Can I outsource meal prep for baby + light housekeeping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op we have something like this and you can totally find it. We have someone MWF. She does the dishes/kitchen, our laundry including the sheets, makes the beds, picks up the living areas and vacuums, and wipes down the bathrooms. She also cooks for us 2x per week. (Honestly, I think her true talent is cooking- she’s a VERY good cook). Search on care.com for housekeepers and narrow your search to people who also have cooking in their profile. This kind of help should be much easier to find than after school care- my lady, for example, drops her kids at school and comes over for a few hours. If you don’t need childcare during those key after-school hours, a lot of people are looking to make money while their kids are in school. You’ll easily find someone for $20/hr. Try to find someone in your neighborhood- it will make it a lot easier on you and them. You can drop your housecleaner down to 1x per month for deep cleaning.

NP- Oh my goodness- I would love to have this situation. How many hours per week about does it take her to do this? Am trying to see what we may need to budget.

She stays for two hours when she does not cook, and three hours when she does cook. But, we have one kid, no pets, a small house, and DH does his own laundry. We have an upstairs guest suite with its own bathroom, and she never has to clean up there. It's completely life changing. This all came about when DH was sick and in the hospital. My mom can into town, and every day I would come home to a picked up house, clean laundry, and a meal. And I was like...this is awesome, how do I replicate this? I realized that I don't need someone deep cleaning once a week/every other week. I need lighter housekeeping, but more regular. So I cut our cleaners back to once a month and found a housekeeper with cooking skills. It's been a total blessing and worth every penny. OP - I highly recommend!

PP- Thanks so much for this info! Very helpful. How does it work with her logistically as far as cooking? Do you meal plan and make sure she has all the ingredients she needs? Or does she come up with the recipe ideas? Details are appreciated!

So, as I noted above, she is a very good cook, which means she can kind of whip up anything as long as there is a protein around. DH is also a very good cook and so we have a stocked pantry and usually have onions, garlic, and veggies around. We buy chicken, and she transforms it all into a meal. After trial and error, we discovered three meals we really like so we just stick to those bc it cuts down on waste and disappointment if she makes something you don't like. I leave the ingredients and she knows what to do. The cooking part of it is pretty trial and error based on the person's comfort and experience, but I suggest working with them to find 2-4 meals your family really likes and rotate those. Cooking 2x per week is generally the perfect amount bc then we have leftovers and DH supplements with his cooking.