Cooking and dishes roster
Whose turn to cook tonight? Now there’s an answer
One cooks, one washes up, and it changes from night to night. FairTurns hands out the cooking and dishes turns, keeps the cook away from the sink on the same night, and shows the week on one link.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
Six o’clock, nothing defrosted, and nobody’s turn
In most houses dinner falls to one person by default, and the dishes fall to whoever was too slow to leave the kitchen. A cooking roster sounds like overkill until you try it: “what’s for dinner?” becomes “it’s Linh’s night”, and whoever cooked gets to sit down afterwards.
The hard part is keeping it going. Weeknights shift with sport and late shifts, teenagers rush in and out, and a paper list can’t tell you who cooked last Thursday. FairTurns keeps each night’s cook and washer-up on a roster that repeats, shares the turns by who has had the fewest, and doesn’t hand the cook the dishes on the same night.
It suits share houses that cook together a few nights a week, and families teaching teenagers to make one meal a week. If you are organising meals delivered to a family going through a hard time, the meal roster page is the one you want.
How FairTurns runs dinner
One date, two jobs
Each dinner is one date with two positions, Cook and Dishes. Fill won’t put one person in both at the same time.
Only the nights you share
Roster Monday, Wednesday and Sunday and leave the rest as fend-for-yourself. Each night repeats weekly on its own.
Learners and old hands
Limit Cook to those who can, and give the twelve-year-old Dishes until they’re ready. On Pro, set a learner to Now and then for cooking.
Fewest turns next
Fill gives each night to whoever has cooked least, and the turns chart shows who has done how many.
Late shifts and training
Anyone with a late night marks it as away, once or as a regular rule, and Fill leaves them off.
Tonight, on the link
Everyone checks the public roster on the way home to see whether it’s their night to pick up the groceries.
Set it up
- 01
Create the house
Create an organisation for the house and a team called Dinner.
- 02
Add Cook and Dishes
Add a position for Cook and one for Dishes, one person each.
- 03
Add everyone
Add the kids by name and invite the adults or housemates by email.
- 04
Pick the nights
Click each night you share dinner, set the times and choose to repeat it every week.
- 05
Fill and share
Press Fill for a month, move anyone by hand if needed, and share the link.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails the week’s dinner roster to everyone who has joined on the day you choose, handy for planning the shop, plus a reminder before each turn. With How often, a confident cook can be More often for Cook and a learner Now and then. A$12 a year for the household.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- Start with three or four nights a week. A roster for every night is a lot to keep up at first.
- Housemates don’t pick their own nights; the roster shares them out, and anyone can be moved by hand.
- Menus, recipes and shopping lists aren’t part of a date. Give the date a short name if it helps, such as “Taco night”.
- Children added by name only get no emails, and anyone with the public link sees the names on it.
Questions
Can the cook be kept off the dishes?
Yes. Make Cook and Dishes two positions on the same dinner date. Fill won’t put one person in two places at the same time, so the cook gets the night off the sink.
We only eat together some nights. Does that work?
Yes. Set up only the nights you share. Each repeats weekly, and the other nights stay off the roster.
How do we fit in takeaway night?
Cancel that one date, and bring it back if plans change. If takeaway is every Friday, simply leave Friday off the roster.
Can teenagers see the roster on their phones?
Yes. Share the public link and anyone can open it without signing in. Teenagers with their own email can be invited, so they see their next dates first.
What does it cost?
The roster is free. Pro adds reminder emails, the weekly roster email and How often for A$1 a month, paid a year or more at a time, so A$12 a year.
Free templates and guides
Chore roster maker
List the people and the chores. Each week everyone moves on to a different job.
How to split chores fairly
List every job, including the invisible ones, agree the standard, then rotate or own. A method for any household.
Kitchen duty roster template
Office kitchen duties by day: dishwasher, benches, milk and the Friday fridge clear-out.
Similar rosters
Household chores
The whole family’s chores on one shared roster, with whose turn it is on everyone’s phone.
Chores for couples and adults
Two adults, or a houseful of them, sharing the housework on a roster you can all see.
Meal roster
Dinners for a family with a new baby, an illness or a loss, shared between friends on one page.