded in many households, especially after a long day.
In the past, meal prepping could easily take an hour or more. But with artificial intelligence (AI), planning meals has become as easy as ABC. With the right prompts, AI can generate a customised plan at the click of a button.
That's exactly what Bella, 36, a development communications specialist, discovered. She first turned to AI not for work but for herself; to lose weight, gain muscle, and bring more structure to her diet.
Time saving and portion control
So, which tool or app does she use? "ChatGPT helps me calculate my healthy resting daily energy expenditure (daily calories meals) and creates a programme that fits me. Also, before curating a meal, it asks you what you have in your kitchen, what you love eating, and it tailors to that."
To simplify her work, Bella Atieno explains that AI calculates the calories in her meals and then sends her a tentative one-week plan, which she can adjust.
"From that, it can create for me a one-month plan with a template of what I have eaten and the grammage of what to put in my plate."
Beyond saving time on meal prep, Bella says AI helps her with portion control, and often she is able to repurpose lunch leftovers as dinner. Because she prompts ChatGPT with the ingredients in her pantry, Bella insists there are no added costs or additional cooking time, since the suggestions are practical.
"With AI meal prep, I'm constantly checking in on the app just to see if I'm meeting my protein goal or track my calories better because I was now able to buy a scale to measure what I eat," she says.
When I overindulge…
Now, Bella is consistent and avoids overindulging. "Even when the latter happens, and I report it, it will ask me what was the trigger...was it stress? It is like having a friend, but an app. So, we are able to plan for such contingencies and cross-correct."
But does AI ever suggest meals that don't fit with her local ingredient availability? "Nope. The secret has been knowing how to put the right prompt. For me, I love ugali, and if it writes quinoa, I will tell it to replace it and put ugali or chapati."
With AI, Bella says, the key is to specify what you have. If it involves baking, for instance, you should tell it whether you own an air fryer or oven, so it can tailor recipes accordingly.
So, what's the most surprising meal AI has suggested that she enjoyed? "Sweet potato, minced meat, kales, and yoghurt dressing. Having sweet potato as my carbohydrate was interesting because I was used to having bread, rice...so now I get to eat healthy ones."
Salad with meat and cheese.
While she doesn't follow every AI suggestion strictly, Bella treats it as a guide and cross-checks with her own knowledge, finding a balance between the two.
"I use AI as a tool and not the final authority. I'm actually physically active and train five days in a week, I do a lot of research on what I'm consuming, I listen to podcasts and have nutritionists as friends and in the gym, I train in."
To protect her health and dietary data, Bella says she only shares what is necessary — her weight, goals, and preferences — but for her, the benefits of personalisation outweigh the risks.
Still, if she could improve one thing about her AI meal planning tool, Bella says she would love it to integrate directly with local supermarkets.
"It generates shopping lists based on prices and availability in my area."
Beyond ChatGPT, a growing number of AI-powered tools are helping people create personalised, healthy meal plans with ease. Apps like Eat This Much, Whisk, and Yummly allow users to generate weekly menus based on their dietary goals, available ingredients, and even cooking time. Mealime and PlateJoy offer custom plans that cater to specific health needs such as weight loss, diabetes, or plant-based diets. These tools also integrate features like portion control, grocery list creation, and nutrition tracking. For many users, they serve not just as recipe generators but as virtual nutrition assistants.
Meal prep in 15 minutes
For Grace Wanjiku, a virtual assistant, the motivation was different. For her, AI's appeal over traditional meal planning lay in how quickly it could generate a plan using whatever she had available, while also highlighting multiple benefits at the same time.
Beyond ChatGPT, a growing number of AI-powered tools are helping people create personalised, healthy meal plans with ease.
Like Bella, Grace uses ChatGPT, which she finds very user-friendly. All she has to do is key in her health goals and favourite foods and, as she puts it, 'voila you have a weekly meal plan.'
"Now, I spend less than 15 minutes, unlike before when I had to take like an hour just creating a meal plan."
By prompting with the right ingredients, she has access to as well as factoring in her budget, Grace says AI has improved her eating habits by offering variety along with clear instructions on how to prepare the meals.
"I also ensure that I tell it what I have access to and my cooking time frame," says the 28-year-old.
At first, before she prompted it with her location and the items she could easily access, Grace says AI suggested ingredients that were out of reach and beyond her budget.
"So, I instruct it to redo the plan with what I have."
And do you follow what it suggests to a T?
"It depends. If I'm in a rush, I will follow, but if I have time, I will tweak some things."
Grace is comfortable letting technology guide her meals, explaining that AI not only saves her time but also sparks new ideas.
"Often than not, I take what it offers and compare it to nutritionists' advice, and it rarely gets it wrong," she says.
So, what is the most surprising or unique meal AI has suggested that she enjoyed? “A lentil vegetable wrap.”
If Grace could change one thing about her AI meal planning tool, it would be the ability for it to store the information she shares and use it to refine future meal plans.
You may also read other AI In Our Lives story series below.
