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I Used ChatGPT to Feed Myself Twice in 24 Hours (And Actually Ate Vegetables)

When I fed myself twice in 24 hours — including vegetables — it wasn’t meal prep motivation. It was ChatGPT doing the thinking my overloaded brain couldn’t. Here’s how AI helped me cook gumbo for the first time, save forgotten baby vegetables, and bypass mom-brain decision fatigue in real life.

Shae

• 7 min read
Close up view of bowl of gumbo with a dollop of white rice in the middle and topped with green onions

It’s 1:45 PM yesterday and I had a pack of chicken legs sitting in the fridge since Tuesday, an hour before my son’s third nap, exactly zero gumbo-making experience — and I wanted gumbo. Fast forward to 3:04 PM: dinner was bubbling on the stove and my infant was screaming in protest for the second nap he refused to take.

📌 Save this for later

Jump to today’s lunch: I turned “vegetables I bought for my 7-month-old but forgot existed” into an actual adult meal. Both times, ChatGPT came in clutch and did ALL the thinking for me.

And here’s the thing about today’s lunch: I wasn’t planning on making it. I was about to order fast food because it was easier. The fact that I cooked lunch AND ate vegetables is a big fucking deal. I would not have done it without ChatGPT — literally.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a post about becoming some aspirational meal-prep goddess. This is about the moments when you have ingredients, limited time, and a brain that’s already at capacity. It’s about using AI as the cognitive support system it’s actually good at being.

The Gumbo Situation: “I’ve Never Done This Before and I Have One Hour”

The Setup:

  • Chicken legs defrosting since Tuesday (we’ve all been there)
  • Wanted gumbo but had never made it
  • Living in Colorado with limited “authentic gumbo ingredient” access
  • One hour before Silas’s third nap
  • Only requirements: packaged roux and sausage because I was not trying to win any culinary awards

What I Did

I opened ChatGPT and basically word-vomited my situation:

“HELP I want to make a gumbo since I need to use a pack of chicken legs but I’ve never made a gumbo before! I just want to use a packaged roux and I like sausage in it but that’s about all I know lol.”

What ChatGPT Did

Instead of giving me a gatekeepy “well ACTUALLY you need to make your own roux from scratch” lecture, it met me exactly where I was:

“Ohhh hell yes, we’re in gumbo mode. Let’s make this stupid-easy, zero-stress, ‘I swear I’m not ruining dinner’ gumbo. You got this.”

Then it gave me “Shae’s First Gumbo: The Chaos-Proof Version” — rough measurements, realistic ingredients, no pretension.

The Result

By 3:04 PM, gumbo was on the stove. The chicken was fantastic. I made my first gumbo in an hour while managing a screaming baby, and I didn’t have a single “am I doing this wrong?” panic moment because ChatGPT just walked me through it.

The Stir-Fry Situation: “These Were For The Baby But Actually They’re For Me Now”

The Setup

Today’s lunch. Raw carrots and broccoli meant for Silas. Forgotten. Softly judging me from the produce drawer.

I was about to DoorDash some food — that was the whole plan. But something in me paused and thought, “I could just… make something?”

The Problem

I don’t like raw vegetables. I only like carrots when they’re cooked AND don’t taste like carrots. Also, I was prepping Silas’s lunch at the same time.

What I Did

Back to ChatGPT:

“Okay talk to me about what I can do with raw carrots and broccoli that I originally bought for Silas to try.”

ChatGPT immediately understood the assignment:

“Ah, the classic ‘this was for the baby but actually it’s for me now’ moment. Welcome, welcome. Let’s raid the produce drawer like gremlins together.”

When I clarified that I didn’t have sesame oil and wanted carrots to not taste like carrots, it delivered. It gave me “carrot identity-erasure methods” and the “ultimate veggie witness protection program” — aka stir-frying until vegetables no longer resemble their former selves.

The Result

I made lunch. An actual adult lunch. With vegetables. During Silas’s lunch prep. And it was so good — I’m still so proud of myself!

I ate vegetables I cooked myself instead of ordering a burger. This is not normal for me. This is character development.

Why This Actually Worked (The Part Where I Get Real About Mental Load)

Here’s what ChatGPT replaced in both scenarios:

Decision Fatigue Bypass:

I didn’t have to:

  • Google “easy gumbo recipe” and scroll through someone’s dissertation about their grandmother’s kitchen in Louisiana
  • Open 47 browser tabs comparing recipes
  • Second-guess whether I was “doing it right”
  • Spiral into takeout temptation (okay, maybe a little)

ChatGPT removed every thinking step.

Conversation, Not Commands:

This is the thing people miss. AI cooking isn’t about recipes — it’s about having a conversation.

I could say:

  • “I don’t have sesame oil.”
  • “I hate raw carrots.”
  • “I’ve never made gumbo.”

And get real solutions, not judgment.

Realistic Constraints:

ChatGPT met me in my actual reality:

  • One hour window ✓
  • Pantry ingredients ✓
  • First-timer friendly ✓
  • No culinary school energy ✓
  • Baby chaos happening in real-time ✓

The Actual Prompts (Copy/Paste These)

For the Gumbo:

HELP I want to make a gumbo since I need to use a pack of chicken legs but I've never made a gumbo before! I just want to use a packaged roux and I like sausage in it but that's about all I know lol

For the Veggies:

Okay talk to me about what I can do with raw carrots and broccoli that I originally bought for Silas to try

When I got specific:

Okay talk to me about stir fry that sounds yummy. For both broccoli and carrots. I don't have sesame oil though

I should say I don't like raw vegetables and I only like carrot cooked AND it doesn't taste like carrots anymore 😅

The pattern here? Be specific about your chaos. Tell ChatGPT your actual constraints. Don’t try to sound like you have your shit together — that’s not the point.

The more you lean into “here’s my messy reality,” the better the results.

What This Looks Like In Real Life

The Gumbo:

First gumbo ever. One hour. Baby screaming. Chicken: chef’s kiss.
My bowl — which of course I had to add some Louisiana hot sauce to it. All while watching Sesame Street with my little one.

The Stir-Fry:

Vegetables that were supposed to be for my 7-month-old became my lunch. Instead of fast food. This is character development.

The Bigger Picture (Because This Isn’t Just About Food)

Look, I’m not out here claiming ChatGPT is going to solve all your problems or turn you into some Instagram-worthy domestic queen.

But what it can do is take one decision off your plate (pun intended). It can be the thing that thinks through “what can I make with these three ingredients in 30 minutes” so your brain doesn’t have to.

That’s what AI is actually good at — being the cognitive support system for the invisible labor we’re already drowning in.

It’s not about replacing your parenting instincts or outsourcing your humanity. It’s about outsourcing the thinking so you have more bandwidth for the stuff that actually matters.

Like eating vegetables instead of sad drive-thru fries again. (Though fries are a food group in this house.)

If This Sounds Familiar, You’re Not Alone

The mental load of meal planning is real. Decision fatigue is real. The “I’d rather order takeout than think about dinner” feeling is so real.

And it’s not because you’re lazy or bad at adulting — it’s because your cognitive load is already maxed out.

I’ve written before about how ChatGPT can help with the mental load of parenting and why mom brain is actually a nervous system issue, not a character flaw. This is just another example of using AI as a cognitive support system instead of trying to white-knuckle your way through decision fatigue.

Coming Soon: The Mental Load Meal Planner

I’ve been collecting these exact kinds of prompts — the “I have one hour and these random ingredients and a baby who refuses to nap” energy — into something I’m calling the Mental Load Meal Planner.

Think: A three-mode system (Survival / Functioning / Thriving) with embedded ChatGPT prompts that help you figure out what to make based on your actual bandwidth.

If that sounds like something you’d actually use, drop your email below and I’ll let you know when it’s ready. (Plus, you’ll get early access pricing because you’re here at the beginning of this whole thing.)

The Bottom Line

Two meals. 24 hours. Zero meal planning. Minimal ingredients. One exhausted mom. One AI assistant that didn’t judge my carrot issues.

This is what “Applied AI for Motherhood” actually looks like in practice — messy, real-time, and designed to give you back a sliver of cognitive space.

If you need more of that in your life, stick around. This is just the beginning.

Written by Shae — alt millennial mom, developer, M.S. in Psychology. Fascinated by using AI to translate developmental research into survival tools for parents. Real experience where she’s lived it, evidence-based prompts where she hasn’t.