How to Choose a Home Cook
Starting from how your household eats, and what makes an arrangement last.
Knowledge · Home Cook Services
Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Home Cook
Someone will have daily access to your kitchen and will feed your household. That is worth a proper conversation rather than a call about timings. These are the questions worth asking, what to verify, and the answers that should prompt a second question — asked in a way that works for both sides.
When this is useful
Before an Arrangement Is Agreed
A general checklist, whether you arrange through an agency or privately. If you have not yet worked out what you need, how to choose a home cook comes first.
- Someone has been proposed and you want to check properly before agreeing
- This is your first time arranging cooking help at home
- Your household has a requirement that must be followed exactly
- A previous arrangement ended over something nobody had discussed
What households should know
Four Groups of Questions
Ask across all four. Households that only discuss timings are the ones renegotiating the actual job in month two.
1 · Verification — before anything else
Yes-or-no questions deserving yes-or-no answers: has identity been verified, and against what document; has the current address been verified; has a background check been completed, and when; who is accountable if something goes wrong. This person will be in your kitchen daily and often alone in the house. If verification is described as "in progress" or "not really needed for cooking", treat that as a complete answer — it has not been done.
2 · The cooking itself
Ask what they cook most often, not how long they have cooked. Ask about the style your household actually eats and listen for a concrete answer — a particular dish, how they make it — rather than a general assurance. Ask directly whether they are comfortable cooking to a household's stated preferences and adjusting when asked, because some people would genuinely rather cook their own way.
3 · The practical arrangement
Settle the timings and whether they are fixed; how many meals and for how many people; whether groceries, kitchen cleanup or utensil washing are included; what happens on a day they cannot come; and how much notice each side gives. Kitchen cleanup is the single most common unstated assumption in this service — ask about it explicitly.
4 · What they ask you
The most revealing part, and it runs both ways. Someone who intends to do this well will ask how many people eat, at what times, what your household does not eat, and whether anything must be kept separate. They may also ask their own questions about hours and expectations, which is entirely reasonable — and how a person responds to being asked questions tells you as much as their answers.
Practical considerations
Answers Worth a Second Question
None of these means someone is unsuitable. All of them mean ask once more before agreeing.
"I can cook anything"
Nobody cooks everything well. A confident, specific answer about what someone cooks often — and what they cook less — is a better sign than an answer with no edges to it.
Advice offered about health or diet
A cook or agency volunteering opinions on what your household should eat for health reasons is working outside their role. That belongs with a doctor or dietitian.
Vagueness about a written requirement
If your household has an instruction that must be followed exactly, the answer you want is a clear yes to following it as written — not an offer to improve on it.
"We can start today, no paperwork"
Verification takes time by definition. An arrangement that skips it has skipped the part that protects the household.
Silence on kitchen cleanup
If nobody raises it, both sides are probably assuming different answers. Ask directly, and write down what was agreed.
Timings agreed too easily
A slot accepted without a pause, when it clearly sits awkwardly with the rest of someone's day, tends not to hold. A frank conversation about what is realistic serves both sides.
General guidance vs our service
Where This Guidance Ends and Our Service Begins
Everything above applies however you hire. This is what we do when we place a cook in a household kitchen — and you are entitled to put every question above to us.
What Quality Care can help with
- Identity, address and background verification, completed before anyone enters your home
- Matching on cooking style and the kind of household, not on availability alone
- Agreeing meals, timings, groceries and kitchen cleanup with both sides in advance
- Passing on a written instruction from your doctor or dietitian exactly as given
- Changing the placement where the fit is genuinely wrong, rather than leaving it to run
What we do NOT advise on
- Nutrition and diet. We do not advise on what anyone should eat, portions, or the health value of any food
- Medical diets. These must come from a doctor or dietitian. We follow them as written; we never design or adjust them
- Meal plans, weight guidance, or food as treatment for any condition
- Food safety certification, or what standards a kitchen is required to meet
- Pay, employment law or contracts — ask a qualified professional
- Promising that the cooking will suit your household. We match on style; we do not guarantee a result
We place cooks into homes and brief both sides before a placement starts. Anything to do with health, diet or a prescribed way of eating belongs with your doctor or a qualified dietitian — we will place someone who follows their instruction exactly, and nothing here is a substitute for it.
Common questions
Questions Households Ask Us
What verification should be complete before a cook starts?
Identity proof, address proof and background checks, completed before the first day rather than during the first week. Ask specifically what was checked and when. This person will have daily access to your kitchen, so it is worth being unambiguous about it.
Should we ask them to cook something before agreeing?
Many households do, and it is reasonable to ask. Treat it as both sides looking at the fit — the kitchen, the timings, the style of cooking — rather than as a test. The person is also deciding whether your household suits them.
How do we communicate a requirement our doctor has set?
Give it in writing, exactly as the doctor or dietitian has stated it, and ask the cook to confirm they can follow it. Do not paraphrase or adapt it yourself. A cook can follow written instructions precisely; interpreting a medical instruction is not their role or ours.
Who usually buys the groceries?
It varies by household and should be agreed rather than assumed. Settle who buys, who decides what is bought, how money is handled, and who says when something has run out — before the first day rather than in the second week.