As of 13 August 2026, AI can plan the food for your party.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, no skill needed, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a chatbot and paste the prompt, filling in the guest count, party timing, budget, dietary requirements, equipment and preparation time.
   2. Gather the generated menu, quantities, shopping list and timetable into one note, and remove any dish that does not fit your kitchen, budget or available time.
   3. Check every allergy and dietary item against the actual packaging or supplier information you expect to use, including ingredients and cross-contact warnings.
   4. Compare the shopping list with current prices and availability at your chosen UK shops, then replace unavailable products and recalculate quantities where needed.
   5. Use the timetable to assign preparation, chilling, reheating and serving tasks, and add any missing serving dishes, utensils, ice or storage containers.
   6. Before serving, check the final ingredients and storage instructions yourself and tell guests exactly which dishes match their stated dietary requirements.

   Prompt

   Plan the food for my UK party using the information below.
   
   Party type: [for example, birthday, barbecue or buffet]
   Date and serving time: [insert]
   Number of guests: [insert]
   Children and adults: [insert]
   Budget: [insert pounds or say unknown]
   Dietary requirements and allergies: [list each guest separately, or say none known]
   Foods to avoid and favourite foods: [insert]
   Kitchen, oven, fridge, freezer and serving equipment: [insert]
   Available preparation time: [insert]
   Shopping location or shops I can use: [insert]
   Weather or indoor and outdoor plans: [insert]
   
   Create:
   1. A cohesive menu with quantities for the number of guests.
   2. Separate clearly labelled options for dietary requirements and allergies. Do not assume that a vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or allergy-safe item is safe without checking its ingredients and preparation.
   3. A shopping list grouped by shop section, with quantities and sensible alternatives where availability may vary.
   4. A preparation and serving timetable that fits the equipment and time above.
   5. A plan for drinks, serving equipment, leftovers and keeping hot or cold food safe.
   6. A short list of decisions I must check myself, including ingredient labels, cross-contact risks, current prices, availability and whether the quantities suit my guests.
   
   Do not invent prices, brand ingredients, guest preferences or allergy facts. State assumptions clearly. If the information is insufficient, give a practical draft based only on labelled assumptions rather than pretending to know. Use UK terms and pounds, and keep the menu realistic for a home party.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.