Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Common House Meal Management

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

> 1. Do you do anything special to make meals kid-friendly?
No not usually, although occiasionally somebody will make a special dish
just for the kids.
>
> 2. How do you schedule the cooks? Do people just sign up for days they can
> cook, or do you have a strict rotation?

We use a monthly sign up sheet with 4 dinners (Mon-Thurs) and one
breakfast(Sat.)in each week. Each day has four slots, 2 cooks, 2 cleaners.
If all four slots are signed up for, there is a meal, if not, then there is
not. Eveybody self selects when they want to do what role. Sometimes all the
meal slots get filled, sometimes we only have one meal a week. Some people
sign up only once a month, others sign up 2-3 times a month.
>
> 3. Does every household contribute to the cooking/cleaning?
yes and no. On the sign up sheet people do what ever they want to, but they
get 3 free meals credit for cooking or cleaning. Once a month it's
somebodies turn to do the monthly deep cleaning. This gets rotated from
house to house, so about once every 14 months or so its my turn. This is
about 3 hours of work, with a list of chores for each month created by the
commonhouse team.
>
> 4. To what level do you cater to special dietary needs of various
> families?
> Do you have a vegetarian option at every meal, or is it just up
> to whatever
> the cooks want to make?

It is up to the cook, almost always there is a vegetarian option, often a
vegan option,although not a often as vegetarian. We pay attention to food
allergies, so for example if fish is the meat, often there is a peice of
chicken for my daughter who is allergic to fish.

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood