AI in the kitchen
The kitchen is one of the most useful places of all to use AI. The range of ways it can help is surprising and the results are often far more useful than any recipe website.
What’s in the fridge? AI will tell you what to make.
This is the one that people react to most. You open the fridge, list what you’ve got (a few vegetables, some leftovers, half a pack of pasta) and ask AI to suggest something to cook. It comes back with a proper recipe, adapted to exactly what you have. It’s a lovely way to make the most of what you’ve got. You can go one step further and simply take a photo of your fridge, letting ChatGPT see what’s there for itself.
Adapting recipes to your needs
Whether it’s avoiding certain ingredients for health reasons, adapting a recipe for someone who doesn’t eat meat or scaling a recipe up or down for more or fewer people, AI handles all of it instantly. Just describe what you need and it adjusts the recipe accordingly.
Planning a week of meals
Ask AI to plan five dinners for the week ahead, factoring in what you already have and what you enjoy. It will produce a shopping list at the same time. What used to take twenty minutes of thought takes about thirty seconds, with ideas you might never have thought of yourself.
Replacing a cookbook
Whatever cuisine you fancy (Italian, Indian, Thai, old-fashioned British) AI knows an enormous number of recipes and can explain each step clearly and at your own pace. It’s endlessly patient, however basic the question.
A note on dates. Everything here was checked when it was written and I go back over my posts regularly to keep them up to date. Apps, prices and rules do change, so for anything important a quick look at the official source is worth it.
Want to explore this further?
This is just one of many practical things that can be covered in depth at one of Kevin’s workshops or in a follow-up session after a free library talk. If the kitchen ideas have caught your eye, ask Kevin to show you more.
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