What it is
PreserveAdvisor is a home food-preservation advisor. Connected to ChatGPT, it works with your real account — your batches in progress, your finished-batch history and notes, your Storage shelf — instead of answering from general knowledge.
It is the same account as the PreserveAdvisor app on iPhone and Android. A batch you plan in a conversation appears in the app; a Storage item you add in the app is there when you ask about it in ChatGPT. One account, one shelf, wherever you work. You don’t need the app installed to use it in ChatGPT.
ChatGPT shows PreserveAdvisor’s results as cards right in the conversation — a batch plan, your Storage list, a batch’s status, an “is it still good?” answer — and some steps open a short PreserveAdvisor form so you can pick from real choices instead of typing everything out.
What you can do
Plan a batch. Pick a method — freeze drying, dehydrating, freezing, cold storage, sweet preserves, vinegar pickling, oil infusion, or alcohol infusion — and the food, and get a real starting point: tray-time estimates and oxygen-absorber sizing for freeze drying, a prescribed brine ratio for pickling, a tested starter recipe for jam, a steep guideline for infusions. The numbers come from tested references for that method, never guessed, and the batch is saved to your account.
Check a batch in progress. Ask whether a freeze-dried or dehydrated batch is actually done, or whether a jam has set, and get the signals a timer or a cycle-complete beep can’t give you — a crack test on the thickest piece, an interior cold-spot check, a reweigh-until-stable, a set check. You can add a photo through a private upload link (see How photos work).
Finish a batch. Say how it turned out and add up to three notes for next time. For freeze drying and dehydrating, PreserveAdvisor can also diagnose what went wrong — under-drying, a packaging delay that let moisture back in, an oxygen-absorber problem, a seal that didn’t hold. A finished batch can go straight into Storage with its use-by date, and your notes come back the next time you make the same food.
Work your Storage. Ask what’s on your shelf, what to use up first, or whether something you’ve put up is still good. Add items, update them, or mark them used. After a power cut or a freezer left open, it can tell you whether one item is safe to refreeze or cook, or should be thrown out.
Work your library. List your batches in progress and recently finished, open one batch to see its plan and every check so far, look up what you noted last time, or delete a batch you no longer want.
Food safety
PreserveAdvisor works only from tested methods: its times, temperatures, ratios and use-by dates come from published references for each method, and it never softens a safety date to make something look longer-lived than it is. It doesn’t cover water-bath or pressure canning — if you ask about canning, it says so plainly and points you to the National Center for Home Food Preservation (nchfp.uga.edu) instead of guessing at a processing time. Its guidance doesn’t replace your own judgment; see the Food Safety section of our Terms.
Example prompts
Say what you want in plain language — naming PreserveAdvisor in your message makes sure ChatGPT uses it:
- “Plan a batch of strawberry jam with PreserveAdvisor.”
- “Ask PreserveAdvisor if my dehydrated apples are done.”
- “What’s on my PreserveAdvisor shelf right now?”
- “I just finished a batch of pickles — log it in PreserveAdvisor.”
How to connect
You’ll need a ChatGPT account and about a minute:
1. In ChatGPT, open Plugins in the left sidebar and add PreserveAdvisor. If PreserveAdvisor isn’t listed in ChatGPT’s plugin directory for you yet, use the + menu at the top right, choose Add custom MCP server, name it PreserveAdvisor, leave Authentication on OAuth, and paste in https://api.preserveadvisor.app/mcp.
2. ChatGPT opens PreserveAdvisor’s sign-in page. Enter your email address and press Send code.
3. Check your inbox for an 8-character sign-in code, enter it, and press Sign in. There is no password to create.
4. Press Allow access to approve the connection. If you’ve used the PreserveAdvisor app on iPhone or Android with the same email, your batches and Storage are already there. If you’re new, your account is created on the spot.
Then just ask — see example prompts above.
To disconnect at any time, remove PreserveAdvisor from ChatGPT’s Plugins page. Access tokens expire on their own.
How photos work
Photos never travel through the conversation. When a check or diagnosis would benefit from one, PreserveAdvisor hands you a private, single-use link that opens a simple upload page — take a photo or choose one, submit it, then tell ChatGPT you’re done. Photos are held for at most 15 minutes and deleted as soon as they’re analyzed, or when the link expires unused.
Your account
ChatGPT uses the same account and the same limits as the app: where your account has a monthly allowance of checks and diagnoses, those draw from it here too, and what’s available on your account is the same here as anywhere else you use PreserveAdvisor. There’s nothing to buy through ChatGPT.
Privacy
The short version: we receive only what the tools need — the details of each request and the photos you submit through our own upload link. We never see your ChatGPT conversation, and ChatGPT only sees what a tool returns. The full details live in the connector section of our privacy policy.
Questions or trouble
Write to support@preserveadvisor.app, or see our Support page. If a sign-in code doesn’t arrive, check your spam folder first — codes expire after 15 minutes, and you can always request a fresh one by starting the connection again.