What would you pay someone to....?

Question

organize/plan meals for two weeks at a time, create a shopping list, and cook two weeks worth of meals in your kitchen, clean up, and freeze/store the meals for your use. I have an opportunity to make some much needed extra money by meal planning, cooking for a family of four for two weeks at a time. If you were in this position, what would you be willing to pay?

Answer 1

First, it would be helpful if you knew the cost of the food you will be preparing. I would not only make a shopping list, but I would be the one that purchased the food. That way, you could do cost + 10%. Then, I would start calculating time. I would say $6.00 per hour of work. I would estimate that you will have maybe 12 hrs a week in prep and actual work, x 2 weeks that would be $144.00, so I'd round that to $150.00 for 2 week period. So, let's say your grocery bill totals $200.00 you'd charge 10% more (another $20.00), plus your $150.00 labor costs. You'd actually make $170.00, but of coarse bill them $370.00 which includes the groceries. That's pretty good side job, especially considering it would be tax free! That's an extra $340.00 a month......

I'd be honest with them though. I would tell them you will be charging cost + 10% of the groceries, and you will have to see how much time it takes. It could vary from time to time depending on the meals you are making. Tell them you are charging $6.00 per hour times hrs you spend. I think they would be willing to understand that it will take a few times before you could know exactly how much time would be associated with this type of assignment. This is the way that I used to calculate how much I would charge someone for house cleaning services.

Best of luck to you.....boy, I wish I could find someone around me that would like this sort of service!!!

Answer 2

Since you aren't paying for the cost of the food, or providing all the equipment and storage/cooking wares, or providing a place to do the cooking/packaging/storage I would say $150 is MORE than fair. All you are really doing is cooking 2 weeks of food at one time and then cleaning up after yourself. Many meals would be very simple, not requiring hours and hours of prep time, so yeah, $150 is about right (it's about 8-10 hours of work, $15 an hour is fair)

Answer 3

That is a very valuble job task if you ask me. Unfortunately, the question is really, what is it worth to you.What is your time valued at. A lot of people don't realize that your time is as valuble as you want it to be. But you also have to think of this as a business decision. So in business everyone has to win. Aways know that you can always lower your price(rebuttle)rather than raise your price easier to reach an agreement. What I would pay for that kind of 2 week job task and what someone else would pay is irrelivant. How qualified are you, how much do these people need your service,and what can they afford are the questions you should be thinking about. But just to give you a ballpark range of my opinion,and to answer your question, I'd say around 450.00 a week. But there are lots of questions I have to fine tune that number like are you going to use their equiptment and appliances or yours.Like I said , I would ask the highest price I could come up with and see what their reaction would be. Then ask them what they had in mind and negotiate from there. Good Luck!!

Answer 4

A lot of people would.

Below are a few companies that do exactly what you are talking about-people come to these places, plan an assemble meals for a period of time that they then take home and cook later.

These are becoming very popular. If you are able to develop a business around this, you will likely be very popular. To get prices, you might look at the businesses already doing this.

Answer 5

Here in Houston, this service for one person (3 meals a day) runs about $20-$22 per day. They also charge for delivery and they do not offer in-house preparation service.

So, in your situation, you can easily go higher (Maybe $100 per day, since you have to prep at their house). For more information on the Houston based company, go to http://www.dietgourmet.com/Prices.aspx

They are making A KILLING and it looks like you can too!

Answer 6

Personally I would not, as that is my job as a SAHM! But many people would pay for that... compare your prices to a place like "Dream Dinners" where you go and make your own take-out. The menu is done, the ingredients prepped (pre-chopped or whatever) and they do clean-up. This may give you a starting point as to what to charge, and even menu ideas.

Answer 7

It also depends on the area of the country you are in. I'd find a happy medium between the cost of them buying food at the store and doing it themselves and the cost of them going out to eat every night. Basically, that's what they want -- a happy medium between the two.

Answer 8

25 dollars minimum per meal.Thats more then what fast food would cost but less then a boston market .I think that would be a fair price for a home cooked meal.

Answer 9

Hmm.. probably 450 because everytime they eat they probably spend 20 bucks a pop. So really, anywhere from 450 to 500 I think would be quite fair.

Answer 10

I dont know i guess 650$ about 15$ per meal.