Economics/logistics of someone to cook for me

September 5, 2019 8:54 AM

I have some serious digestive issues, and have been toying with the idea of hiring someone to cook a meal for me a week, a big batch of something tasty that I could eat on three or four days. I'm not sure where I would find such a person, or even if it's a good idea or not.

I'm not really even certain where to begin with this, but I think I would want to ask this person to include the cost of ingredients/grocery store trips to their costs, so I think it would be possibly around $100 to $150 for a meal that I can eat for dinner a few days, and would keep relatively well in the fridge. Does that amount sound reasonable for the DC area? I am not one for fine dining, so I'd be looking for relatively simple fare.

I have to cook nearly everything from scratch, and I'm looking for a little help bearing that load. I've gotten breakfast and lunch down to a science with meal prep, but I still struggle with dinners. I just wind up spreading some hummus on pita, and I never thought I would get tired of the taste of hummus but I so am! I would be looking for someone who is skilled at adapting recipes, but also game to follow my very strict, but somewhat weird, diet. Is this a thing that exists?

posted by backwards compatible to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

I successfully found someone to do this for me through a food coop in my city. Those people are usually into cooking, and careful with ingredients, etc.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 9:02 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I don't have a strict diet, but I am conscious of salt and sugar that goes into food, so I was looking at people who would do batch home cooking for me to ease my cooking burden. I found that searching using the term "freezer fill meals" on Google comes up with a few options, although I haven't tried any yet.
posted by moiraine at 9:23 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I looked into this once by googling "personal chef mycity" and got quite a few results.
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 9:37 AM on September 5, 2019

A personal chef would be my first bet, especially if you have a big enough area you live in where personal chefs who have knowledge of various food restrictions are.
posted by xingcat at 11:36 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm out in Fairfax but maybe we can figure something out - not a pro chef at all but an enthusiastic amateur who does a lot of batch cooking anyway. Also when you say digestive issues do you just mean you can't do certain foods, or is cross-contamination a concern?
posted by brilliantine at 11:55 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'd strongly recommend Veggie Annie in Maryland, though I'm unsure if she would deliver to Arlington. Maybe there could be some hand-off point in between?

Her food is delicious, fairly simple, and can be customized for individual needs.

Unlike one of the reviews on FB states, her food is *not* all vegetarian. There are meat options, but still eco friendly (for example usually uses local/pastured/organic beef).

She's on the board of the local co-op (The Common Market) and very interested in sustainability.
posted by nirblegee at 12:50 PM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks to you all! Brilliantine, what a kind offer! I'll message you privately and hopefully we can work something out.
posted by backwards compatible at 2:43 PM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]