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Here's what my family does: We hired an older woman (from thumbtack.com) to come to our house once a week for 4 hours and cook whatever is in the fridge. I mak

Here's what my family does: We hired an older woman (from thumbtack.com) to come to our house once a week for 4 hours and cook whatever is in the fridge. I make sure to have plenty of food in the fridge, spices, canned goods, etc. Then she cooks enough food for my 4 person family for about 5 - 6 days (excluding breakfast). She knows our preferences and takes requests. We pay her $25/hr ($100 week). I feel like everyone interested in these meal services should really just have a personal chef. Way better than these pre-made meal services because you have complete control over ingredients and meal types.

maxander 9y ago
I guess I respect having the intestinal fortitude to do the responsible thing, but at least in the U.S., seeing any service position with obvious privilege connotations makes people uncomfortable. The meal-in-a-box industry is another clever way to work around this taboo, by hiding the lower-class service workers behind a clean user interface. Similarly, what's the value-add of Github? Primarily, it's not having to talk on the phone to some guy with a thick foreign accent with kitchen noise in the background. Dealing with a website, even if it's slow sometimes, is a much less socially complicated experience.
- neuronexmachina 9y ago
  I... assume you meant Grubhub instead of Github? ;)
  - rconti 9y ago
    that makes SO much more sense now, thanks.
  - maxander 9y ago
    Oops... I plead autocorrect.
- munin 9y ago
  > Similarly, what's the value-add of Grubhub? The value of grubhub is that I can send written instructions to the restaurant instead of spoken ones, which will be understood more clearly, so my order is done the way I prefer it. It also helps with discoverability, instead of having to keep an assortment of paper menus in my kitchen up to date, I can just go to the website. It's not about avoiding poor people.
- Baeocystin 9y ago
  > but at least in the U.S., seeing any service position with obvious privilege connotations makes people uncomfortable. It really doesn't, except for a small subgroup of people who are worried about virtue signalling. Most people understand that people need jobs, it takes a surprisingly small amount of money to hire real help (and pay appropriately- fair pay for fair work), and everyone wins. I hired a lady to help as a caretaker when my mother was descending through the stages of Alzheimer's, and after my mother passed, she still stops by occasionally to help me with my elderly father. She is a lifesaver, and worth every penny. Neither my father nor myself are rich. My car is old enough to vote and buy beer. But the $150/week or so that I spend on help is completely worth it. And absolutely nobody that I've ever spoken with face-to-face judges. Many folks have asked me how to find similar, because they are in the same boat as me.
- d0lph 9y ago
  I mean yes, but why stop there, how many privilege points does going to a super market give you? Ordering pizza? Going to a restaurant? I'm certain we can find more areas where less privileged workers provide services for you. Also let's ignore the fact that this provides jobs for people, really, shouldn't they be more concerned about enabling your privilege?
rhizome 9y ago
With a personal chef you don't get the 'zazz and dopamine hit from the process of shopping. Skinner boxes take many forms.
- r00fus 9y ago
  Wow I never would've thought someone could get a dopamine hit from shopping. Shopping either bores or irritates.
  - rconti 9y ago
    Or from NOT logging in and selecting "skip this week" 6 days or more in advance.
  - Chris2048 9y ago
    Depends on if you like what you are shopping for. I love browsing e.g. watches, or computer parts. I hate shoe shopping - even the shops themselves - I'm immediately brought back to the times as a kid I had to shop for shoes, and my brain just goes "nope" and switches off. I hear some people, women in particular, quite like shopping for shoes. It's possible there are people that dislike shopping for computer parts? Of course shops can play up to the dopamine hit through promotion, fantasy-encouragement and packaging etc, but if you like a type of product, you'll probably like seeing what's available.
  - rhizome 9y ago
    Let's go to the science: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201510/shopping-dopamine-and-anticipation https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201510/shopp...
arshmand 9y ago
What search term did you use on thumbtack to find your cook. I would love to be able to pay only $100/week for what amounts to 40 servings (4 people * 2 (lunch and dinner) * 5 days). That comes out to $2.5 per serving for the labor of cooking. I've looked into personal chefs before and the quotes I've received are generally $15+ per serving (not including food costs).

maxander 9y ago

I guess I respect having the intestinal fortitude to do the responsible thing, but at least in the U.S., seeing any service position with obvious privilege connotations makes people uncomfortable. The meal-in-a-box industry is another clever way to work around this taboo, by hiding the lower-class service workers behind a clean user interface. Similarly, what's the value-add of Github? Primarily, it's not having to talk on the phone to some guy with a thick foreign accent with kitchen noise in the background. Dealing with a website, even if it's slow sometimes, is a much less socially complicated experience.

neuronexmachina 9y ago
I... assume you meant Grubhub instead of Github? ;)
- rconti 9y ago
  that makes SO much more sense now, thanks.
- maxander 9y ago
  Oops... I plead autocorrect.
munin 9y ago
> Similarly, what's the value-add of Grubhub? The value of grubhub is that I can send written instructions to the restaurant instead of spoken ones, which will be understood more clearly, so my order is done the way I prefer it. It also helps with discoverability, instead of having to keep an assortment of paper menus in my kitchen up to date, I can just go to the website. It's not about avoiding poor people.
Baeocystin 9y ago
> but at least in the U.S., seeing any service position with obvious privilege connotations makes people uncomfortable. It really doesn't, except for a small subgroup of people who are worried about virtue signalling. Most people understand that people need jobs, it takes a surprisingly small amount of money to hire real help (and pay appropriately- fair pay for fair work), and everyone wins. I hired a lady to help as a caretaker when my mother was descending through the stages of Alzheimer's, and after my mother passed, she still stops by occasionally to help me with my elderly father. She is a lifesaver, and worth every penny. Neither my father nor myself are rich. My car is old enough to vote and buy beer. But the $150/week or so that I spend on help is completely worth it. And absolutely nobody that I've ever spoken with face-to-face judges. Many folks have asked me how to find similar, because they are in the same boat as me.
d0lph 9y ago
I mean yes, but why stop there, how many privilege points does going to a super market give you? Ordering pizza? Going to a restaurant? I'm certain we can find more areas where less privileged workers provide services for you. Also let's ignore the fact that this provides jobs for people, really, shouldn't they be more concerned about enabling your privilege?

rhizome 9y ago

With a personal chef you don't get the 'zazz and dopamine hit from the process of shopping. Skinner boxes take many forms.

r00fus 9y ago
Wow I never would've thought someone could get a dopamine hit from shopping. Shopping either bores or irritates.
- rconti 9y ago
  Or from NOT logging in and selecting "skip this week" 6 days or more in advance.
- Chris2048 9y ago
  Depends on if you like what you are shopping for. I love browsing e.g. watches, or computer parts. I hate shoe shopping - even the shops themselves - I'm immediately brought back to the times as a kid I had to shop for shoes, and my brain just goes "nope" and switches off. I hear some people, women in particular, quite like shopping for shoes. It's possible there are people that dislike shopping for computer parts? Of course shops can play up to the dopamine hit through promotion, fantasy-encouragement and packaging etc, but if you like a type of product, you'll probably like seeing what's available.
- rhizome 9y ago
  Let's go to the science: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201510/shopping-dopamine-and-anticipation https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201510/shopp...

arshmand 9y ago

What search term did you use on thumbtack to find your cook. I would love to be able to pay only $100/week for what amounts to 40 servings (4 people * 2 (lunch and dinner) * 5 days). That comes out to $2.5 per serving for the labor of cooking. I've looked into personal chefs before and the quotes I've received are generally $15+ per serving (not including food costs).