The Weekly Meal Plan
Three shapes of a weekly ask.
Family Manager now has the pantry and the rules. The weekly plan is just a matter of telling it what kind of week this is. Three "shapes" cover most weeks — a normal one, one where money's the headline constraint, and one where you're trying to clear out what's already in the fridge.
You don't memorize prompts. You describe the week. Cowork plans.
The three shapes
- Normal week — most weeks. Tell Cowork the basic parameters and let it plan.
- Budget-first week — when the grocery number has to come in low. Cowork plans the cheapest path that still fits your rules.
- Pantry-clearing week — reverse flow. You tell Cowork what's about to go bad or needs using up; Cowork builds meals around it.
The normal week.
This is the workhorse. You're running a regular week — no special constraints — and you just need a plan. Open Family Manager, describe the week, and let it plan.
Here's one way to ask:
The prompt is short because Family Manager already knows your pantry, your rules, your family, your preferences. You only need to tell it what's different about this week — a kid out a night, a busy work stretch, a guest coming over.
Iterate, don't perfect first try.
Cowork's first draft is rarely the final. Tell it what to change: "swap Wednesday for something simpler — it's a late night," "Aiden won't touch fish, pick something else for Tuesday," "Make Friday a leftovers night, plan one fewer meal." Iterate until the plan feels right, then save.
The budget-first week.
Some weeks the grocery number has to come in low. You don't reframe the whole plan from scratch — you just tell Cowork the constraint and let it work within it.
One way to ask:
Cowork plans heavy on pantry, light on the cart, and flags the meals that are the best value. You see exactly what the new groceries cost before you commit.
When budget keeps being tight.
If you find yourself running the budget-first variant every week, that's a signal worth telling Family Manager: "From now on, default to keeping groceries under $80 a week unless I say otherwise. Build that into Custom Instructions." Now every week's plan starts from that constraint without you having to specify.
The "what's already in this house" week.
Reverse flow. Instead of "plan a week, then tell me what to buy," you start with what's in the fridge and ask Cowork to build meals around it. Great for weeks after a big shop, after a holiday, or when you're trying to actually use up what you have.
One way to ask:
Cowork builds a plan where the existing items are the centerpiece. You see exactly how the inventory gets used up, and the grocery list is short by design.
You can mix and match.
These three shapes aren't exclusive. Most real weeks are a blend — a normal plan with a tight-ish budget, or a pantry-clearing plan that still respects the kid's pickiness. Tell Cowork what's actually going on this week and it'll plan accordingly. The three shapes are starting points, not boxes you have to fit your week into.
Next: Grocery List by Aisle.
The meal plan tells you what you're cooking. The next lesson turns it into a grocery list — organized by aisle so you can walk through the store without zigzagging, with a built-in "what do I probably already have" pass to trim before you go.
Continue to Grocery List by Aisle →