Have you hired someone to help with weekday dinners? Would also have kids for about 30 minutes.

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking about whether having someone come at 3:30 or 4 to get dinner going would be a help to us. During school, the kids would show up at 4:30. I'd be home at 5pm. The kids are self sufficient and could get set up at the table to do homework or go read.

My primary want is to have the person make dinner. Probably stay 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (3:30 - 5:30 or 4 - 5:30).

Does anyone have a set up like this? Do you like it?

[Anonymous]

That would be cool. If you want something like this, I suggest posting a note or calling local cooking schools near you. Some have professional/semi-professional programs, and you might get some takers.

[Anonymous]

I would love, love, love to have that.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, pps. I'm trying to figure out what to do to help with the rushed feeling.

Good idea about the cooking school.

I don't need anything complicated, I'd get everything ready to go the morning of before I leave for work. I just would like to come home and decompress, go out for a walk with the kids, etc., rather than launch immediately into preparing the food or spending weekend days pre-cooking stuff.

I really think this would help a whole lot.

[Anonymous]

we use an awesome chef, she hand picks everything... SUPER fresh healthy meals cooked and stored. This is her website, she has a lot of ideas and recipes for kids that are not listed on website too. good prices too!

https://samayasplates.wix.com/samayadesmeals

[Anonymous]

Of course that would be awesome, but really hard to find someone to work that short amount of time unless you pay really, really well.

[Anonymous]

I would imagine for the price you'd pay for this you could just order from a restaurant nightly.

[Anonymous]

The old fashioned answer to this is to have your kids start dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The old fashioned answer to this is to have your kids start dinner.

Kids can't stay home alone until they're 25 now.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried one of those places where you go in and prepare a number of dinners at once and take them home and freeze them? If you choose the right meals, they are pretty easy to prepare when you want them, and they take a lot of stress off that time of the day.

Not exactly what you asked about, but these have been helpful for me.

[Anonymous]

OP, I did this job (more or less) when I was in undergrad. I came over, did some light cleaning in the kitchen, and then made recipes chosen by the mom. They had a big freezer so I'd double whatever I was making (lasagna, stir fry, etc) and she'd freeze the second portion.

I also made a side dish which was fresh so if, for example, they were defrosting lasagna I'd make a green salad and maybe steamed carrots.

I'd say look for a college student. The big question would be whether you'd be flexible on time--one thing that made this job work for me back in the day was that if I had an afternoon class or whatever I could go over in the morning or early afternoon and just left dinner to be reheated.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a good plan if you can find the right person. Maybe a college student who likes to cook?

[Anonymous]

I looked for months for someone to do that. No luck. Very busy time unless you are conveniently located near a college. We do know people who have someone come over on Sundays and make meals for the week.

[Anonymous]

It takes me about 20 minutes to make dinner. Bake some fish or chicken or broil a steak. Put mixed greens in a bowel. Keep it simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine for the price you'd pay for this you could just order from a restaurant nightly.

This. Add in the time and effort you will spend finding someone - interview, show them around your house, etc - it's better to just order out.