How AI can help you save money on groceries

With rising grocery prices on everyone’s minds, Whole Foods’ “whole paycheck” joke hits too close to home these days. While food inflation hit a 43-year high in August 2022 at 11.4%it has since declined, to about 2.1% today. But inflation has compounded since 2020. here, making even a small one groceries incur significant costsno matter where you shop.

These days, the cost of eating out versus buying all the ingredients and cooking at home is about the same, especially if you’re only cooking for one or two people. And our convenience-oriented culture has made food delivery apps Uber Eats and DoorDash part of our busy routine, exacerbated by exorbitant grocery costs.

If your weekly grocery spending has become a stressful factor, see what artificial intelligence can do about it. If AI can write a script, surely it can devise a strategy on how to save eggs, right? I decided to try the AI ​​tool Copilot to see what it could do.

Microsoft’s Copilot launched in February 2023, two months after ChatGPT debuted. You can read CNET hands-on review of Copilotbut I chose it over competing AI generating chatbots ChatGPT and Google Twins because it has a specific “cooking assistant” GPT, which seemed like a good sign to save on groceries.

Like ChatGPT, there is a free version of Copilot or a paid option for added features. It promises to be my “daily AI companion”. let’s see

Preparation of the first row

Before opening Copilot, I made a list of my groceries and how much we typically spend as a household. Here’s what I included:

• Organic coffee
• Coffee creamer
• Apples
• Bananas
• Bread with sourdough
• eggs
• avocado
• mushrooms
• Arugula
• Feta cheese
• Yogurt milk
• Granola
• Vegetable chips or pretzels
• Chicken, salmon, steak
• Rice and potatoes
• Asparagus and broccoli
• Ice cream bars
• Chocolate

We spend $100 to $150 a week for just two people.

I submitted this information to Copilot and asked for suggestions on how to save money on groceries.

While some of the advice was interesting (like adding plant-based proteins, which are cheaper), the recommendations were not helpful for the most part. I doubt matcha coffee or mushroom coffee is cheaper than store bought organic coffee and I’m looking for a cheaper way to buy eggs rather than a baking egg alternative like applesauce. I also don’t want to make sourdough or eat cottage cheese instead of avocado.

Prompt 2: “I prefer to eat organic, fresh produce with a Mediterranean diet. Whole Foods is my closest grocery store. How can I save money on the items on my list? I do not want to replace or exchange the items. Is it cheaper to buy in-store at ShopRite or shop online at Whole Foods?”

Copilot told me ShopRite was cheaper and might be worth the extra 10 minute drive. I asked what day and time is best for grocery shopping and it said, “The consensus among various sources is that Wednesday is usually the best day to grocery shop if you’re looking for deals. Many stores start their new sales week on Wednesday, so you’ll have first access to the weekly discounts and promotions.”

Also told me to wait until late at night or right before the store closes to get discounts on perishables including meat and produce.

So far, I’ve learned three valuable takeaways:

1. Add cheaper sources of protein, such as plant-based products.
2. Switch to ShopRite (10 min drive vs 7 min walk).
3. Shop on Wednesdays, after work if possible – or ask the store when sales usually start.

Buy groceries based on AI-suggested recipes

I decided to try this a different way and ask for meal recommendations.

Prompt 3: “Use my grocery list to plan five lunches and dinners for me and my partner. We like to eat an organic Mediterranean diet and you can add tofu as another source of protein. Our budget is $75 a week.”

I run it through Copilot and Copilot Cooking Assistant. I preferred the Cooking Assistant list, but it was a little fancy for my taste. Who has the energy to cook bechamel-eggplant moussaka on a Friday night?

I asked him to use more items from my grocery list and add chicken, salmon and steak dinners as well as egg dishes for lunch and made it clear that I didn’t want anything too fancy, time consuming or expensive.

Copilot makes me drool!

Once I was happy with the meal plan, I asked for a shopping list of the ingredients I needed for the week, staying under $75. It gave me a shopping list with exactly how much of each item I would need, and divided it into sections for produce, protein, dairy, carbs, pantry, and “other.”

A warning about AI’s knowledge of pricing

Although Copilot has access to the Internet, it is unlikely to have the most up-to-date prices, especially for daily sales at local grocery stores. In other words, take Copilot’s advice with a grain of salt.

You may need to further customize the plan depending on your local rates. Expect to drop, swap, or switch items based on your budget once you actually get to the grocery store and see which items are on sale or which have jumped in price.

What Copilot does well is help you easily create and organize a list of meals using your standard ingredients so you can do more strategic grocery shopping.

For more ways to use AI, here how to use Copilot to create notes for almost anything and how to use ChatGPT to find your dream job.