Plan a week of family meals and fill an HEB curbside cart with ChatGPT

Posted

Sep 8, 2026 by Chris Spitzenberger (@spitzbits)

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Last checked

Oct 21, 2026

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Method:

How we verify

Evidence: Screenshots or logsThe source shows screenshots, a transcript or the AI's output.

Context: The poster works on Codex at OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT.

Beginner-friendlyNo logins, payments or coding needed. Low risk: paste the prompt and you should get something useful.

Outcome

Chris Spitzenberger wanted to eat healthier without being much of a cook. ChatGPT drew up a week of family meals, then added every ingredient to an HEB cart for curbside pickup using Computer Use. It also made a PDF of the weekly plan and emailed it to Spitzenberger's spouse. That evening Spitzenberger cooked the first meal from the plan.

AI tool

ChatGPT

The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.

What the prompt labels mean

Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about anything important that's missing below. Keep them quick. Then do the task, checking in with me at the key points.

Goal: Plan a week of healthy family dinners and put all the ingredients in my grocery store's pickup cart.

What I can give you (ask for whatever's missing):
- How many people, ages, and any allergies or dislikes: [HOUSEHOLD]
- My store and pickup or delivery: [STORE]
- Cooking skill, time per night and equipment: [DETAILS]
- Budget for the week: [AMOUNT]

Rules:
- Keep recipes simple and reuse ingredients across the week to cut waste.
- Combine quantities into one shopping list and leave out things I say I already have.
- Add the items to the store's cart, choosing the closest match when something's out of stock and telling me what you swapped.
- Make a one-page PDF of the plan with the recipes.
- If a site asks me to sign in, pause and let me do it myself (including any CAPTCHA or two-step code); never guess or store passwords.
- Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.

Output: A filled cart ready for me to check out, the shopping list, and the meal plan PDF.

You'll know it worked when: I check out the cart and can cook every meal on the plan.

Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about anything important that's missing below. Keep them quick. Then do the task, checking in with me at the key points.

Goal: Plan a week of healthy family dinners and put all the ingredients in my grocery store's pickup cart.

What I can give you (ask for whatever's missing):
- How many people, ages, and any allergies or dislikes: [HOUSEHOLD]
- My store and pickup or delivery: [STORE]
- Cooking skill, time per night and equipment: [DETAILS]
- Budget for the week: [AMOUNT]

Rules:
- Keep recipes simple and reuse ingredients across the week to cut waste.
- Combine quantities into one shopping list and leave out things I say I already have.
- Add the items to the store's cart, choosing the closest match when something's out of stock and telling me what you swapped.
- Make a one-page PDF of the plan with the recipes.
- If a site asks me to sign in, pause and let me do it myself (including any CAPTCHA or two-step code); never guess or store passwords.
- Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.

Output: A filled cart ready for me to check out, the shopping list, and the meal plan PDF.

You'll know it worked when: I check out the cart and can cook every meal on the plan.

Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about anything important that's missing below. Keep them quick. Then do the task, checking in with me at the key points.

Goal: Plan a week of healthy family dinners and put all the ingredients in my grocery store's pickup cart.

What I can give you (ask for whatever's missing):
- How many people, ages, and any allergies or dislikes: [HOUSEHOLD]
- My store and pickup or delivery: [STORE]
- Cooking skill, time per night and equipment: [DETAILS]
- Budget for the week: [AMOUNT]

Rules:
- Keep recipes simple and reuse ingredients across the week to cut waste.
- Combine quantities into one shopping list and leave out things I say I already have.
- Add the items to the store's cart, choosing the closest match when something's out of stock and telling me what you swapped.
- Make a one-page PDF of the plan with the recipes.
- If a site asks me to sign in, pause and let me do it myself (including any CAPTCHA or two-step code); never guess or store passwords.
- Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.
- Show the cart total against my budget before I check out.

Output: A filled cart ready for me to check out, the shopping list, and the meal plan PDF.

You'll know it worked when: I check out the cart and can cook every meal on the plan.

Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.

Source

https://x.com/spitzbits/status/2097457348625531116