Welcome to the IH8Cooking Blog

If you've found your way here, there is a decent chance you either hate cooking, are completely over thinking about dinner, or you're trying to work out whether getting someone else to do it is actually a thing.

It is.

And yes, we built an entire business around it.

I Hate Cooking started with a very simple idea.

Lots of people don't want to spend their free time meal planning, shopping, chopping, cooking and cleaning up afterwards.

Lots of other people genuinely enjoy cooking.

So we introduced them.

That was the beginning.

What we actually do

We are an in-home cooking service.

That means our cooks come to your house and prepare meals in your kitchen, using your groceries.

Depending on the service, we might make around 15 serves or 25 serves in one session, portion everything, clean up afterwards and leave your fridge or freezer looking considerably more useful than it did when we arrived.

Some clients use us every week.

Some every fortnight.

Some only when life gets ridiculous.

All are valid.

Who uses I Hate Cooking?

Pretty much anyone who wants help with food.

Busy families.

People with disability.

Older people.

People recovering from injury or surgery.

People with dietary requirements.

People who are completely capable of cooking but would rather spend their time doing something else.

And people who have simply reached the point where hearing the words “what's for dinner?” makes them twitch slightly.

We understand.

Why have a blog?

Because there are a lot of questions around in-home cooking.

What actually happens during a booking?

Do you need to be home?

Who buys the groceries?

Can meals be adjusted for dietary requirements?

Can NDIS funding be used for meal preparation?

Is meal prep worth the money?

What is it like to work as one of our cooks?

And sometimes people just want reassurance that they are not the only person who has opened the fridge at 6pm and immediately closed it again.

So this blog is where we'll answer those questions properly.

We want this to be useful, not fluffy

There is already enough content on the internet that says things like:

“Meal preparation can support a healthier lifestyle.”

Technically true.

Also incredibly boring.

We'd rather talk about how meal prep actually works in real homes.

What goes well.

What doesn't.

What makes a cooking session easier.

Why some meals freeze beautifully and others should absolutely not be trusted.

How dietary requirements affect planning.

How our cooks manage multiple dishes at once.

And what we've learnt after years of cooking in people's kitchens all over Australia.

You'll also see a bit behind the scenes

I Hate Cooking has changed a lot over the years.

Our training has changed.

Our recipes have changed.

Our systems have changed.

The way we support cooks has changed.

A lot of those changes have happened because our cooks told us what was actually happening on the ground.

Sometimes politely.

Sometimes with slightly more enthusiasm. 😂

That feedback has shaped the business, and we'll share some of that here too.

We think that's far more interesting than pretending everything was perfect from day one.

It wasn't.

Very little worth building is.

We'll talk about disability support too

A large part of our work involves supporting people with disability, including NDIS participants.

That means we'll also write about meal preparation support, cooking skills, independence, executive function, sensory needs, dietary requirements and the difference between cooking for someone and cooking with them.

We'll keep it practical.

Not clinical.

Not full of jargon.

And definitely not written like an NDIS brochure.

There will be food talk

Obviously.

We'll talk about batch cooking, family meals, freezer-friendly dishes, planning, shopping, food waste, pantry staples, dietary substitutions and all the little things that make cooking easier.

Possibly also why coriander seems to divide the population more effectively than politics.

Important research.

And if you love cooking...

You are also very welcome here.

A lot of the people reading this blog will be clients or people researching our service.

Some will be cooks.

Some will be thinking about joining our team.

So from time to time we'll also talk about what it's like to cook for I Hate Cooking, why so many of our cooks stay with us long term, what makes someone great at this work, and what we've learnt about supporting a national cooking team.

Spoiler.

Being able to cook is important.

Being organised is often even more important.

Mostly, this blog is about making food less annoying

That's really what we're here for.

Sometimes that means having someone come into your house and fill the fridge.

Sometimes it means learning a few meals you can make yourself.

Sometimes it means understanding how meal prep can work around disability or dietary needs.

And sometimes it just means realising that you are allowed to outsource a job you hate.

You do not get bonus points for making dinner the hard way.

So welcome.

Have a look around.

Hopefully you'll find something useful.

And if nothing else, you now know there is an entire company full of people who understand exactly why you hate cooking.

If you'd rather skip straight to the part where somebody else does the cooking, you can request a quote.