A week of dinners on a $100 budget
A hundred dollars, seven dinners, and no plan. Don't start with recipes. Start with the number — and what's already in your kitchen.
The lesson
Give it the real job: the budget, the headcount, who's eating. The first plan will be technically under budget and completely wrong for your house — too much from-scratch cooking, ingredients you already own bought again. So talk back: we don't cook on busy nights, the pantry already has rice and pasta, build around what's here. Now the plan fits your actual week — and there's usually money left over.
Try it — 60 seconds
I have $[100] for dinners this week, feeding [how many people]. The pantry already has: [what's actually there]. Some nights are rushed. Plan 7 dinners with one shopping list and rough prices.
Copy it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — whichever you already use. Fill in the brackets with your real life.
Watch out
It doesn't know your store's prices this week — every number is an estimate. Spot-check the three biggest items before you shop.