How to use AI for meal planning as a coach. The six-step workflow, six prompts, and the line the model never crosses.

When to use it: Step 3. You have the neutral brief and want the first structured draft.

What to paste in: Targets, meal count, cooking constraints, liked and disliked foods, cuisine, budget. No identity.

You are helping me, a nutrition coach, draft a 7-day meal plan for a healthy adult client. I will check every number and sign off on the plan; your job is a structured first draft, not advice.

TARGETS (set by me, do not change them)
Calories per day: [e.g. 1,900 kcal]
Protein: [e.g. 150 g] Carbohydrate: [e.g. 190 g] Fat: [e.g. 60 g]
Meals per day: [e.g. 3 meals + 1 snack]

CONSTRAINTS
Cooking time per meal: [e.g. 25 minutes max, 45 on Sunday]
Equipment: [e.g. hob, oven, no air fryer]
Budget: [e.g. budget-conscious, supermarket own brands fine]
Foods to build around: [e.g. eggs, chicken thighs, rice, lentils, oats, Greek-style yoghurt alternative]
Foods to leave out: [e.g. dairy, shellfish, coriander]
Cuisine or style: [e.g. simple Scandinavian home cooking]
Repeats: [e.g. breakfast may repeat all week; lunches and dinners at most twice]

OUTPUT
1. A table with columns: Day, Meal, Dish, Ingredients with gram amounts, Calories, Protein, Carbs, Fat.
2. A daily totals row for each day, within 5% of the targets.
3. A list titled "Portions I estimated" naming every line where you guessed an amount or used a generic value, so I can verify it.
4. A 10-item shopping list grouped by aisle.

RULES
No medical claims, no supplement advice, no language about weight loss speed. Plain dish names a client would recognise. Metric units. Do not add motivational text.

When to use it: Step 4. The draft is checked and you want the client to have choice without breaking the totals.

What to paste in: The finished draft table from prompt 1.

Here is a 7-day meal plan draft I have already checked. For every lunch and dinner, give me two like-for-like swaps that keep the meal within 50 kcal and 5 g protein of the original. A swap must use the same cooking time or less and the same constraints (no [e.g. dairy, shellfish]). Present it as a table: Original dish, Swap A with gram amounts and macros, Swap B with gram amounts and macros. Add a "Portions I estimated" list at the end for anything you guessed. Do not change breakfasts or snacks. No commentary.

The plan:
[PASTE THE TABLE]

When to use it: A client's circumstances changed, or the first draft came back too expensive.

What to paste in: The checked draft plus the weekly food budget.

Rewrite this 7-day meal plan for a weekly food budget of about [e.g. EUR 45] for one person, shopping at a standard supermarket in [COUNTRY]. Keep every day within 5% of the original calories and protein. Prefer eggs, tinned fish, frozen vegetables, oats, rice, lentils, chicken thighs and own-brand products. Keep the same constraints (no [e.g. dairy, shellfish]). Output the same table format, a daily totals row per day, a shopping list with an estimated price per line and a total, and a "Portions I estimated" list. Do not use the words "cheap" or "diet" anywhere.

The plan:
[PASTE THE TABLE]

When to use it: A client who will only follow a plan if it takes one cooking session on Sunday and one midweek.

What to paste in: The checked draft plus the two cooking windows and the fridge/freezer situation.

Turn this 7-day meal plan into a batch-cook plan with two cooking sessions: [e.g. Sunday, 90 minutes] and [e.g. Wednesday, 45 minutes]. Keep each day within 5% of the original calories and protein and the same constraints (no [e.g. dairy, shellfish]). Output:
1. A cooking session plan: what is cooked, in what order, with oven and hob running in parallel where sensible.
2. A container list: what goes in each container, portion size in grams, fridge or freezer, and which day it is eaten.
3. The daily eating table with the same columns as the original.
4. A "Portions I estimated" list.
Assume [e.g. 6 fridge containers, freezer available]. Do not include meals that go off before they are eaten.

The plan:
[PASTE THE TABLE]

When to use it: Step 6. The plan is checked and you want a short note to send with it that you will rewrite in your own voice.

What to paste in: The checked plan and the two or three things you want the client to notice. No client name.

Write a short note to go with this meal plan, which I will edit before sending. Plain words, second person, 90 to 130 words. Structure: what the week is built around (one sentence), the two things I want them to notice [e.g. breakfast repeats on purpose; every dinner has a swap], what to do if a day goes wrong (one sentence: eat the next meal as planned), and one question to answer at the next check-in. No "journey", no "fuel", no "nourish", no exclamation marks, no emoji, no medical or weight-loss claims. Two versions: A neutral, B warmer.

Two messages I wrote to clients before, for tone: [PASTE]
The plan and my notes: [PASTE]

When to use it: The draft is nutritionally right but the food is not what the client eats at home.

What to paste in: The checked draft, the cuisine, and a few dishes the client actually cooks.

Adapt this 7-day meal plan to [e.g. Turkish home cooking as made by a working parent on weeknights]. Keep every day within 5% of the original calories and protein and the same constraints (no [e.g. dairy, shellfish]). Use dishes like [e.g. menemen, mercimek corbasi, bulgur pilav, tavuk sote] and standard ingredients from a [COUNTRY] supermarket or a local grocer. Keep the cooking times. Output the same table with gram amounts and per-meal macros, daily totals, a shopping list, and a "Portions I estimated" list that names every dish where you converted a traditional portion into grams, so I can verify it. Do not caricature the cuisine; ordinary weeknight food.

The plan:
[PASTE THE TABLE]