Paging Mrs. Patmore.....

I know you've thought about it too..

Last December, during advent, I realized that I was failing at getting my family around the dinner table regularly.  It made me feel guilty and sad. I mean, there are only about a bazillion studies that prove how important a family dinner ritual is.

It's not that we didn't have the desire...but life is busy you guys.

I also realized that we were spending a ton  of money to eat food that wasn't even being served on our own kitchen table. Like way too much money. I'm not even going to tell you how much money we spent each week eating out….it was embarrassing. And come on...there are FIVE OF US.  You can't even go to McDonald’s and spend less than 30 bucks for crap food. If we go to Applebee's it's an easy 75 bucks.

So I started to think about this problem.  I'm not gonna lie...homeschooling is kind of labor intensive.  It really eats up a lot of time. And the kids have lots going on. Further, we have friends who we like to hang out with too. And also...I'm not a great multi-tasker.  I started to daydream. How cool would it be to have a cook? Like, you know, a Downton Abbey type of cook who plans meals and gets the food and makes it and is kind and endearing and loveable?

But, hello, we aren't rich people.  And let's be honest. ..I'm a stay at home mom..I'm not running an estate in the English countryside. Hiring a cook would be pretentious. And my mother in law would probably faint.  Besides, all of my pinteresty mom friends manage to make THEIR families meals. Heck, one of my best friends runs a FARM; she’s also a labor and delivery nurse and she makes homemade meals with food that she grew in her garden or raised by herself in the barns that she also mucks and shovels and paints.

All that is true. And yet, none of it was putting a meal on our table every night.

One week I sat down and started doing math. We were spending X amount of money a week eating out.  It was enough money (from my calculations) to buy almost a whole month’s worth of groceries to make meals at home.  I started to wonder if I could split that money each week between groceries and a cook. Would it be enough to hire a cook and give her a weekly grocery budget?

I told Ryan my idea. I knew I could save us money if I just cooked the meals every night myself but look, I told him, clearly that's not happening now which is why we eat out all the time. We figured it would be healthier to eat home cooked meals than eating out and it also would make life easier.  I wasn't sure if we would be able to find someone who would want the gig but we put out a classified ad and crossed our fingers.

I was surprised at how many applications we received. A lot of the applicants were chefs at really well-known restaurants around here. We had a hard time narrowing down the pool but eventually we chose three candidates to interview. We asked them to make a sample menu and weekly grocery budget. We met them each at a local coffee place for interviews. They were all really nice but two of them just didn't seem like a good fit. The third was perfect.  She was so funny and easy to talk to and she had made a menu that was kid friendly but also interesting. ..more than anything though, Ryan and I just kind of clicked with her. We offered her the job the same day we interviewed her.

She's been cooking for us since last January. We love her. I don't know how we survived without her. She makes up the weekly menu, shops for the groceries and comes to our house each night to make our dinner. She has, on occasion, cooked for our friends and family when they are here for supper and she handles a large party like it's nothing. She will also cook low carb, paleo, whatever we request.  It's changed our life for the better and now every night we get to eat a meal together around our own table.

It's okay to not do it all. Let me be the first to reassure you on that point. I don't care if people think I'm a bad wife. You shouldn't care what people think about you either. I like that we are modeling to the kids that it's okay to delegate some things to others. We are always in awe of our cook. She is so good at what she does.  She has blessed us with her cooking, and the kids know the value of hiring people who are good at what they do. We respect her and make sure she knows we appreciate her. Those are good things to teach your kids. The better moms than me may never need help getting dinner on the table, and that's awesome.  I wish I was like that. On the other hand, I am bleeping good at finding and hiring the best cook. I mean, we all have our talents.