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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You all seem to be looking for an Alice on the Brady Bunch.  Someone who makes a full-time salary working 11am-7pm, doing laundry, dusting, vacuuming, cooking dinner, and cleaning up after. Finding someone to just cook dinner seems like it would be difficult and/or crazy expensive because it’s quite specialized work tied to one spot for only a few hours daily. Talented & in-demand people really don’t work for just $40k/year nowadays, especially a job that they’d have to show up for daily. A chef share, like a nanny share, among neighbors could be interesting but still sort of unrealistic with the logistics involved.

I “cook” the next day’s dinner right before I go to bed when all’s quiet in the house (which is the key). Takes ~20 minutes to set up a tray with meat/chicken/fish to thaw, chopped veggies/salad/etc., and measured out ingredients that I slide into the fridge. Then I write up a cheat sheet wrt cook times so that everything finishes at 6pm on the dot.  I also prep a grab-n-go breakfast and the kids’ bento lunchboxes then as well, plus hardboil a dozen eggs every couple days to keep in the fridge. When dinner time comes, it’s a quick mix and slide into the oven or a toss into a pan, while sides warm on the stovetop. Soooo easy and peaceful, while the kitchen smells so good as the kids are doing their homework.

Prep is where all the time and effort is. Buying meat/chicken in massive bulk at Costco, breaking it down into exact portions for each dinner, and then freezing is a huge time-saver. If you’re really into red meat, consider buying a quarter or half a beef. The best trick I learned in Asia is to save and freeze your leftover cooked rice…when you accumulate a full Tupperware of rice, add veggies, meat, and eggs for a super-easy stir fry. Also making a dozen pans of lasagna/casserole/chilis/soups at once and then freezing is how you pre-cheat on days you don’t feel like cooking. A chest freezer is essential. And then there’s thousands of crockpot recipes that simply require planning ahead.

Gonna let my wife know that my hour of kitchen work daily is worth $50k-100k/year to some of you, and then ask for a raise![/quote]

Who on earth said they'd pay $100k for this? Feels like you're replying to a straw man just to give yourself a reason to brag.

But yeah, I'd be very happy if my spouse did what you do. But he doesn't, and I don't want to either, so yeah I would throw money at this problem pretty happily. You're right that it's hard to find someone willing to do such a small job, which is why we're all in this thread whining to each other. Feel free to skip it next time. [/quote]
My family has a cooked dinner on the table every night, and it’s not a burden in our house. If you instead paid a personal chef $100k/yr to get it done daily, you end up with the same result. And I doubt the personal chef touches the dirty dishes. Problems are solved with money or effort. Doing nothing does nothing. Since few can actually afford a full-time personal chef, the halfway solution offered a few times in the thread of was to pay a chef to prep meals for reheating, but hiring a chef to do all that is total overkill. Food is fun! Meal prepping is fun too. There’s lots of smart people in here complaining about failing very simple life tasks.[/quote]

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