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Take a photo of your fridge and let AI cook with what you've got

Most of us open the fridge at some point in the week and stare at a collection of things that don't obviously add up to a meal. A bit of this, a bit of that, the tail end of several things bought for something else entirely.

For a long time I did what most people do: closed the fridge, thought vaguely about going to the shops, and ended up making something familiar. Then I read that ChatGPT could actually look at a photo and see what was in it. So I held my phone up to the open fridge and gave it a try. What it came back with genuinely surprised me.

What ChatGPT can actually see

When you upload a photo to ChatGPT, it can look at it properly and tell you what it sees. Hold your phone up to an open fridge, take a clear picture, and ChatGPT will work out what's on the shelves. From there it can suggest what you could make, give you a full recipe and talk you through it step by step.

It's not magic. It's just a very capable tool being pointed at a very everyday problem.

How to do it

Open your fridge and leave the door open. Take a photo on your phone that shows the shelves clearly. Don't worry about making it look tidy first — that rather defeats the point.

Then open ChatGPT on your phone. Start a new conversation, tap the paperclip or the photo icon to attach the picture, and type your request. Something like this works well:

"Here's what's in my fridge. Can you suggest a meal I could make with these ingredients? I also have pasta, rice, olive oil, tinned tomatoes, basic dried herbs and some garlic in the cupboard."

ChatGPT will look at the photo, work out what you have, and come back with one or more suggestions complete with a full recipe and instructions.

Prompts that make it even more useful

You can steer the suggestions to suit exactly what you want. Try adding any of these to your message:

"Something that takes no more than 30 minutes."

"A main meal for two people."

"Nothing too complicated — I'm a fairly basic cook."

"We don't eat [ingredient], so please leave that out."

"Give me two or three options and I'll pick one."

The more detail you give, the more useful the answer. ChatGPT is working with what you tell it, so the clearer your message, the better the result.

What happened when I tried it

I'll be honest — the first time I did this, I was partly just curious to see if it actually worked. My wife was home, so I said nothing, went and photographed the fridge, and put together a meal entirely from what was in there.

It was nothing like our usual meals. ChatGPT had come up with something neither of us would have thought of, made from things we'd have probably worked around or left until the next shop. It worked. We both enjoyed it. We've made it again since.

That's what struck me most. It wasn't just a novelty. It turned into a recipe we actually kept.

A few tips before you start

Take the photo with the fridge door fully open and the interior light on. The clearer the picture, the more accurately ChatGPT can see what's there and the better the suggestions will be.

Always mention your cupboard staples separately — ChatGPT can't see inside them. A quick sentence covering things like pasta, rice, tinned goods, oils and herbs makes a significant difference to what it comes back with.

If the first suggestion doesn't appeal, just say so. "Can you suggest something a bit simpler?" or "We had pasta last night — what else could we make?" will get you something different straight away. Keep going until something catches your eye. There's no limit.