How to set a cooking rota for a group holiday

On every group holiday there is one person who ends up cooking most nights. It is never agreed, it just happens — and it sours the week. A rota agreed on day one prevents it entirely.

Cook in pairs, not alone

Pairs are the sweet spot. Cooking for ten alone is a chore; with two it is sociable and roughly halves the time. Pair a confident cook with a less confident one and everyone eats well all week. With a big group, rotate the pairs so people cook with someone different each time.

Whoever cooks does not wash up

This single rule solves most kitchen resentment. The cooking pair is off dishes; another pair clears and cleans. Write both jobs on the rota — a rota that only names cooks quietly leaves the washing up to whoever caves first.

Set it before you arrive

• •Agree the rota when you agree the menus, not on the first evening when people are tired.
• •Let each pair pick the night and the dish they want — people cook better when they chose it.
• •Build in the nights out and the arrival meal so nobody is assigned a dinner that never happens.
• •Put it somewhere everyone can see: the fridge door, or a shared plan on their phones.

Account for the invisible jobs

Cooking is the visible task, but the big supermarket run, the daily bread-and-milk trip and the bin duty all take time too. Share them out in the same rota, or the person who volunteers for the shop ends up doing it every day for the whole week.

Keep it flexible

Plans slip on holiday: a walk runs long, a boat trip changes the day, someone feels rough. Treat the rota as the default, not a contract — as long as everyone can see who is meant to be cooking, swapping nights takes ten seconds and nobody quietly ends up doing more than their share.