“The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.”

– Michael Pollan, Author, In Defense of Food

I love this quote. It reminds me that a meal is so much more than food. That eating is more than necessary, it’s a gift we are given along with the choice to decide what we eat, and where, and whom we enjoy it with. 

That said, something as straightforward as eating has become a harrowing prospect to me since having kids. Some days it feels like the kids rule the roost and I’m desperately making three meals to please everyone around the table, or I’ve successfully made one and can’t enjoy it because I’m worried no one else likes it and contemplating what else to make.  While this is a timeless parenting struggle (I remember my own parents enforcing the “no talking rule” when I wouldn’t stop talking to eat my meal, LOL), it seems that the perceived “ease” of preparing other meals has made dinner more complicated now than in generations past.

AI has become a saving grace when it comes to meal planning, and removes at least a little of the trepidation enough so that by the time I get to the “act of culture” part of eating—with kids this is more like “the one time a day we can sit together in organized chaos”—I am at least at peace. 

Questions I ask AI about food (and mealtime)

Note: These questions range from simple and on the fly, to more thought out and specific. I don’t include the answers because these questions are meant to help you get creative with your own questions in Chat GPT. If you’re dying to know the answers I received, check out this curated list of my favorite responses!

1. Can you provide some ideas for dinner tonight? I have raw baby carrots, pulled chicken and rolls in the fridge as well as a variety of fruits and greens, as well as pasta and rice in the cupboard. I don’t want to spend more than 15 minutes prepping. Thanks!

2. My daughters often have trouble sitting at the table for long periods of time. They want to get up to give us hugs or do a dance or just run around. We recently bought a new kitchen table and went so far as to get a counter-height one to circumnavigate the problem This has helped some, but not a ton. Any ideas?

3. Mealtime is one of the rare times my family is all together. Can you please provide some fun ideas for discussion and contained games to play as a family while we eat? Also ways to incorporate these games to encourage eating?

4. Can you please help me daydream for a moment and imagine by fridge as an extremely delicious salad bar with whole foods I can cut and prep at the beginning and middle of the week (indicating the time I can leave it cut and in the fridge by each item) and how to best store each item so that I can enjoy it easily while consolidating my time prepping it?

5. Can you please help me formulate an eating plan for my five year old daughter who only likes certain foods like pasta with butter, chicken nuggets, pizza, peas (sometimes), carrots (often), most fruits, sometimes yogurt, and rarely cheese or many meats (except occasionally chicken or rare steak). She hasn’t always been so picky, but “tricks” that have incentivized her in the past (like rewarding with sweets, which I don’t like to do) are no longer working and mealtime  takes forever and it’s really strenuous. I’d love not only an eating plan, but tips on my own behavior and ways to keep her calm and interested. 

6. I love your tips for getting her to try new foods and setting a time limit on how long meal time should be, but what is some informed and educated thinking (showing me the sources would be great) about whether or not I feed her if she doesn’t eat what is put in front of her. Do I let her go to bed hungry? Do I offer her only certain foods as alternatives and no snacks or dessert after dinner? An array of answers would be great, where well-supported. 

7. My kids are starting at a camp next week that requires lunches that cannot be refrigerated. Can you please provide some lunch ideas, preferably whole foods that they will enjoy and that are not too sugary? If they are Kimberly Snyder approved ideas that’s even better, but that seems far-fetched so I’m open to that being a dedicated section outside of all the rest. Thank you!

8. I just went on an incredible trip to Greece and LOVED the food. Can you please give me some ideas about what to have at the ready in my fridge to eat like I’m in Greece. I’d love to have some things prepped (i.e. chopped up or even already cooked in some cases) so that I can easily pull together the meals during the week. 

9. I would also love similarly inspired whole-food ideas I can prepare in advance like this from Italy and France. 

10. Recently I have been eating vegan for most of the day because I find that I feel so much better when I do, but I don’t want to subject my family to my particular eating habits. Can you please give me some meal ideas that can be easily modified for me and my family members who are not vegan? 

11. My kids have a habit of eating fruit at night which I often give instead of dessert… is this recommended? Of course they brush their teeth and floss at night but I’m wondering from a content perspective. I’m interested coming from a person who respects the views of people like Kimberly Snyder, RD. 

12. Based on the questions, I’ve asked you what other prompts do you think might be helpful for me to use in the future?

TIPS: 

When using Chat GPT, be as specific as possible when starting out (see question #1) and even go so far as to give concrete context like “Thinking like a busy mom of two girls (one with a shellfish allergy) who rarely has more than 15 minutes to prep meals and prefers grilling outside or roasting things in the oven to cooking on the stove and likes to prep meals in advance, can you please…”

Also, where appropriate be specific about asking for sources for information. This not only verifies the information but can lead to discoveries about newsletters and blogs you might want to follow. 

Finally, sometimes when I’m struggling with a certain topic like food or sleep I will sit down and do a brain dump in a word document of all the questions I have about that topic, then I’ll rearrange them in a way that makes the most sense in terms of order of information/reveal about me, and then plug them into chat GPT one by one, saving my favorite pieces of advice in a curated list that I can refer to easily when I’m struggling. Kind of like a mantra or a set of affirmations that remind me what works, or could work in the future.