Cook, Reheat, or Buy: Picking a Meal Method That Fits the Hours a Hired Aide Can Cover

A meal method decides who touches the stove, how much of a visit it takes, and what is left in the refrigerator for the rest of the week.

85 and over · November 1, 2026

Meals are one of the tasks where a hired visit and the household's own week collide. A short visit can produce a hot meal, a longer visit can cover a plan for the week, and a visit that tries to do both often does neither well.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Three methods

Cook from scratch: the family or the aide makes the meal on the day it is eaten. This takes the most visit time and depends on the household's own pans, appliances, and pantry.

Reheat: a batch is cooked on a planned day and portions are reheated on the others. This moves the work to the family's planning day.

Buy ready meals: the family orders prepared food from a delivery or grocery service. This moves the work to the ordering step and to refrigerator storage.

Each method asks a different question of the hired hours, so choose the method before choosing the hours.

What the visit can carry

Ask the office whether meal preparation is on the written task list and how much visit time is set aside for it. Ask whether the aide will use the household's own kitchen, and whether the aide may plan or shop or only prepare what is already in the house. Clear the kitchen counter and label the cupboards before the first visit so the aide knows where things are kept.

What stays with the family

Planning the week's menu, deciding what food is kept in the house, and any question about what suits the household belong with the family, and health questions go to the family's doctor. Write those decisions into the plan so the aide works from the same list on every visit.

A simple test

Write the seven days of the week in a column and mark each day with the method that applies: scratch, reheat, or buy. Estimate the visit minutes each method needs. If most days lean on scratch cooking, the visit length is too short for the method chosen, and either the visit or the method has to change.

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New Plan Care Solutions is independently owned and operated in St. Louis by Stacie Postol. Non-medical in-home support for St. Louis and St. Charles counties: personal care and daily routines, companionship, homemaking, respite for family caregivers, and day-to-day help while recovering at home. Short-term, overnight, 24-hour and live-in care with no long-term contract. Fully insured, with background-checked caregivers screened through the Family Care Safety Registry. Care visits start at $136 (a four-hour visit at $34 an hour). Every family starts with a complimentary in-home care consultation and up to 2 hours of care observation: no cost, no obligation.

The guides on this site are educational, not medical advice.