Hi, my family and I (twenty in all including kids) are renting a villa in Bucine (about 45 min. outside of Florence)in April. We would love to hire a cook for the week, but we don't know how to go about it. The agent we booked through recommended a cook, but the price is ridiculous, $800.00 per day. We just want someone to cook simple, authentic tuscan meals for us. Does anyone have any advice on hiring a cook? Thanks.
Amoree

you would need to just find some little old Italian lady that lives next door to the villa.

Anyone that speaks English and has to come out to the villa, do the shopping, prepare the food and clean up.. will charge more.

Just the shopping for 20 people takes several hours!
I did food for the week for a group of 20 ( actually three weeks, three groups of 20) and almost died!
Breakfast and dinner. one picnic lunch!

Perhaps whoeover is charging you is doing a per person fee?
Are you just asking for dinner? is that including food costs?

Yeah - I'm with Diva - does that include food costs b/c if it does, and it's 3 or even two meals a day - that's pretty darn good at $40 a person.

The woman who straightened/cleaned the house we rented near Lucca cooked for us on 3 different nights. She charged $25 a person (including food) for dinner - it was wonderful! Oh but she didn't charge us for my daughters who were 6 and 9 at the time.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear in my message. We are looking for someone to cook only dinner for us. There are 13 adults, two teenagers, 3 toddlers and a baby. The littles don't really eat much. All four of them would possibly count as one dinner. We would pay for the food. I'm not sure who would physically buy the food. They quoted us on a per person charge and were offering many courses. Way more than we need.

I would think the price included shopping cooking serving and cleaning up...
and food.. for $800
if you asked for food for 20.. could be part of the problem..
also Italians don't get it you only need pasta and a salad!

so try having her cook the full meals twice, and it will probaly be enough food for the week!

I always think it is a good idea to have them doa first shopping for you, fill the house with juice, coke coffee tea water cheese salami bread etc.. with a welcome dinner... and perhaps then wednesday... and friday before you leave!
You will find great places to pick up roast chickens, cheese etc even at teh fabulous COOP markets!

You might also consider talking to Sacha who's a lovely English speaking Italian familiar to SlowTrav, too.

Where is Sasha based?
one of the big problems here is the cost of getting around...and the time.

Gas is going up here too.. I paid 1,10 Euro for a liter.. times 4 for a gallon 4,40 Euro.. in dollars abou $5.50 a gallon!

and if someone is near southern Tuscany, getting to Figline/Bucine is a long day... or night.
I have done many dinners in my past..and it can be a 6 hour experience between shopping, cooking cleaning and not couting travel time.

Do ask Sasha where she is!!!
But I really think closer is better!

Sacha lives in Cetona, could be a bit of a drive for her, e-mail Sachades@libero.it

Typically 1 person can cook for only up to 8 people, beyond that, you'd need 2 people working. And think about it, the work involved and the time, just shopping alone can take hours and it's heavy lifting too. I think people are unreasonable in wanting a cook on the cheap. Ask youself, would you do it and how much would it cost to do the same in the US?

Somehow it's expected that there's some local woman who would be happy to do this for just a few coins. But you'd expect her to communicate with you regarding menus, budgets and schedules, for her to arrive to your villa in her car with all the shopping, then prepare a delicious dinner while you want to chat and ask her questions ... Then she's expected to set the table, serve the food, and clean up all the cooking pots she brought along (because your villa wasn't equipped) and wash the dishes after your group has finished the dinner, clean up the kitchen, pack up her car, and drive home in the middle of the night.

It can be done but not on the cheap.

Zak
www.tuscanhouse.com

Ame,
We will be in the same area in June. I was interested in something like this also for a couple of nights. We will be 4 adults and 2 children. Could you please forward to me the information for the person you found or anyone else you might have information on. I would appreciate it!
Thanks!
DebiC

I still think $800/day for twenty people, no matter how old they are, is a pretty reasonable price.

That's only $40.00 per person.

Yep $40 per person is great. I have charged from €35 to €55 per person plus an hourly fee for the time I am at the house (cook, serve and clean).