Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common Meals

[PatZy (pzboom]

Here at Mountain View Coho our meals program has been up and running for a year 
this week!  The billing comes off our diner signup sheets (paper, in the Common 
House, builds traffic), and cooks turn in their expenses after a meal.  One 
person keeps a spread sheet with dates/number of meals per household/amount 
spent on ingredients, and we even up on a quarterly basis.  

We struggled with initial pricing and finally agreed that meals would cost no 
more than $7 - everything costs more in the Bay Area - but we’ve never actually 
charged that much.  At the end of the quarter we review the actual cost per 
meal and adjust the charge accordingly for the billing.  We increase the actual 
a little to a round number (say the average was $5.84 per meal, we’d charge 
$6).  The overage goes to our “feast fund” and so far we’ve charged $6, and 
$6.50 for meals.  This means lead cooks don’t have to sweat every penny and 
allows for the purchase of more organic/local food.  

PatZy Boomer


> Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2016 19:03:19 -0500
> From: Rita Bullinger <ritabullinger [at] gmail.com>
> Subject: [C-L]_ Common meals
> 
> Can anyone anywhere offer ideas for organizing the pricing and record-keeping 
> of common meals?
> We are about to have a common house!! I welcome any ideas!
> 
> Thanks so much.
> 
> Rita Bullinger
> Germantown Commons, Nashville
>