This is a split sheet for the evening meal and the kitchen afterward. The question is simple: which steps the family keeps, which a hired non-medical aide takes on, and which are shared. Most families find a gap only after an evening goes missing, so name the owner of each step before the search starts.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Make the list from the kitchen, not from memory
Walk through the kitchen and write every step in the order it happens: planning the meal, checking what is in the fridge and pantry, cooking, plating, reheating a dish left from earlier, clearing the table, washing up, wiping counters, and throwing out food past its label date. This is your working list, marked editorial, until it is matched to the agency's written task list.
Mark three columns
Place each step in one column: family, aide, or shared. A shared step needs a named first person and a named backup. A step left with no name is the step that goes undone on the busiest day. Write a person's name beside the step, not a general word such as everyone.
Check the agency's list against yours
Ask the agency for its written list of kitchen and meal tasks, and lay it beside your sheet. Mark each agency line as file. Mark any task the agency says it does but does not put in writing as editorial until it appears on paper. Look for steps on your sheet that the agency does not list at all, such as cleaning the stove top or washing a pot.
Write down the limits
Record the kitchen limits the family sets: which appliances the aide may use, whether the aide may use the back door, which foods are kept in the house, and whether the aide may cook for guests. A non-medical aide follows the family's written plan. If a meal plan depends on a restriction the family already has in writing, that restriction is the family's instruction, and any question about it goes to the family's doctor. Health questions go to the family's doctor.
Plan the week in blocks
Split the week into weekday evenings and weekend meals. A family that keeps weekday cooking and hands weekend cooking to an aide will usually need a different schedule than one that wants the reverse. Write each block on the sheet with its owner and the time it starts.
Match the blocks to the hours offered
Before you book, set the kitchen blocks against the hours the agency offers. Home health and home care in Missouri are checked as two different categories, so the record you check depends on the service. See Home health and home care in Missouri are two different categories.