I let AI plan dinner. Now I’m a chef with no idea what a shallot is.
S1 · E1· Aired Friday · 4 min readHomeParenting
Guest starring The Fridge
Cold open
Scene 1INT. KITCHEN — 5:02 P.M.
A man stares into an open fridge like it owes him money. The fridge stares back. Neither one has a plan.
MY YOUNGEST (O.S.)
What’s for dinner?
DAD
(long pause)
What do you want?
Act one
Here’s the thing about cooking for a family. It’s not the cooking. It’s the deciding. Every day around 5 p.m., a man has to answer the hardest question in the house: “What’s for dinner?” And “I don’t know, what do you want?” is not an answer. It’s a hostage negotiation.
So I asked AI. I told it what was in the fridge, said I needed a few meals, and asked it not to make me buy anything I’d use once. Thirty seconds later I had recipes, a shopping list, and steps in order.
“In order. Nobody in my house has done anything in order since 2015.”
Act two
I followed them, and they worked. My daughters ate it. Nobody asked for “just plain noodles.” I stood in my kitchen like I’d landed a plane.
Then I got cocky. I used an app called Instinct to sort out the rest of my life. Tasks, errands, the stuff I keep “remembering” at 11 p.m. Suddenly I had a list. A real one, not the one in my head that’s mostly “do the thing” and “call that guy.”
Is this growth? I think it’s growth. My kitchen is clean, my tasks are sorted, and I’ve never felt more like a man who owns a label maker.
DAD
(typing, hopeful)
CUT TO: DINNER.
Next week on Bedtime Hustle…
Before you open the fridge, ask the AI. Let the robot handle the decision. You handle the eating.
I’m the chef now. Don’t ask me what a shallot is.
— Mario
How’d this episode land?
Counting the house…
Studio audience votes are anonymous. Unlike my wife’s eyebrow and the girls’ reviews.
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