I love food. I enjoy trying new recipes and exploring different cuisines.

But every Saturday morning, I find myself staring at my calendar, trying to figure out: 

I spend my Saturday morning trying to answer all these questions before I put a grocery order in. It’s exhausting, mundane and I’d rather spend my day off work doing more meaningful things.

I also kept falling into the same rotation of 10 meals because it was easier than planning something new.

I started to think about the meal planning dilemma in terms of a workflow.

I needed to map out the process and identify the knowledge sources. What can be automated and what should be uniquely human.  

If AI can access and use data, then maybe some of my tasks could be replicated, repeated and automated.

The first step was to understand what type of data AI can read and handle. For example, can AI access my calendar, chef websites and grocery app?

When considering my options, I looked for AI platforms that can access the web. I also reviewed integrations with tools like Google Calendar. 

I wanted to run this workflow from the palm of my hand, so an AI agent that can run on my phone would be ideal.

Claude is an AI chatbot with Android and web apps. It has extended thinking, which means it can reason through complex problems before responding. AI responses may take a little longer, but they are reflective and show reasoning. This helps me to understand how the AI arrived at the answer.

The first step was getting my calendars to talk to each other. I synced my work calendar, personal calendar and social commitments into one system. This gave me a clear view of my week.

Then, I created a Claude project and set it up as my Meal Planner Agent.

I also told it to avoid repeating meals too often. For example, don’t repeat the same meals within 2 months, unless they are marked as our favourites (chicken schnitzel is a household favourite, so I will most likely cook this twice a month).

I then asked the agent to suggest recipes that match my schedule: quick dinners on busy nights. More complex recipes when I have no events on.

You don’t always want your AI agents accessing the entire internet to make decisions. Just like your instructions, you should also be specific when it comes to knowledge sources.

For Claude, I gave it a list of external sources to use, including:

Just because you’ve given your AI agent specific information, it doesn’t mean it can access or accurately interpret the data. You should always conduct AI evaluations to determine the validity of the AI output and ensure agents are not hallucinating (providing data or content that doesn’t exist).

To evaluate the AI output, I tested its access to the URLs by asking it to fetch specific recipes. When it delivered the correct recipe, I asked it to send a list of all the ingredients for that recipe, breaking them down into protein (fish or meat) and the rest.  

I buy my protein from a local butcher, so I need those ingredients listed separately. When reviewing the AI’s response, I confirmed that it correctly read the recipe content and extracted the protein from other ingredients. I manually checked the AI outputs against the original sources to ensure it extracted the correct data.

I realised the issue was with how my calendars were sharing information. I needed to set up proper 2-way syncing rather than just viewing multiple calendars in one place. Claude cannot natively access Microsoft apps; however, it can easily access Google.

I fixed the calendar syncing issues by consolidating my calendar setup. I made sure all my calendars were properly connected through my Google account. My Microsoft events feed into my Google calendar, so all events are now in one spot.

I set up clear naming conventions for different types of events so the AI agent could recognise patterns. For example, work events included 'meeting' or 'workshop' in the title, while social events used different keywords, such as ‘Dinner with friends’ or ‘Beach outing’.

I also needed to make a personal note to ensure event information was entered accurately so the AI agent used the correct information. So now, when I lock in a personal event, I add in the correct timing, not just a random timeframe.

Before the AI Meal Planner Agent

These times are averages based on my experience. They give me a starting point and a benchmark for success. If the AI agent doesn’t reduce the time I spend on planning meals for the week, then this AI workflow is not a success.

Total time

With the AI Meal Planner Agent, I’ve saved 80 minutes of my time every week. That’s a 79% time saving for this task.

Of course, there are still manual checkpoints, but that should always be the case when using AI.  

The next step is to see if my agent can then order my groceries, using my ingredient list. However, there’s no integration between Claude and my grocery app, so that may take some more creative work.

Total time

Building this AI agent taught me that technology works best when it adapts to your life, not the other way around.

I didn't need another recipe app or meal planning template. I needed something that understood my schedule and my preferences. Something that could take the decision fatigue out of meal planning while keeping the joy of cooking new things. 

If you're struggling with meal planning, consider how an AI agent could help. If you want to reduce your cognitive load, break down your task into specific steps and highlight what could be automated. 

The AI setup took a few hours with some tinkering over time. But the ongoing benefit is worth it. I get personalised plans without the mental effort...and I’ve rediscovered why I loved cooking in the first place.

Even if you’re not using AI to prep your meals for the week, you can apply the same process to your own scenario.

Here's a process for creating an AI agent for any scenario:

Build in manual checks at critical decision points. AI agents work best when they handle the heavy lifting while you verify key outputs and make final decisions.

The time you invest in setting up an AI agent pays dividends every time you use it. You're not just saving time on one task. You're reclaiming mental energy for work that actually matters.