Cooking is one of the most popular capacity-building goals we work on at Helping Haven, and one of the most underrated. It looks small on a plan — “build cooking skills” — but the flow-on benefits are enormous: confidence, independence, social participation, even friendships.
Here’s how we actually run it across a 12-week capacity-building cycle, and what to look for in your own plan.
What “capacity building – daily living” actually funds
Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living is the NDIS line item we usually use. It funds time with a support worker, dietitian or OT to learn a daily-living skill that the participant will then carry on independently.
Two things matter for it to be effective:
- The skill is teachable in the time you’ve got.
- The participant actually wants to learn it.
Cooking ticks both boxes for most of our participants.
Our 12-week structure
Weeks 1-2: Confidence in the kitchen
We start small. Boiling pasta, making toast, understanding which knife is which. We work in the participant’s own kitchen so the skill transfers. We talk about food safety — not as a lecture, just as we go.
Weeks 3-5: One reliable meal
We pick one meal the participant loves and want to be able to cook independently. That might be a stir-fry, dahl, spag bol or a simple roast. We cook it together once, then with prompting, then with the worker just there as backup.
One participant we worked with cooked his nan’s curry independently in week five. He hadn’t cooked anything for himself in fourteen years.
Weeks 6-9: Weekly meal prep
By week 6 most participants are ready to do a weekly Sunday meal prep — three or four meals, batched and frozen. Now it’s not just a skill, it’s a routine.
Weeks 10-12: Independence and review
The worker steps back. We do shopping list, recipe choice and cooking with minimal prompts. Then we review what’s stuck, what hasn’t, and what to work on next plan.
What to ask your planner for
- Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living funding for one to two hours weekly.
- A clear, specific goal in your plan: not “build cooking skills” but “cook three meals independently for myself by [date]”.
- Optional: an OT assessment to identify any equipment that would help (jar openers, accessible knives, induction cooktop).
Want to give it a go?
If you’re in Melbourne’s west or north, we can match you with a support worker who loves to cook and can run a 12-week program with you. Send us a message — we’ll plan it with you and your support coordinator.
