A generous offer should leave the recipient free to explain what would actually be useful.

Offers of help arrive already shaped more often than not. The giver has decided what would be nice, and the receiver must choose between accepting something that does not fit and seeming ungrateful. Generosity that cannot be redirected quietly turns into another thing the person has to manage, on a week when managing is exactly what they have no room for.

Make the offer with a hinge in it. Say what you can do and then ask plainly what would help most, and mean it when they answer. If someone says the lasagna is not needed but a lift to the station is, treat that as the offer succeeding.