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Turn a vague dinner ask into a usable family meal plan with Claude
WorkedEvidence: Described by posterPosted Last checked
Brian Cleveland's vague Claude dinner ask flopped; a Role-Context-Task-Format rewrite produced five meals the family ate.
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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 five weeknight dinners and an aisle-sorted grocery list my family will actually eat. Questions to ask me first: - How many people and any picky eaters? - Weekly dinner budget and hard food bans? - What leftovers or pantry items should be used first? Inputs (fill in or confirm): - People: [FAMILY OF 4] - Budget: [~$100] - Avoid: [FISH / …] - Picky rules: [ONE KID] - Pantry/leftovers: [LIST] Rules: - Act as a practical family meal planner, not a magazine. - Reuse ingredients across nights so little is wasted. - No fish or other banned foods. - Return meals first, then a grocery list grouped by store section. Checkpoint: Show the five meals; wait for a quick OK before finalizing the list. If you get stuck: If a meal needs a tool I do not have, swap it. Verify before you finish: Every meal fits the budget and bans; leftovers are planned. Output: Five dinners, aisle list, and a one-line leftover reuse note. Done when: We can cook the week without the defeated pantry stare.
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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 five weeknight dinners and an aisle-sorted grocery list my family will actually eat. Questions to ask me first: - How many people and any picky eaters? - Weekly dinner budget and hard food bans? - What leftovers or pantry items should be used first? Inputs (fill in or confirm): - People: [FAMILY OF 4] - Budget: [~$100] - Avoid: [FISH / …] - Picky rules: [ONE KID] - Pantry/leftovers: [LIST] Rules: - Act as a practical family meal planner, not a magazine. - Reuse ingredients across nights so little is wasted. - No fish or other banned foods. - Return meals first, then a grocery list grouped by store section. Checkpoint: Show the five meals; wait for a quick OK before finalizing the list. If you get stuck: If a meal needs a tool I do not have, swap it. Verify before you finish: Every meal fits the budget and bans; leftovers are planned. Output: Five dinners, aisle list, and a one-line leftover reuse note. Done when: We can cook the week without the defeated pantry stare.
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The prompt they actually used
The exact prompt from the source.
what should I make for dinner this week
AI tool
Outcome
Brian Cleveland first typed "what should I make for dinner this week" into Claude and got a useless generic plan (fish the family does not eat, quinoa the kids would refuse). Rebuilding the ask as Role → Context → Task → Format with a ~$100 budget, no fish, one picky kid, and aisle-sorted groceries produced five weeknight dinners the household actually ate—sheet-pan chicken, tacos, pasta bake, breakfast-for-dinner, and a stir-fry—plus a follow-up that reused leftover chicken and herbs so less food was thrown out.
Evidence: Described by posterThe person describes what happened in words, without screenshots or video.
Source
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- by Brian Cleveland
- Last checked
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- How we verify
https://briantriesai.substack.com/p/brian-tries-ai-issue-13
Context: Author also notes Gemini and ChatGPT work with the same shape; Claude was the tool in the faceplant and fix.
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