How to plan a week of meals with a domestic helper

6 min read · Updated 30 September 2026

If someone else does the cooking, the meal plan is the way you say what you want without saying it every day. Here is a routine that takes about twenty minutes a week.

Why a plan matters more with a helper

When you cook yourself, you adjust as you go. When your helper cooks, every decision you leave open becomes a guess: what to make, what to buy, how much. A written plan turns those guesses into a list. It also gives your helper a way to plan the shopping without asking you every morning.

A weekly routine that fits in twenty minutes

1. Pick a fixed planning time. Friday evening or Sunday morning works well. Keep it the same each week so it becomes automatic.
2. Look at the calendar first. Note late nights, playdates, guests and days you'll eat out. Leave those meals blank on purpose.
3. Plan dinners first. Five dinners is enough. Leave one or two nights for leftovers or a fridge clear-out.
4. Add lunches and snacks. For children, repeat two or three lunches through the week. Repeating is fine here, and it keeps shopping simple.
5. Build one shopping list. Combine ingredients across recipes, use one measuring system, and group items by where they are in the shop.
6. Share the plan and the list together. Your helper should have both before the shopping day.
7. Ask one question at the end of the week. "Which meal was easiest? Which did nobody like?" Change next week's plan based on the answer.

A sample week

This is a starting point for a family of four. Swap in the dishes your household actually eats.

Make the shopping list easy to shop from

• One unit system. Use grams and millilitres or cups and spoons, not a mix. Mixed units cause more wrong quantities than anything else.
• Name the brand or size once. "Full-fat yoghurt, 500 g" beats "yoghurt".
• Group by area of the shop. Vegetables, dairy, dry goods, frozen. Your helper will thank you.
• Write what you already have. Check the pantry and cross those items out before the list goes out.

Two habits that make the week easier

Cook once, eat twice. Make a double batch of a sauce, soup or rice dish and freeze half. It covers your busiest night without any extra planning.

Let your helper suggest a dish. Once a week, ask for something from their own kitchen. You'll get better food and a helper who feels like part of the plan.