How Chat GPT can revolutionise family meal plans

Welcome to Make Good Things Happen, a podcast for makers in business presented to you by Angela Dalton and Renee Baker.
Welcome to Make Good Things Happen, a podcast for makers in business presented by myself, Angela Dalton and my co -host Renee Baker, who is of course joining me.
Hello. This episode, we are bringing in a couple of new segments, making headlines.
We’re going to talk about a couple of bits and pieces we’ve recently seen on
socials about just stuff that’s happening in the community. Interesting news, stuff
like that. So I saw Doodad and Fandango. There has been a huge announcement.
I mean, the reason it’s big news is, I mean, Nikita, who is the superstar behind
the label. I think she has 52 ,000 followers or something. So she has come out with
a post saying, as you may know, she put it on pause for a little while last year
or decided to change the way it was going to be moving forward. Anyway, long story
short, she’s using the large account to announce that she’s now got a separate
jewellery account, which I’m really surprised at, that This is now the new phase of
Doodad and Fandango where I’m looking at a picture of a woman wearing yellow
stockings, gorgeous avant -garde, you know, it’s just, I was so impressed with it as
a courageous manoeuvre, like marketing manoeuvre, like, you know what, if you’re into my jewellery, you have to follow it over here now. This is now this account. Yeah,
that is awesome. I actually wasn’t quite sure about the jewellery because I thought
the jewellery was the new business at first but then of course that is what Doodad
and Fandango has traditionally been as the incredible big statement earrings and
jewellery. Yeah, I’m also not sure what it is. One of the photographs in the teaser
looks like a box, looks like packaging of some kind. One of the other things that
was announced on social media this week was our friends have mustard made have come out with a brand new product using fluted glass and yeah obviously the range is called glass. It is kind of a combination of the you know traditional lockers with
yeah fluted glass frontage so that it’s more suited to things like you know
collections and storage of things that you’re not ashamed of, and comes in their
signature gorgeous colours. They had a launch, what looks like a launch party in
London, which is where their headquarters is now, or one of their headquarters.
They are multi -headquartered, the two sisters in the two separate cities. And it
sounds like that’s something that they’ve been working on for a really long a fairly
long time. Well, if you’re not familiar with Mustard Made, they launched with
essentially a single product that came out in a range of sizes, which is an old
school locker in really awesome colours. They created that product essentially because they couldn’t get access to that exact product. It’s kind of that old classic origin story where you want something and it doesn’t exist so you make it. Obviously,
lockers have been around since forever, but it was becoming increasingly hard to get
good quality ones. And so they created this rainbow collection of lockers.
I’m not exactly sure when they launched, but it’s been quite a few years now. And
we do have a interview with Becca from Mustard Made on the Make Good Things Happen blog as well, a video interview. If you’re interested in learning more about this brand because it’s a fascinating story and well worth a listen. But one of the
things that’s happened over the years is inevitably when you create a really awesome
product that’s really popular is you get copied. And it’s a very contentious topic
within the maker community. And it’s something that causes a lot of stress and
heartache for so many makers. And it’s also something that some people sort of say,
well, if you’re not being copied, it’s actually, you’re not big enough, you’re not
being And it’s, you know, it’s, it can be, I guess, seen as, I don’t want to say
that we’re compliment because it’s not a compliment, but it is a measure of your
success or status with you. I don’t like saying it’s a measure of your status
because it makes it feel like it’s a reward. What I think it is, is a measure of
your reach as opposed to like, that’s, to me, it’s more about like, you’re getting
to the good point in terms of your market reach. If this starts to happen, feels
less like, “Oh, take it as a compliment.” Do you know what I’m saying about that?
I’m afraid it’s horrible and it’s a awful feeling. It never feels good. No. No. But
unfortunately, it’s been something that has happened for Mustard Made. I don’t know.
It’s not necessarily something they speak about publicly, but it is something that
we’ve seen through online research. But what I love about the new product, And so
the new product is a reinvention of the traditional locker that they made just with
the glass fluted glass front is they have shown us all that even when things happen
like that, even when you do have a product that gets copied, what’s important is
what you do next and how you move forward. And by essentially just blowing the
pants off everyone with this incredible product Yeah. No one, no one cares.
They just came out hanging with their graphics. I mean, yeah. Yeah.
Speaking of, you know, old school marketing, this is another classic example. They’ve
even had a collaboration with physique on a fluted glass champagne. Yeah.
Yeah. So it’s, it’s, it’s gone all out and congratulations to them as well on that.
That looks amazing. The other thing, Renee, further on the discussion that we had on
the first episode, which was about the Kmart advertisement. Right. Well, I just
thought it was interesting, I think, after the conversation that you and I had about
Kmart advertising and how does $8 feel like? We did just scratch the surface of a
bit of an ethical fashion and ethical consumption discussion. And it just was
interesting because it made me and made us both, I think, continue that conversation offline. Then I saw pop up an article on The Guardian that was also a bite -sized version of it was shared on The Daily Aus that looking at a study that had been released by RMIT that looked at, well, it was essentially trying to recommend a
national recycling scheme to help reduce the 200,000 tons of textiles that are sent
to landfill each year. The actual headline of the article was one in three
Australians are throwing out unwanted clothes in rubbish. So that resulted in 200 ,000 tons of textiles being sent to landfill each year. I’m not actually sure if that’s
in Australia or if that’s worldwide. But either way, it’s a large enough number to
make you not feel awesome. But one of the things that was interesting about this
particular article in the particular study is that Kmart has been associated with it
as being part of organising it and doing the findings. A part of the research.
What you mean? Part of the research. Funding the research. Yes, yes. But on a
further deeper dive, I did find that that was because they had extensive pressure
from the federal government to do so, otherwise they would be regulated. So there’s
maybe, yeah, but I guess, I just thought it was interesting to see that brand name
or that business name in particular being associated with a story about this ethical
consumption and fast fashion and waste and yeah I thought it was really interesting
just to to read and so we can pop those links there if you’re interested. The
other the other interesting note that came out of that was that and I guess this
is probably no surprise to well actually no maybe it was a slight surprise was that
younger people are more likely to buy secondhand clothing but older people are more likely to repair damaged clothing. And I have to say, I probably fall somewhere in the middle because I’ve also thrown out clothes before and I never feel good about
it. But I also have a big bag of to be repaired items that are sitting under my
desk box and that’s the bag of good intentions.
And I know how to do it, but I just do it. – Very generational,
I mean, you’ve just pointed it out. Young people are more likely to buy clothes
from secondhand, you know, markets and op shops, et cetera. And older people are
more likely to repair. And you and I are in the generations right in between those
two people, which is just parents and middle -aged people who were taught to just
Buy as much stuff as you can and Look as good as you can,
you know, make sure no one sees you in anything twice Make sure you always look
incredible new new new new new this overconsumption under these guys of like we look at me I’m so whimsical. I bought so many things for all these bags Look at me
sitting in the bed and look at the way. I’m lavishly putting everything out. That’s
what we were taught taught was good fun. I mean, the generations before us were
taught to mend clothes. And they were taught how to mend clothes. And then,
you know, late boomers just were like, they were consumption central and from them down until the young people who are very into secondhand, because it’s the only place you can buy clothes from the 90s. It’s hard. It’s a hard thing to combat, I
guess is what I’m saying. And you and I have been, I’ve been guilty of it, you’ve
been guilty of it, but both of us have also made considerable changes in our lives
to try and not be that and to be much more conscious in what we do by,
we’re not angels, but we do the best that we can with what we have available to
us. Good follow up. Thanks, folks.
The next segment that we’re chatting about is our Random Stories from Projects Past, which is our little trip down memory lane. And it’s not that easy for me to
remember some of the projects in great detail, but I am enjoying the reflection
process. Angela, you asked if I could share a little bit more about a project that
I worked on that was an illustration project that I created a series, I think it
was 10 large format illustrations that reflected the different wine regions across the
country of Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand was one region and it was
commissioned by Lion Nathan at the time for a taste festival that was being held.
And it was weird thinking back about this project because you would ask if I could
think about how it came about and what the process was like. I actually couldn’t
remember how it came about and I still, and I will also share a link to the
images, but I still have a really strong connection to the artwork or the
illustrations that were created as a result. They’re strong. That’s why. Yeah.
I was probably my biggest mission in terms of a client work where it was a big
client, especially at the time. And it was a lot like, I think, as I said, 10
illustrations, but it was also big in that each illustration, I think was being
printed at about four meters wide. And this is back in the day where I was
running, I guess not a lot’s changed, I was running my work on a bit of a shitty
old laptop that was pretty much about to grind to a halt. I would have had Adobe,
but I don’t even know how I was able to open it. It was that old, the computer
at the time. And this is, I think, 2008 or no. I do remember going into the
office to have a briefing meeting with the team, and it was the first time I’d
ever done anything like that. And I was on my own, and I was so nervous, and I
didn’t know what I was going to say or what they were going to ask me or how I
was supposed to tell them that I was capable, but I also didn’t know if I was
capable of pulling off this project because I’d never created something that was
going to be printed at that size. And yeah, and then they just said, “Yes, sweet,
go ahead and do it.” And they gave me sort of vibe for each of the drawings, and
I like a specific brief. I think that helps me kind of find a way into the
project and yeah and I don’t think they gave me a color palette but that was not
necessary because I was drawing the landscape of Australian wine regions and so I
was drawing the color palette from the landscape and yeah and then I’m pretty sure
if it didn’t break my computer it almost did just trying to process files of that size
I also had no idea how to create files of that size and then I just, I remember
the day when I sent off all the print files because I just felt sick. And it’s
actually, this is funny to even bring this up and you wouldn’t have realized this.
But at the moment, I’ve actually been working on two, with two different clients,
print projects, graphic design print projects. So not illustration myself, but doing
print preparation and graphic design for a file. And one of them was being printed
at two meters. And yeah, I still had that same feeling of, “Hmm, is it going to
be okay?” Oh yeah. Scary feeling. Well, it’s nothing worse than a big blurry banner,
that’s for sure.
But I guess in conclusion, the weirdest part of this story is that I actually never
had any outcome, so I never heard back about how the final print went I never got
to see them in real life because I didn’t go I wasn’t part of the festival and I
don’t remember what happened so I’m not even sure I mean they said they loved the
work. Did they pay you? They paid me but then I just was ghosted but like that at
the time they were like fantastic these look great and I remember saying please let
me know how they turn out they couldn’t care less they just probably printed them
if they went But I think they were being used to cover, you know, like fencing at
festivals, outdoor festivals. And it’s actually funny, even to this day, you will
find me occasionally trying to do a deep dive onto Google to find any record of
them, like surely there’s a photo somewhere, but there’s no free Instagram. And
Google image searching and Google searching in general just isn’t what it used to
be. It doesn’t bring you those really full on results that you used to be able to
find. – You remember seeing these in real life at any point, please get in touch,
let me know. – Yeah, we’ll endeavor to add the images to the show notes or at
least a link to where you can see them. And yeah, well, thank you for sharing that
story. But one thing I do want to know is what did you learn? What was the lesson
that you took away from that. I mean, if it really was just how not to have
blurry banners, that’s okay. But was there something else that happened to you or
that you learned? Well, I think it was probably more just if I was to work on a
project like that again, and there was going to be an outcome that I wanted to
know, I would probably be more insistent in following that up maybe. So I could
have had that for my portfolio because as much as I’ve got the digital files, the
print files, well, I don’t have the print files, but I have a low res JPEG left
from the project. I, yeah, unfortunately, didn’t didn’t follow that up.
So that’s probably what I would have done. And no doubt, I would have probably
charged more as well in hindsight. Don’t remember what I charged, but let’s face it,
it wouldn’t have been enough. Whatever it was, it was not enough. I can guarantee
that. Well, thank you so much for sharing that story. This segment is,
we’re renaming it, making history. We think that’s better than random stories from
projects past. That’s the new name.
This episode, we are bringing in a couple of new segments. One is going to be
called “Making Good Things Happen,” where we talk about something that we see on
social media or happening in our sphere where someone has done something really
clever and that we think is a nice little positive trend or a smart choice or a
moment of efficiency or kindness. That’s what this segment is going to be all about.

Can’t wait. – I saw something quite cute, which I’m sure You no doubt saw as well
Renee on Megan McKean’s Instagram this week, did you see that? What you did share with me was this beautiful visual representation of a project timeline or progress of a project that Megan shared. Every milestone that she had in this large project that she was working on, she marked a dot on a piece of paper and at the end of the project had a page full of 100 dots because there was 100 milestones and it’s not that easy to describe because it’s one of those things that I feel like you need
to see visually. We’ll make sure that’s available in the show notes, the link to
the post that we’re talking about. I think what I loved about it was like a work
of art in and of itself and it’s Megan’s beautiful colours, that palette that I
really strongly associate with her. It was just such a cute idea and I thought it’s
such a good way for artists and designers to provide themselves with something visual to show them a sense of progress and to have it so nearby to your main screen,
especially because obviously Megan would spend a lot of time on her computer. Her
basically everything she puts out is digital. And so she should be Yeah, a
combination. So she’d be sitting at the computer a lot. And so having, I guess,
a regular visual reminder of where you’re going, where you’ve been, and that it’s
just, it’s a long -term project, but you are making progress. Just a nice sort of
reminder of progress, I thought. It’s the chipping away thing that you and I talk
about in a visual representation that’s also really good reminder when you’re a
visual person. Yep. And the idea of, I guess at the start you think to yourself,
“Oh, I’m never gonna get those hundred dots on that page.” And then I’m sure as
you get more and more into it, you start to see that progress and that’s
motivating. And you continue on with the big project that you’re actually working on,
but this mini little project that you’re also creating, the byproduct, I just, yeah,
I loved it. And I thought, I wish I had the discipline to do something like that.

That’s this week’s instalment of Making Good Things Happen.
This week I went full, well I AI’d myself,
I AI’d my life and I’m already enjoying the benefits. Let me outsourcing home admin
to the computers. Outsourcing home admin to AI because no AI does not need to take the jobs of artists and creative people, but it can take the boring, home admin
jobs that I don’t want to do, like writing a shopping list and figuring out what
to cook for dinner. And that’s exactly what AI did for me this week and did for
our household this week, which was craft a meal plan for the week.
And yeah, we followed it. And I have to say, Pretty good. Pretty happy.
What sort of prompt did you put into ChatGPT to get that sort of assistance?
No news to anyone, cost of living crisis. No one likes shopping at Coles and
Woolies if they don’t have to. I was reminded by a friend of mine that veggie
boxes, you know, veggie delivered in a box is a thing. As her and I used to go
to the farmers market together. But one of the storeholders there delivers a box.
She reminded me of that. I ordered the box and I took the list of fruit and veg
that was in the box and copied and pasted it from their website and put it into
chat GPT and said, “I’m going to get these veggies delivered. I want to create a
meal plan for the week ahead I’m incorporating foods that I can cook in bulk,
so like I can cook in a session on a Sunday afternoon and incorporating the food
that comes in the box. Happy to go to the butcher and buy meat, add hawk as I
need it because I have one of those walking distance and that’s not a chore, that’s
in an enjoyable part of the day. But going to the grocery store and doing all that
is pretty annoying. I said just spit me out something good and there was a list
there and then what I did was paste that into my phone as a shared note with my
partner and we had access to all the ingredients all of the all the meals recipes
as well just like it’s like a very sort of because you know most of the things
were things that we already kind of know how to make but just to remind us yeah
yeah like is like you know by these ingredients this is the brief method blah blah
blah and yeah and we followed it, we got through to Friday and yeah, every night we haven’t had that five o ‘clock. Which it is the lower line of any day.
Yeah, I’m not a fan of having to think about what you’re going to eat. The good thing is you’re comfortable just taking that. You’ve worked out a way to take that
little moment of friction out of your day. The less things you have to put thought into it, the better. So I think that’s wise. Yeah, I really recommend. Thank you
for listening, goodies. It has been lovely to have you joining us.
That is the end of episode three and we hope that you will join us next time.
Later.
Thanks for listening to Make Good Things Happen. If you enjoyed this episode,
why not write a review or share it with a friend? For show notes and more, head to mgth .com .au.

For show notes and more head to mgth .com.au. This has been a D’Alton Baker Production.

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