Meals
Somebody who has stopped cooking has usually stopped eating properly, and it tends to show up as weight loss before it shows up as a conversation.
There are three answers here and they suit quite different people.
Delivered, cooked with, or made ahead
Delivered meals arrive ready to heat. Meals on Wheels is the best known and is subsidised — and the person who brings it also lays eyes on somebody every day, which for a lot of families is the real value.
Help with cooking means somebody in the kitchen alongside them. It keeps a routine rather than replacing it, and suits someone who still wants to cook but cannot manage it alone.
Made ahead is a batch in the freezer. Cheapest, most flexible, and no company with it at all.
Is it paid for?
Often, at least partly. My Aged Care is the government front door for anyone over 65, and the assessment that decides what is subsidised is free. For someone under 65 living with disability, that role belongs to the NDIS.
The assessment is the step people skip, and it is the one that unlocks everything else. It is also slow — weeks, sometimes months — so it is worth starting even if you arrange something privately in the meantime.
What AskFam does and does not do
AskFam works out what you need and points you at services that already exist. It does not employ anyone, does not arrange the work, and takes no fee or commission — from you or from them.
It also has not checked anybody. Where you see a business listed, that is a public listing, not a recommendation. Where somebody offers on a job you posted, that is them describing themselves, in their own words. Ask for what matters to you, and take your time about it.