personal chef??should I?
 

I am flirting with the idea of hiring a local woman who does personal cooking in your home. She meal plans, shops, and brings it all back to your home, to prepare for you. She can come once a week, or once a month if you like, but the idea is that you will always have yummy, home cooked food in the freezer so on those days that you dont feel well, the rest of my family isnt sitting around wondering what to eat. She will make 4 different dishes and portion them out into 8 servings. or 6 different dishes and make it into 16 servings.

pamelaspantry.com is the service. She is quite reasonable in price, and I spoke to her on the phone. She was knowledeable about the swank diet, Atkins, Gluten free, and other such things. I liked her spunk, and the fact that she would be able to take one more thing off my plate.

DH said it would be a very attactive option since on those days that I am sick or dont want to eat, or dont feel well enough to cook he is tempted to just eat badly or sits down to double portions or is tempted to ring up a pizza.

As it is now, I spent way too much on food that goes to waste. I grab at least 2 or 3 weeks worth of food at the store, because I simply never know if I will feel well enough to come back next week. Then I open the fridge to find things have spoiled, gone past their date, or if I get convenience stuff its full of salt, MSG, HFCS or other such things I work hard to avoid. After careful figures, it would cost me less money on food to use her, and portion control is handled.

Am I really lazy? Have I gone too far? Am I being really self indulgant? is this crazy? Part of me feels like this is a way of giving into this disease, but another part of me feels like this is a way to save spoons for other things. What say you?

Dej, what I did all the years I worked and had a big family to feed was to shop with DH if possible, and on the weekends or while watching TV in the Kitchen at night, just sit and prepare lots of large portion meals for the 6 of us.

Then shove it all in the oven, two at a time. DH would take it out of the oven because I toss things. Lol

I never fried food. I made everything in the oven, even meatballs.

I cut all of it up into smaller portions for individuals, labeled and froze it all. I made bread, deserts, cookies, cakes, casseroles, stews, soups, fish, meats, you name it. With the food in the house it was easy to toss together and make meals for at least a week.

If someone came home on a different shift, or school time, they just nuked it or used the toaster oven, or even the regular oven when old enough.

It worked great for me. We could pull out tray of lasagna and eat together too. No waste, and cheaper than store bought. I still do this.

Buy it all, cook it all, freeze and eat it all. Great if company dropped by too.

For the two of you it would be easy. Would that work for you?

Truth? Personal chef does sound indulgent, unless you are not able to cook like this. Then you need some help.

well...since I know you Dej, I know how you shop, I know how well you cook, how you enjoy cooking, how well you plan out meals, what a great organizer you are... that you post this question says you have to feel absolutely craptacular! otherwise you would have already done what Lady suggested.

I say go for it, give the cook a try. sounds like you have already wasted a lot of money thinking maybe in a day or 2 you would feel like cooking, etc. and that aint happening so far. Give her a try and see how it goes, remove the stress of worrying about a decent meal from your plate :hug:

At my house, we'll often cook double what we need for dinner, dish up the extra meals and freeze them on plates ready to go.

Every now and then on a good day I'll have a cooking day. I might bake a pie, cook a couple of casseroles, including one in the slow cooker, maybe make a pizza, and I'll make some pasta sauces for freezing. We always have enough in the freezer for around a week, and I assure you they get used.

Pay some-one to do it for you if you think it would help.

I say: "Quit flirting and give it a try!" :)

Dej

My first selfish, jealous thought was ME, I need a chef. I can't cook at all anymore, used to love it, now can rarely make others do it the way I think it should be done at my instructions. The good news is DH loves to cook,does it all. The bad news is he's not a great shopper, is wasteful, expensive, and fattening (I think)(and not into cleaning his mess well) We're having Shrimp Scampi tonight, shrimp and tons of butter! If I bought something, knew some would be left-over, planned a second meal to use it. DH sticks it in the frig, forgets it, throws it out later when it "dies."
MS is expensive. I used to clean my house. Now I can't and must hire someone. Food out is way too expensive. I think a cooking person would be great and kinda a better choice - cost and calorie-wise. Let us know how it goes.

I think (and hope) you'll find this better.

Vi is correct. I am a great cook, and my meals are fabulous, but I am so exhausted, sick, and struggling lately that many things have slipped. Cooking is only one. I dont know what happened to my husband, but it seems on days I dont feel good even tho the house is full of great choices, he cant seem to figure it out. I guess I could go back to prepping my own freezer meals. I guess I could have a talk with DH or I guess I could sit down and figure it out for myself how to nab one day a week for meal prep, and freezer runs. I used to do that all the time, but lately I feel very bad, very tired, and my stomach is so nauseous that just the smell of food prep is making me go green.

Spoke to DH who said he would love to give it a try for a spell or two, but then said "what if she cant cook as well as you do?" OMG! its not about yum factor when I am sick, its about being able to feed HIM! I admit his response brought out some anger in me that he wasnt jumping up saying "but honey! If you cant, I will! dont worry about it" but no, his response was to worry about the ability to match my cooking!

Im going to chew on this for a few days. its not the money, altho it would hurt me financially. I can eat cereal on days I am sick and be happy. or scramble an egg, but DH has that small child face that says "what about me?" Maybe I should stop worrying about others and just take care of me.

I can understand the anger in response Dej, I'd have been angry as well if my DH made the same remark. I believe his comment though to be 100% in good intentions - he loves you and loves YOUR cooking! That's a huge compliment for you from DH. :)

With that said, he's still entertaining the idea of the cook, which I think personally is a fabulous idea and I'd go with it and try!

One last small, but very important thing: :hug: (((((((((((((Dej))))))))))))) I hope your energy level improves in days to come.

I kinda snapped. Spoke to DH about the need to hire on help to keep meals rotating in this home if I am down, and he is unwilling or unable to get up and figure it out. its like since my dx his own anxiety has skyrocketed and he simply cannot figure out simple things when pushed in a corner. I have always been the "go to" girl, and super organized and prepared. I am the girl you want to look for in a crisis, but now that I myself am in crisis, I guess I expected that he would pick up the torch and carry it for me till I felt better. esp since HE is the one eating those meals! I am not eating much more than broth/jello/pudding at this minute. my tummy is simply broken.

His last statement was that he didnt want some strange woman in our home cooking meals that he may not even like. Thats alot of money to spend for crappy food. I then pointed out that he will eat at the nasty bluebird cafe here in town, but wont trust a woman who does this for a living? anyway, I got upset and dug out the freezer. I have thrown out A LOT of food. stuff that is way past its date, and he got on an impulse buy in the market saying "this would be good!" well, it never got cooked, and we both forgot it. He stacks new meat on top of old meat, so we have been eating the new meat first, instead of rotating stock.

I have declared that this week is strictly a clean out the fridge and feezer kind of week. We shall eat nothing unless it comes out of that freezer. I am dragging out those "it would taste so good" things that were long lost and fixing them. I am clearing out an entire shelf that is going to be devoted to pre prepped foods in a container that is safe to microwave or use in a toaster oven. I will start making meals for 4 instead of 2 and freezing left overs. This way on days that I am down and cant/wont cook he can simply stick his big paw in there, and drag out something quick.

Why is it as women we feel the need to care take even thru our own illness? Can I tell you that my DH used to be an italian chef in his sisters restaurant? Can I tell you that he can cook circles around some of these TV stars? Can I tell you that he is creative and inventive, but give him a sick wife, and he becomes incapacitated! So...looks like I will have to fix this myself. I guess it will do me good to get out of bed. yes?

Awwww, nuts, Dej. Why can't husbands make life simpler instead of more complicated? *sigh*

Didn't you say something, awhile back, about your husband having possible Aspergers Disease?

Iknow it started with A%%..:D

I once heard of a lady who reminded her DH to leave some $$$ on the table once a week to pay for the housekeeper, which he did. Turns out, SHE was the housekeeper, lol!

I guess what I'm thinking is to just go ahead and have the lady come over for part of a day and fix a few meals. In other words, its easier (sometimes) to ask forgiveness than ask permission.

Sneeky lil devil, aren't I? :rolleyes:

nope, not my DH. he has an A disease, but its not medical...:rolleyes:

I think he is having anxiety issues, and I have made his life really easy for several decades and now that the troup leader didnt show up for work, the boy scouts are saying "what gives?!" I am going to have to teach him more self reliance. or spell it out more clearly in a calm time what it is I need from him. He really can be an amazing man, but sometimes I stand around scratching my head going "whuh?! :confused:"

Who knows, maybe without frustration I would never get out of bed. :o

Well it definitely sounds tempting. DBF probably wishes I would hire a personal chef.:D I'm not a cook. I don't particularly like cooking and our meals are very basic. Baking . . .well that is different story. I love to bake. Go figure.

I say, give it a try and see how it goes. Maybe she can do it once a month for you. Also, as others have mentioned, when you cook, cook extra and freeze it in portions. That way on bad days you can just pull it out and reheat it. I do that and it works out great. This way your DH will still have the things that you cooked as well as the personal chef.

If you decide to do it, let us know how it works.

Twink is right. I order stuff from Schwan, have it iin the freezer ready to go, no need to consult with DH when ordering.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have been thinking about trying out Schwans. I know that several of you have ordered from them. What is good? any good low fat choices? I have been eating out far too often.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Schwans! Wahoo! go Schwans! I do have some tempting treats in the freezer from them, but I strive to feed us whole, home cooked foods. No MSG, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial sweetners, or colors...so, the best way to get my goals met is to cook from scratch. I tend to use organic or home grown ingredients. I grew up cooking, and learned early on how to. There were many years that I hated it because I was sooooo busy, but I did it anyway to feed my family.

DH is spoiled! he is just plain old spoiled!

Schwan's has a "Live Smart" brand that's good. Here's more info on it: http://www.schwans.com/products/cate....aspx?c1=10435. I feel much better when I eat low-fat, low-sodium.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it..:D

And yes, I was going to mention that Schwan's is my personal Chef. I don't have too many "can't or don't eats" in my menu, so if I'm really watching it, I stick with the "live smart" stuff.

Dej, I didn't realize how sick you are. I'm sorry to hear this. I thought you had been running around, going shopping for clothes for -first a young guy and then a young girl, your kids?. Then finding housing for her too.

You sounded like you were better than fine. I guess this is something new or a return of another illness.

If you are that sick then go for it. :) But you need good healthy foods too, not just DH. I hope you feel better. :hug: