The Fridge Photo Weekly Menu

# The Fridge Photo Weekly Menu

A copy-paste prompt for busy families. Works best with a vision-capable model (Claude with an image attached, or similar). The whole point is that the AI has to *see* the shelf — don't use this without attaching at least one photo.

---

## The prompt

Paste the block below into Claude (or another vision-capable model), attach 1–3 photos of your fridge, pantry, and freezer, and fill in the bracketed parts.

```
You are a calm, practical home cook helping me plan dinners for the next five
nights using ONLY the food I already have, plus at most three cheap additions
from the store. I'm going to attach photos of my fridge, pantry, and freezer.

Here's the situation:

- People eating: [number of adults and kids, e.g. "2 adults and 2 kids, ages 7 and 10"]
- Nights to cover: [5, or however many]
- Things we cannot eat or don't like: [allergies, diets, picky-eater things — be specific]
- Rough cooking time on weeknights: [e.g. "30 minutes, and one night I have 10 minutes max"]
- Kitchen equipment I have: [e.g. "stovetop, oven, sheet pans, one pot, air fryer — no Instant Pot"]
- The hardest night this week: [e.g. "Thursday, soccer practice"]

Please do the following, in this order:

1. FIRST, read the photos carefully and tell me what you can actually see. List
   ingredients in three groups: fridge, pantry, freezer. If a shelf is blurry,
   hidden behind something, or cut off in the photo, say so — do not guess what's
   there. If you think you see something but you're not sure (e.g. "a green jar
   that might be pesto or might be capers"), say so and ask me.

2. Flag anything that is about to go bad. If the spinach looks wilted, say so.
   If the bread has visible mold, say so. If you can't tell freshness from a
   photo, don't pretend you can.

3. Ask me up to three clarifying questions — ONLY if the answers would change
   the plan meaningfully. (Examples of good questions: "Is that chicken cooked
   or raw?" "How much rice is in that bag, roughly?" "Is the yogurt plain or
   flavored?") Do NOT ask questions just to seem thorough.

4. Propose a five-night dinner plan using only what's in the photos plus a
   maximum of THREE cheap additions from the store. For each night give me:
   - A short dish name
   - The ingredients it uses (from the photos)
   - Roughly how long it takes
   - One sentence on how to make it — not a full recipe, just the shape
   - A "why this night" note (e.g. "Wednesday, because the spinach is on
     its last day")

5. Order the plan so the most perishable things get used first and the most
   shelf-stable things get used last.

6. Give me a grocery list with a maximum of three items. For each item, tell me
   why it's on the list (which meals it unlocks) and a rough cost. If the plan
   works with zero additions, say so and give me an empty list — do not invent
   items to seem helpful.

7. Suggest ONE small thing I can prep tonight in under ten minutes that will
   make the hardest night ([the hardest night I named above]) much faster.

Rules:

- Only use ingredients you can actually see in the photos, plus the three
  approved additions.
- Do not assume I have pantry basics unless I can see them. If you want to use
  olive oil, check that it's visible. If you want to use soy sauce, check.
- Do not write full recipes — just the shape. If I want a recipe for a specific
  night, I'll ask.
- Do not suggest anything on the "cannot eat" list, ever.
- If a night is genuinely hard to solve with what's in the photos, say so
  honestly: "Night 4 is the weak one — you're stretching it. Here's the best
  I can do, but it won't be the highlight of the week."
- This is not a nutrition plan. Do not label meals as "healthy" or "balanced"
  unless I ask.
- If the photos are too dark, too few, or missing a whole category (e.g. no
  pantry photo), say so and ask for another photo before committing to a plan.

Start with step 1.
```

---

## How to use it

1. Open your fridge and take one clear photo. Move things aside so you can actually see to the back. Do the same for the pantry shelf and the freezer drawer.
2. Open Claude, attach the photos, and paste the prompt above.
3. Fill in the bracketed parts. Be honest about the hardest night and the "cannot eat" list — that's where the plan lives or dies.
4. Hit send.

The first reply will usually be the inventory read and up to three clarifying questions. Answer them, then the plan comes back in one go.

## Example usage

**Photo attached:** a cluttered fridge, a small pantry shelf, and the freezer drawer.

**Bracketed inputs filled in:**

- People eating: 2 adults, 1 kid (9)
- Nights to cover: 5
- Things we cannot eat: the kid won't touch tomato chunks (purée fine), no shellfish
- Cooking time: 30 min most nights, Tuesday is 10 min max
- Equipment: stovetop, oven, sheet pans, rice cooker
- Hardest night: Tuesday

**A plausible inventory read** (from the photos): half a rotisserie chicken, a bag of spinach, 4 eggs, cheddar, half an onion, pantry rice + pasta + canned tomatoes + olive oil + soy sauce, freezer peas and a bag of frozen gyoza.

**A plausible plan output:**

1. **Monday — chicken fried rice.** Uses rotisserie chicken, rice, eggs, peas, soy sauce, half the onion. 25 min. *Why tonight:* the spinach isn't in it, so it can wait one more day.
2. **Tuesday — sheet-pan gyoza with buttered peas.** Uses freezer gyoza and peas. 10 minutes including preheat. *Why tonight:* soccer night.
3. **Wednesday — spinach and cheddar frittata with toast.** Uses remaining eggs, spinach, cheddar, the last of the onion. 20 min. *Why tonight:* the spinach is on its last day.
4. **Thursday — pasta with tomato and chicken.** Uses pasta, canned tomatoes, the rest of the chicken. 25 min.
5. **Friday — rice bowls with fridge odds and ends.** 20 min.

**Grocery list (3 items max):**

- A loaf of bread (~$3) — for Wednesday toast.
- A lemon (~$0.75) — brightens the frittata and the pasta both.
- A bunch of scallions (~$1.50) — finishes the fried rice and the rice bowls.

**One thing to prep tonight:** slice the onion in half and chop one half, store in a small container. Tuesday's 10-minute dinner doesn't need it but Wednesday's frittata does and you won't want to be chopping at 6pm.

## Tuning notes

- **If the plan is too ambitious for your week**, add to the bracketed time constraints: "I want nothing that takes more than 20 minutes active cooking, two of the nights should be leftover-based or assembly-only." The prompt respects constraints if you give it real ones.
- **If you get recipes when you wanted outlines**, add: "Do not write step-by-step instructions. One sentence of shape per dish."
- **If you keep getting "add these six pantry basics"**, your pantry photo wasn't clear enough. Retake it with the door open and the light on. The prompt is honest about what it can't see — trust it.
- **If the model tries to be a nutritionist**, cut it off: "Do not comment on healthiness. I asked for dinners, not a diet plan."
- **If you're cooking for one**, change the "people eating" line and add: "Scale every dish for one, and plan so the leftovers are intentional — the goal is five dinners from three cooking sessions."

## What this prompt is not

- Not a diet plan. Not calorie counting. Not keto, paleo, macro-tracking, or nutritionist output. If you want those, ask a different tool.
- Not a grocery-shopping service. The three-item list is the *only* list. If you need a full weekly shop, use a different meal planner — try [Family Meal Planner](/agents/family-meal-planner).
- Not safe for people who can't see the photo. Vision-capable models only. A text-only model will make things up. Don't let it.
- Not a substitute for knowing your own food. If the AI says "this looks fine" about the mystery container and your nose says otherwise, trust your nose.

That's the whole prompt. One photo, five dinners, three items, ten minutes of prep. Open the fridge.