Cooks, Private Household
Food Preparation and Serving Related
Cooking happens in someone else's kitchen, for a family and sometimes for other household staff, using the employer's recipes, tastes, and diet restrictions. Vegetables and meats are peeled, washed, trimmed, and cooked; breads and pastries are baked. Extra food is cooled, packaged, labeled, and frozen, with notes on how to reheat it. Menus, shopping, kitchen organization, serving, and records of meals and money all sit with the same person. Suits people who like cooking for a known household and running a kitchen largely alone.
Typical education: Post-Secondary Certificate (vocational/technical)
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$47'940
Median Wage Market Position
$47'940
What you might do
- Cook daily meals to the family's taste
- Plan menus around diets and household needs
- Shop for groceries and kitchen supplies
- Bake breads and cook vegetables and meats
- Package, label, and freeze food for later
- Track menus, spending, and kitchen records
Skills that matter
- Menu planning for household diet rules
- Cooking to an employer's recipes or tastes
- Shopping for food and kitchen supplies
- Reading recipes, labels, and diet notes
- Attention to changing family meal requests
- Records of menus and food costs
AI & the future of this role
Private household cooking rests on personal taste, trust in the home, and flexible meal planning. Automation might assist with recipes or shopping lists, but in-person service and tailored cooking tend to hold up well.
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Related careers
Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details