Hiring Help in the Kitchen
When we found out about all of our food sensitivities a couple months back, I immediately posted on our neighborhood list-serv to see if anyone was interested in coming over on Sundays and helping me do meal prep for the week. I was thinking it would take 1-2 hours per week (depending on whether we worked together or they worked alone).
I was able to find the most amazing woman, but we weren’t able to make the first couple weekends work with her schedule, and then I fell into a groove on my own.
But then I went to my friend’s house and learned that she also hires someone to help her prep meals for the week (which she explained as she served us the most delicious Indian meal!).
So I’m back to being eager to get help with meal prep. I think it will help us make more interesting meals. I can find more complicated recipes that can be made on Sundays and heated up throughout the week (such as recipes from this book!).
5 Comments
Kate
This is amazing and I swear I've never heard of this as an option! Can you tell us a bit about how it might work and what your part of the bargain might be along with what you'd ask of her? Also, scheduling would be interesting to hear about – do you plan a meal calendar weeks or days in advance? I'm SO encouraged by this post. Thanks!!
Sara E. Cotner
Hi, Kate! My idea is to pay her $15/hour to help me. I already plan my meals in advance, so I shop for just the ingredients I need. Here's a sample of what I printed out for her, so she would know just what to do: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eguc9Qd8683BeULY27pHVHQhaRX3pyWHjWfqlBIxSNg/edit
Nora
This seems like a potentially more environmentally- and worker-friendly alternative to the pre-prepared food boxes.
lmb
Wow, I *never* thought of doing this, but it's kindof brilliant. Please post an update once you have tried it out!
Sara E. Cotner
Hi, Imb! I've done it twice now. The first time I left her on her own and she wasn't able to finish much in 2 hours (it's hard being in someone else's kitchen). Yesterday, we worked together for two hours and we prepped five dinners and five lunches!