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More in Meals & Cooking. Also fits: Money, Bills & Taxes.

Plan five dinners for two on $65: ChatGPT vs Grok

PartialEvidence: Described by posterPosted Last checked

ChatGPT met the brief, but Grok assumed missing ingredients and planned too little chicken.

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  1. Tap Copy prompt.
  2. Open ChatGPT.
  3. Paste it into the message box.
  4. Send it, then read the answer before acting on it.
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Prompt

Original prompt

The prompt as the person shared it in the source.

What the prompt labels mean

These are the person's own words, as shared in the source.

I'm cooking dinner for two adults for five nights this week, and I only have $65 to spend on groceries. We don't eat seafood, and I don't want anything that takes more than 30 minutes to prepare. Create five different dinners, one combined shopping list with estimated U.S. supermarket prices, and show me the total. Reuse ingredients to save money, and don't assume I already have anything except salt, pepper and cooking oil.

Try this in:

ChatGPT Used in sourceGemini Grok Used in sourceClaude

Sends the Original prompt shown above. ChatGPT and Grok open with it filled in, and ChatGPT may send it straight away. Gemini and Claude open empty, so we copy the prompt for you to paste. Every button also copies it.

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Optional stronger version

Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.

Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about the details below and wait for my answers. Once I've answered, confirm the plan in one line and run the whole task start to finish.

Goal: Plan a week of quick dinners within a strict grocery budget, with one shopping list that covers everything.

Questions to ask me first:
- How many people and nights, and what's the budget?
- Which foods are out, and how long can cooking take?
- What do you already have at home?

Inputs (fill in or confirm):
- People and nights: [FOR EXAMPLE 2 ADULTS, 5 NIGHTS]
- Budget: [AMOUNT]
- Foods to avoid: [LIST]
- Most time per meal: [MINUTES]
- Already at home: [FOR EXAMPLE SALT, PEPPER, OIL]
- Store I shop at: [STORE]

Rules:
- Put every ingredient on the shopping list, including spices and sauces, unless it's in my at-home list.
- Use realistic amounts for the number of people and meals.
- Reuse ingredients across meals to save money.
- Label prices as estimates and keep the total under the budget.

Checkpoint: Show me the five dinner ideas before writing the full list and steps.

If you get stuck: If the budget is too tight for the meals, say so and offer cheaper swaps.

Verify before you finish: Check that each recipe's ingredients appear on the list in enough quantity and that the total adds up.

Output: Five dinners with short steps, one shopping list with amounts and estimated prices, and the total.

Done when: I can shop from one list and cook all five dinners without extra trips.

AI tools

ChatGPTGrok

Outcome

Amanda Caswell of Tom's Guide gave ChatGPT and Grok the same grocery budget challenge: five different dinners for two adults on $65, no seafood, nothing over 30 minutes, ingredients reused to save money, one shopping list with estimated U.S. supermarket prices and a total, and nothing assumed in the pantry except salt, pepper and cooking oil. Grok kept the price low and gave a solid list of meals but missed key details: it assumed ingredients that weren't on the list, planned only 1.5 lbs of chicken across three meat-heavy dinners and gave vague cooking guidance. ChatGPT stuck to the no-pantry rule, included the needed seasonings, mapped meal prep to the listed items and gave a very complete shopping list with prices. Caswell picked ChatGPT as the winner for a much more practical, thorough response.

Evidence: Described by posterThe person describes what happened in words, without screenshots or video.

Known limitations

PartialThe source says it only partly worked, or had a significant problem a person had to deal with.

What went wrong: ChatGPT met the brief, but Grok assumed missing ingredients and planned too little chicken.

Source

Posted
by Amanda Caswell (Tom's Guide)
Last checked
Method:
How we verify

https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/i-tested-chatgpt-vs-grok-with-5-questions-boomers-actually-ask-and-the-winner-surprised-me

Context: Prices were the chatbots' estimates and weren't checked at a store. This was one of five prompts in the same comparison; the Medicare explainer is a separate case.

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