How much should I charge for cooking for someone?

$50 a head. If they complain tell them you can do it for $30. (They're gonna feel too cheap and bad to do $20 less than the guy next to them) make the host buy entire jars of herbs and spices and take them with you. Buy extra ingredients and take the left overs.

Walk away with $250, free ingredients, and a full stomach. I did something similar once with an old group of friends.

>>9013223
Just cost it by hour.
Give yourself an hour for planning, an hour for shopping, an hour for setup and cooking, an hour to cook, an hour to cleanup. Yes, you'll be leaving their dishwasher on, everything put away and cleaned up. Are you $10/hr?

At some point, they would do well enough to get takeout from a fine restaurant, and just plating it up. Catering. So, don't exceed that, or make something that really really is better right from the oven, that simply can't be bought.

Most people don't make chocolate mousse and souffles anymore, so they scream fresh and good. I don't see you getting rich off this, but it could be a start to a new business. Someone will ask you to do the same thing for them, and then it goes from there.

>>9013223
How many courses?

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>>9013223
I'd do like $14 bucks a head plus time. So prep + cooking + serving + transporting (if you're not cooking on sight).

That plus your receipts for the food I think is reasonable. I figure about $160 assuming you like the guy. You could go higher if it was a pro job but if it's for a friend then that's where I would sit.

op here. Thanks for the suggestions.
Here was what I was thinking of making based on their preferences:

Meal 1
Ribeye steak
Herb and garlic mash
Roasted asparagus

Mushroom soup with oxtail stock
Ratatouille with lamb meatballs

Meal 2

Chicken tikka masala
Lamb biryani
Homemade naan

So one French (?) meal and one Indian.