Would you pay someone to prepare all your meals?

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The title says it all really. Would you be prepared to pay someone to make your meals for the week?

I have always said, if I ever become a millionaire, I will pay a chef to make me all my meals. I will even forfeit having a cleaner to have someone prep the dinner! It’s a chore I despise.

I am not a millionaire but I have been thinking, is this a viable business option? Would other people pay someone to prepare them their chilli con carne, lasagne, etc?

I know the likes of Gousto and hello fresh exist now but I’m still having to chop and prepare a whole meal and then cook it. Maybe if someone made the lasagna, and all I had to do was shove it in the oven for 20/30 minutes that would free up some time!

I’ve always said I’d get a chef if I won the lottery. But I wouldn’t pay someone for basics. Not for lasagne or chilli. Anyway one can make that. When I eat out, I always choose something I can’t make or would get a chance to eat at home. So the same would go for this idea. I don’t eat from Cook as it’s just stuff I can make myself and it usually tastes better and is fresher.

It’s difficult to say what I’d pay for….as what I’d like a chef for is locally sourced food, balanced, healthy….

I would pay someone to DECIDE my meals. I love cooking but I find thinking about what I want to eat for the week decidedly challenging.

'Here's what you fancy eating for the week...'

Bliss.

I’d rather pay for a cleaner than a cook, if I had to make the choice.

This is basically a ready meal or a private chef. I think the reason more people don’t do it is simply cost and the added admin doesn’t save you much more time. A private chef is basically a nanny - full time household staff - most people can’t afford that.

The other end of the scale is someone basically preparing ready meals for you, in bulk, and delivering them. Most people probably don’t want to eat ready meals all the time and the food options are quite limited (all your batch cooking type meals), but we only eat like that maybe 1-2 dinners a week. Otherwise, I prefer fresh cooked foods, things that can’t easily be prepared and reheated (steak vs spag bol). Or salads for lunch. Or porridge for breakfast or a fried egg. Without someone actually there cooking, you’d have to eat more processed foods rather than fresh.

I can definitely see the appeal of a private chef making fresh healthy meals and not having to deal with ordering them or being there to supervise anything, but that’s definitely out of the reach of mere mortals like me. 😂

If I was that kind of rich, definitely. But more like the private chefs I've seen on IG, who come in and prep an assortment of dishes/sides that I help myself to or stick in the oven over the next few days, so I can still cook a bit here and there.

I actually think it is very stressful deciding on meals! I have started to follow a few people on Instagram that do weekly meal plans. Cardiffmum is brilliant because she does the 5 meals for £25 and she provides a shopping list for all 5 meals plus each meal individually. Saves me loads of time 😊

I rarely stress about what to cook, I like deciding when looking in the fridge. I enjoy cooking, and even some household chores. But it's the frequency that gets to me. If it's only me I have to worry about I would rather not bother. If only you could swap the chores about between you all. Even a day off would feel nice.

The companies that mass produce always taste like they’ve added a bunch of artificial flavourings.

I’ve seen a few people on my local next door website offering fresh meal services which will be fresh home cooked food. Never looked at the pricing but if I had a ton of money I’d definitely get a live in cleaner and live in chef!

You should try cook meals

Try Planthood. It's vegan but so delicious and you can always add chicken / fish etc if you prefer (although it's protein rich so no need). There is a small amount of prep so it's like home cooking but nothing like Hello Fresh etc. Highly recommend

THIS! It's not actually the cooking time, it's the thinking time and the decision overload that gets to me.