I was a chef for 4-5 years, and I've learned how to make real food on the cheap. Here are some tips

I've been cooking professionally since I was about 16, I'm now 22 and have just entered college. I've worked in a variety of kitchens from family owned to large chain restaurants, I've learned a lot on the way and how to make really good food super cheap. I'm pretty sure I've saved thousands of dollars over the years by making food instead of buying it. I want to share some of the tips I've learned. First of all, don't buy pre-cut veggies. Do you know how much money is wasted by buying pre-cut carrots? I've seen them be as much as 4x as much as just buying the carrots. They're already more expensive because they're organic (I don't know why all pre cut veggies are organic), and they're charging you to cut them up. Just buy regular carrots, it will cost you like 80c a pound and it's like 5 min work. Next, blue collar restaurants help keep food costs down. I worked at a restaurant that was very blue collar, and we had a very high food cost (like 34%) but people always left full. This is because we would send out huge portions, and keep our menu prices down. We knew it was more important to have regular customers that were happy than to charge $25 plates and attract the wealthy. The wealthy come and go, but the middle class will keep your restaurant alive. Our burgers were huge, our sandwiches were huge, our steaks were huge. It was so easy to drop 10-15 bones to get a huge meal, and leave stuffed. It's easier to make food at home because you can buy in bulk, but it's a lot harder to buy "bulk" fast food. It's easier to make a huge pot of pasta at home than it is to buy in bulk fast food. Rotating your stock is VERY important. This is called "first in first out". This ensures that the older items are being used before they go bad. If you buy in bulk, you need to make sure you're using the older stuff first. An example of this is if you buy a 12 pack of ground beef (which is a great purchase), make sure you're using the older ones first (the ones in the back). This will help you not waste food, and save money on it. If you're constantly throwing out perishables because they're going bad, you need to slow down how much you're buying. Prep your food when you get home from the store. I always regurgitate this, because it's something EVERY professional kitchen does. When new product comes in, it's always being prepped immediately. This made it so when we were on the line, we didn't have to waste time chopping/processing food we needed during the rush. This saves a lot of time, and is something you should do immediately when you get home. This is especially true for items that will go bad faster. For example, if you buy a bag of cherries, they will go bad much faster than a bag of apples. You should prioritize the cherries by washing them, taking the pits out, drying them, and putting them away in containers. This will ensure they last longer, and you're more likely to use them. I'm sure you've all heard the tip "plan your meals for the week". I think this is way more helpful for college aged students with busy schedules. It's very easy to skip meals in college because you're so busy, and end up grabbing something to go. If you have a meal prepped already, you can just grab it and go. Also, if you plan on being gone most of the day, you can make something "easy" to eat on the go. An example of this is making a big pot of rice, a big bowl of roasted chicken, and some steam veggies. If you're going to be gone, you can just make a bowl of chicken fried rice and be on your way. It's already more or less done, all you have to do is cook it. Buy cheaper cuts of meat, and understand how they work. So much money is wasted on buying tender cuts of meat, when you can buy tougher cuts and slow cook them. This makes them tender and good to eat, and they're usually 30-50% cheaper. If you're making a beef stew, why bother using filets? You're going to cook them in some kind of liquid for a long time, it doesn't matter what cut of meat you use. This will also help you save money on meat, and you can buy in bulk easier. If you want to buy a bulk pack of ground beef, you can make a lot of different things that don't require you to eat a ground beef patty 5 nights a week (unless that's what you want to do). Buy cheaper brands. This is the same idea of not buying tender cuts of meat. If you want to make a pasta with marinara sauce, you can buy a name brand pasta sauce for $8 (like Prego or Classico), or you can buy the store brand for $3 and get the same results. If you're cooking the pasta, and heating up the sauce, why would you want to waste money on a name brand sauce? It makes no sense. You don't need a lot of equipment to cook. I see so many people that are like "I don't have an instant pot, I won't make this recipe". Or they don't have an air fryer. The only things you really need to cook are a pan, pot, plates, and utensils. If you have those 4 things, you can cook basically whatever you want. I've never owned an instant pot or air fryer, and I make amazing food. You don't need to waste your money on dumb gadgets that you'll only use once or twice. If you want to buy something, make sure it's something you'll use all the time. Make your own snacks. I find it way easier and cheaper to just make my own snacks instead of buying them. Trail mix is a great example. You can buy a huge bag of trail mix at Target or Walmart for like $13 (I think they're 6.5 lbs). Or, you can make your own trail mix by buying all the ingredients (nuts, dried fruits, chocolate) and mixing them yourself. Ready to eat foods are just pre-made snacks. A really good example of this is Cuties. I don't know if anyone else has had these, but they're clementines that are easy to peel, and come pre-cut. They cost about $5/lb, but if you buy regular clementines, they cost like $1.50/lb. They're charging you to cut them up. It takes like 2 minutes to cut up some clementines. Why bother paying extra for someone else to cut them up when you can do it yourself in 2 minutes? This is true for basically all ready to eat foods. This was just a compilation of tips I learned. If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!! I hope you learned something. Edit: oh my wow this blew up! Thank you so much to everyone for the kind words and to whoever awarded me with the gold! I'm so touched and happy that I could help :)

I was a chef for 4-5 years, and I've learned how to make real food on the cheap. Here are some tips

Comments (8) 14862 👁️