Any experience with a personal chef?

[BDKmom]

I'm toying with the idea of having a personal chef do a nice dinner for me and DH for Valentine's Day (probably as his gift, not on the day, as I'm sure they are booked by now), and/or using on for a couple of weeks of meals after DD is born in May. We will have family helping for a short time, but after DS, I didn't feel like cooking for a while.

Any one have any experience using/hiring a personal chef? Good idea, bad idea, more trouble than it's worth, really nice convenience?

Also, anyone have specific recommendations for the Atlanta area? I'm in the northeast suburbs.

[BDKmom]

Any thoughts at all?

[Corie]

My husband hired the chef at my favorite restaurant to come to our
house and cook dinner for my 40th birthday. It was awesome!!

He did appetizers, salad, and entree. He would have done the dessert
too but I wanted my cake from a special bakery.

The chef cooked for 8 of us.

[kristenk]

I don't know anything about it, but what a fabulous idea!

A chef came to my house to prepare dinner for 6 of us when we won the dinner through DD's school auction.

The chef who came normally cooked for people during the day when they were gone. They'd come home to several meals that were ready to reheat and have throughout the week.

[elbenn]

Are there any culinary schools in your area? I would think you might get some chefs in training who would like to earn some extra money that way. You could probably just call the school and enquire about it.

[mctlaw]

I am sorry that I don't (newish to Atlanta) but I would recommend calling one of the Cook's Warehouse locations - since they have cooking classes and sell products, I bet they know of quite a few personal chefs.

Also I wanted to say I did not realize you were from Atlanta and due in May! That makes 3 of us that I know of :D!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

a little different, but we hired a personal chef for a couple months after DD was born. we have no family in town to help out with babysitting/cooking, and i was so exhausted with a 1yo and a newborn that DH said we could have it as a my mother's day gift.

anyway, it was definitely a life saver. she would come over one day, cook the whole day, and we'd have a dozen things in the fridge/freezer that would last us anywhere from 1-2 weeks. the great thing was that everything was super healthy and tasty (she bought everything organic, made stuff low fat, high protein, etc). and DS (a little over 1yo at the time) loved the food too (he ate everything) so that was invaluable too. the only downside was that it was a little pricey. once i go back to work FT i would definitely consider hiring a chef again. i love to cook, but hate doing it "under pressure" (being tired, kiddos whining, etc)

[BDKmom]

anyway, it was definitely a life saver. she would come over one day, cook the whole day, and we'd have a dozen things in the fridge/freezer that would last us anywhere from 1-2 weeks. the great thing was that everything was super healthy and tasty (she bought everything organic, made stuff low fat, high protein, etc). and DS (a little over 1yo at the time) loved the food too (he ate everything) so that was invaluable too. the only downside was that it was a little pricey. once i go back to work FT i would definitely consider hiring a chef again. i love to cook, but hate doing it "under pressure" (being tired, kiddos whining, etc)

This is what I'm thinking of for after DD is born. I don't even really like to cook when I'm feeling good and things are great, much less when I'm tired and dealing with a newborn and toddler. And it's not just the cooking, it's shopping, prepping, etc. After DS, we did a TON of take out. I think it would be really convenient for a couple of weeks to have someone come in and get everything done so that we just heat and go. I think I could suck up the price for a couple of weeks to have the convenience factor. Just wonder if it would be weird having a stranger cooking in my kitchen. I assume they bring all the necessary tools/cookware with them?

Thanks also to the poster who suggested culinary schools. Hadn't even thought of that.

[BDKmom]

I am sorry that I don't (newish to Atlanta) but I would recommend calling one of the Cook's Warehouse locations - since they have cooking classes and sell products, I bet they know of quite a few personal chefs.

Also I wanted to say I did not realize you were from Atlanta and due in May! That makes 3 of us that I know of :D!

Thanks for the tip. I'll check that out, also.

Yep, babies popping up all around here, it's kind of crazy. I just can't get any of my neighbors on board. In 3 years, there were 5 boys born on our street. Can't get anyone to keep round 2 going and get some more girls!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

This is what I'm thinking of for after DD is born. I don't even really like to cook when I'm feeling good and things are great, much less when I'm tired and dealing with a newborn and toddler. And it's not just the cooking, it's shopping, prepping, etc. After DS, we did a TON of take out. I think it would be really convenient for a couple of weeks to have someone come in and get everything done so that we just heat and go. I think I could suck up the price for a couple of weeks to have the convenience factor. Just wonder if it would be weird having a stranger cooking in my kitchen. I assume they bring all the necessary tools/cookware with them?

Thanks also to the poster who suggested culinary schools. Hadn't even thought of that.

yeah, DH was wary of the "stranger cooking in the kitchen" thing, but he got over that pretty fast, especially after he tasted the food (LOL :)). And yes, ours brought all the necessary tools with her (pressure cooker, etc). She cleaned up and everything too.

i think we found her through some culinary website (CIA??) and we entered our zipcode to find a chef in our area. i will ask my DH, he was the one who found her.

[karstmama]

my ex used to do some personal cheffing - he was an instructor at johnson & wales, so i'd second the culinary school idea - either the staff or a competent student would likely work. there might be a school coordinator, or the old 'note on the corkboard' trick might work.