Meal help gets hired by the feeling that someone should cook. The better question is which meals, in which kitchen, at which hours, and who is already handling them. Count the plates before you name a number of hours.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Step 1: Write the week of meals

  1. For seven days, write down each meal eaten at home, who prepared it, and where the food came from.
  2. Mark each meal eaten alone and each meal the family already brings or cooks.
  3. Mark any meal that is skipped or replaced with something else.

Breakfast: ________ Prepared by: ________ Eaten alone? Y / N

Lunch: ________ Prepared by: ________ Eaten alone? Y / N

Dinner: ________ Prepared by: ________ Eaten alone? Y / N

Step 2: Walk the kitchen

Stand in the kitchen and check the things that decide how long a meal takes. Note where the pans, plates, and food storage are. Note whether the parent can reach the upper cabinets and the refrigerator without a step stool. Note where the trash goes and whether the stove and oven are the ones the caregiver will be using.

  1. Count the trips. Is the grocery store a short drive or a long one?
  2. Check the fridge. Is there room for a week of shopping?
  3. Check the sink and counter space for cooking and cleanup.

Step 3: Sort the work into a list

Write each kitchen task on its own line: shopping, cooking, serving, cleanup, storing leftovers, and restocking the pantry. Next to each line, write who does it now and who will do it after the start date. A task left on the list with no name next to it is the task that will not get done.

If a doctor or dietitian has set a diet for the parent, get the written instructions before the first shift. The caregiver follows those instructions. The caregiver does not decide them.

Step 4: Ask these questions

  1. Will you cook from what is in the house, or shop first?
  2. Who buys the groceries, and how is the money for them handled?
  3. What do you do with leftovers, and where do they go?
  4. Will you clean the kitchen after each meal, or only after a full shift?
  5. Will you write down what was made and what was eaten?

Listen for and walk away

A good answer sounds like: We shop as needed, keep the receipts, and log each meal in the shift note. A weak answer is a promise to cook anything without asking what the parent eats. Walk away if the caregiver refuses to write down meals, wants grocery money in cash with no receipt, or will not follow a diet the family has written down.

When the meal list is written, carry it to the five steps in Start Here: Five Steps to Hiring.