The Ferrier family has taken meal-planning to the next level with AI technology. This smart technology empowers them to make grocery shopping more efficient and dramatically reduce the amount of food their households waste. For Brooke Ferrier and her family of four—two adults, two toddlers—the change has revolutionized their approach to meals and budgeting. They attribute this starkly positive turnaround to the creative use of new AI tools such as ChatGPT. Food and nutrition scientist Emma Beckett has been the behind-the-scenes power that’s been steering them through this process.
By utilizing AI technology, the Ferriers have managed to keep their weekly grocery bills around $140 while providing nutritious meals for their family. This innovative approach has reduced costs while helping to address the environmental consequences of food waste. Beckett highlights that this kind of work is more important now than ever.
The Power of AI Meal Planning
Brooke Ferrier confesses she hadn’t given a second thought to her grocery budget until she adopted AI. Now, thanks to a strategic and intentional weekly meal plan, she is able to prepare breakfast, dinner, and snacks for her whole family with ease. Featured meals include spaghetti bolognese with concealed veggies, chicken and veggie stir-fry, and beef and veggie meatballs.
“But when I cook there are always leftovers … a lot of the meals can serve as snacks later … [things like] fritters, pancakes, sausage rolls.” – Brooke Ferrier
You can read about how Beckett produced this meal plan using ChatGPT to come up with affordable recipes that met the Ferriers’ dietary requirements. Ferrier worked to customize the plan with detailed requests. He added stealth veggies, gave them low-carb options, and made sure the kids never had to eat a lentil.
Ferrier demonstrated just how responsive the AI was to her family’s health concerns. So, one week, she just typed in immunity-boosting foods when her family was under the weather.
“One week, I typed in that we’d been feeling sick and wanted foods that are meant to boost immunity.” – Brooke Ferrier
A Shift in Grocery Shopping Habits
We can’t speak for everyone, but the Ferriers have completely transformed their shopping habits since bringing AI-assisted meal planning into their lives. In the past, they would overbuy food and thus throw much of it away. Today, they don’t have that burden and instead prioritize purchasing only what they need.
“In the past, we were constantly throwing out quite a bit … we always had a lot of waste.” – Brooke Ferrier
Beckett is adamant that users must communicate dietary needs clearly when interacting with AI. He explains that for one, this clarity helps diffuse the emotional triggers that come with grocery shopping. To exploit the emotional impulse that supermarkets are financed to do and compel accidental and direct purchases.
“It means you don’t need to make those decisions because we are emotional in the supermarket, and the supermarkets rely on that.” – Emma Beckett
Using this strategy, the Ferriers got their old fridge to pay for much of its replacement. It barely houses more than the basics anymore, forcing them to stretch meals as much as possible.
“We’ve gone from a fridge full of food all the time, to the bare minimum,” – Brooke Ferrier
Emphasizing Nutrition and Budgeting
Both Brooke Ferrier and Emma Beckett underscore the value of nutrition to the meal planning aspect. Beckett includes a fiber-related prompts that uses the Australian Dietary Guidelines. This method ensures that their meals are cost-effective and nutritious.
“I would add some prompts around things like making sure I had enough fibre according to the Australian Dietary Guidelines,” – Emma Beckett
As for the Ferriers, they’ve learned that strategic meal planning has taken much of the pressure out of cooking every day. Before, Brooke sometimes ended up making meals depending on what she thought up right when she would have to plan a meal, no real forethought. Today, she relies on a solid system that encourages nutrition as well as the saving of dollars and cents.
“There was a lot going on in my personal life and I really didn’t have the capacity to think about what to cook,” – Brooke Ferrier
