Helper can't cook.

I've been working side by side with my helper for 4 months and she still can't cook a meal without my help. She's not used to Western food and doesn't want to cook for us and let us try it. Any suggestions? She lacks a lot of confidence too.

i dont think so my last helper she finish her 2 y but she dont want to cook it is realy make me mad some time when im out wholeday and i ask her can u make this she said i dont know now also i have one last 6 month im teaching her but no

thanks cara

but in this world not every have good money i have 4 kids and one is ready to go uni i dont have that much money to send my helper to learn cooking

my self i m very good cook and i dont want my cook everyday but ya i want her to cook something when im not here

but they had nice excuse i dont know how to cook

i told her when i am cooking u see and write in the book but still

iam not that type person i cant fire her coz i dont like this thing

That's a tough one. I understand how you feel because I used to have a helper that was a lousy cook and didn't want to try. Eventually we swapped roles and I ended up slaving in the kitchen whilst she played with my son. I got really fed up with doing the chores (she was a poor cleaner and ironer too) and she left us. At the end of the day, unless you work FT and need a Nanny, most of us employ our helpers so that we do not have to do the chores and we can spend all our time with our kids. If that is not happening then there's no point having one. I am looking for a helper now after being without one for 2.5 years as baby no.2 is on the way. I interviewed a girl I really like and know through her 2 previous employers but again her cooking is not up to scratch. According to her employer she is great with kids, an OK cleaner and ironer and can make a sandwich. She told me at interview she can make a lasagna but this entailed frying the mince, adding the prego sauce and pasta and grating cheese on top. I really like her as a person but I need someone to clean, iron, cook and help me with kids when asked. The last thing I want is to end up the helper and her the mother like last time. I have another interview today with a Sri Lankan lady - get this from the reference - "XXXX is an excellent cook and can homebake bread, make curries, cakes all from scratch..."


Can't wait to meet her!!!!!


I am not suggesting that you have done this but I have seen so many of my friends hire square pegs into round holes. My friends end up moaning about the helper and the helper looks miserable. Seriously though. You need to work out whether your helper is adding benefit to your household or you are paying to have an extra, non productive person in your house. If the latter, then you need to find someone new.

I personally don't think it realistic to expect a minimum wage helper to be good at everything, i would focus on the things that you need your helper the most for, either childcare, cooking, or cleaning and find someone accordingly. My helper can't cook but i don't see it as a hardship that i cook the family meals, before HK i did everything myself so to only need to cook and do a few other chores as apposed to everything is a real luxury. If i really wanted an excellent cook or highly qualified childcare worker i would employ a chef and a Nanny but all I'm looking for is someone to help out and give me time with my kids and my husband and i time on our own on occasion hence the reason i have a helper. Every situation is different but if you have very high requirements maybe look at finding a higher qualified person in the area that is important to you. We all have strengths and weaknesses and I'm sure you can find a helper who is better at cooking than she is maybe at childcare.

Agree with Angsana. Our FT helper started 2 weeks ago and her cooking is pretty bad. Can only cook oily & bland chinese food which we don't like.. So I've been showing her how to cook some healthier western dishes, which I've asked her to re-create by herself for the first time tonight. Her cleaning is not that great either so I had to point out every little detail... It's only been 2 weeks though so let's see. If no improvement after another 2 weeks, she's out of here. (we only hired her as we have our first baby coming along next month)


Where are these 'superhelper' courses being held cara?

i think we have to admit that not everyone is good at doing housework, so even the position of the minimum wage helper is not for everyone, just like not every woman is a good housewife. training can do some improvement, but may not help greatly if the person is in nature not organized, does not have a high hygien standard, etc. and cooking is even more so. i personally like cooking and from my own experience i don't think cuisine is a huge deal if the person is good about cooking generally; he/she should be able to get the clue of a new cuisine fairly quickly. on the other hand, if he/she is not good at it, then even for his/her own cuisine he/she probably cannot do very well either. (kimmy, oil & bland food is not the good among chinese food either, and not good for you if you are pregnant).


if the helper was a good housewife at her own home, chances are better that she is a good helper now. when that's not the case, and especially when the employer herself is actually good about housework, frustration can easily arise as the employer often feels the helper is not adding (enough) benefit to the household. (some people may say why not do it yourself then -- well, that's not the point here). i've had my helper for several months. at the beginning she was of very little help as she didn't know how to operate almost any household equipment (vaccum, washer, microwave, rice cooker, etc. -- and didn't add water to the steam iron for months) and worked very very slowly (took her about an hour to iron one shirt and it'd still have wrinkles). so at that time the point of having her at home is pretty much an extra person to watch our newborn baby when my husband ands i need go out. now after months she has improved quite a bit, at least she's familiar with all the stuff in my house and knows our routine so can do things much faster. in my opinion, though, she's still far from being as good as the part-time helper we had before, who used to come twice a week and after two hours the house is spotless and all shirts ironed. and i still haven't asked my current helper to cook for us as i don't want to overwhelm her with another load of responsibility when she's just managed to handle what she's doing now -- pretty much cleaning, ironing, laundry, and sometimes bottle-feed the baby. i can probably do all these myself faster and better than she does, and 'm sure there are better helpers out there, but since i have to work part time and we get along with her not bad, and can still manage our house, we are probably not replacing her any time soon.

I'm also using my helper as my "sous chef" since I have accepted that she wouldn't be able to cook the dishes that I'd like. Easy stuff like steaming fish or veggies - I have to specify how long to steam for, which can be a guess for me, and making sure there is always water at the bottom of the pot. I figured prep and cleaning takes most of the time.

Agree with optimistic, prioritise what you want you helpers main job to be, they can't be great at everything. I've never had a helper that can cook, but to me its no hardship. I am the mother, and to me a big part of being a mother is cooking their meals. We've always told our helpers that the children are ours, and our responsibility, and they've had very little input with them. However I don't mind handing over the cleaning...and its great being able to go out at short notice.

Start really small - have your helper prep the vegetables or marinate the meat.

This should speed up your cooking time. Indroduce dishes slowly - a salad, garlic bread, baked potatoes.


A meat sauce is a terrifically useful dish - spaghetti bolognaise, shepherds pie, stuffed potatoes, chili. Once she gets the idea it really is only the seasoning that differs. This is a great one for prepping in the day when she is under no pressure from you and very difficult to do badly.


Another good one is a thai style green curry, best prepped in the day and kept. Stews, casseroles. Photocopy or type out recipies and give her to put in a folder that lives in the kitchen. Easier to find for all, and she can write all over it (make sure she knows it is hers to keep)