Transcript
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[00:00:00] Most of us passionate cooks who have personal chef businesses where we are cooking for clients, doing small caterings and weekly meal prep services a.k.a. personal chef services, aren’t lucky enough to live somewhere where they are commercially permitting home kitchens so those are in some counties in California, starting in Washington and few other small places, but most of us who have a personal chef business are cooking in the client’s home. The challenge there is how are you supposed to cook for clients in their home without having to haul your whole entire kitchen with you?
I get it. I’ve had a personal chef business for almost 20 years, and in the beginning I used to haul everything I own just in case. And every time I would get frustrated because I would only end up using a few core things, and it was usually the same [00:01:00] stuff over and over and over. So today I’m showing you how to streamline your gear, cook efficiently in someone else’s kitchen, and most importantly, stop stressing about what to pack.
Hey there, if we’re just meeting for the first time, chef Shelley here. I help passionate cooks, start a personal chef business because you don’t have to be stuck in a restaurant job you hate. You don’t have to go to culinary school. You can be a passionate home cook, and you definitely can start your own business on your own terms, getting paid to do what you love, cook.
So let’s break this down today; what to expect for the client’s kitchen. Here’s the first thing that you need to know. Most clients do have at least the basics, right? You’re going to walk into a kitchen that has a stove, an oven, a refrigerator, probably a microwave, and a bunch of random utensils. Now, of course, the very first thing that you [00:02:00] should always do when starting with a new client is to meet with them in their home and look at their kitchen. Sometimes clients hate to cook and they’ve never used their oven and don’t even know that it doesn’t work or there could be other challenges. Maybe you are in their kitchen meeting with them and you notice that it is very, very cluttered and you need to make clear to them that this will be, need to be cleaned out before you get there so that you can start your work on your cook days.
So these are the thing that varies, the quality, the condition of their equipment, and whether it’s all clean and working. So again, during your initial meeting or consult, you’re going to want to ask some specific questions. Look at the stove, is it something you’re familiar with, or do you need to have them show you how to operate it?
Because I’m telling you, I have gone into some kitchens with some crazy high end [00:03:00] appliances, and I have no idea. And it’s not like they’re going to have the manual sitting out for you, right? So make sure you look it over and that you are familiar with how to turn it on and use it, whether it’s gas, electric, or induction stove.
Make sure their oven’s working properly and again, you know how to turn it on and get it going. If you want to look over their cutting boards, I know you’re not going to use their knives like we’re going to use a client’s knives, right? Unless they have better knives than we do, and that has happened. You still might have a one or two favorites, but you might want to use their other knives for things.
Check out their pots and pans. Check and see, especially if they have any specialty appliances that you might want to use sometimes and not haul with you like a food processor, like a blender. Look for a pressure cooker, those types of things.
And always ask the client, is there anything in your kitchen you prefer that I don’t [00:04:00] use?
Maybe they have something that’s been handed down from, their mom or their mom’s mom, and don’t want to risk it getting broken, damaged, or just even having the extra use of you in their kitchen cooking every week. So getting clarity on all these things ahead of time is going to save you from bringing unnecessary gear with you or running into a problem on your first cook day, and God forbid the client not be there and then you’re really stuck because you can’t even turn on the stove.
All right. Second part, what to bring. Let’s talk about what you should bring with you. The golden rule. Always bring what you can’t live without. And nothing more. I’ll give you a pro tip at the very end of this, but for now, let’s talk about what you usually want to bring.
Obviously, number one is your knives. We are all pretty attached to our knives [00:05:00] and used to using them, so it’s safer generally for me too. My second must bring is cutting boards. I love my cutting boards. They’re made out of a composite material. They’re epicurean brand and i’ve run into clients who have really bad dried out splintery wooden cutting boards, glass cutting boards, which I loathe with a fiery passion or just cheap chintzy plastic ones that are a little warp that don’t sit well on the counter, and it’s just a pain.
So my go-tos are, of course, knives and cutting boards. When it gets into the miscellaneous stuff I just check to make sure, do they have tongs? Do they have more than one? Do they have hard spatulas, rubber spatulas? Do they have vegetable peeler? Just all the basic things. A citrus squeezer, of course, dry and liquid measuring cups. That can be a big one. Sometimes people who don’t really cook don’t know that those are [00:06:00] actually two very different things. Measuring spoons, things like that. Now past that, if it is a really heavy cook day, I might bring multiple 12 inch non-stick pans. Those are one of my serious go-tos.
I have maybe 4 or 6 of them. Those are something I use a lot if they are short on that type of thing. Because if you have multiple dishes that you could be cooking on the stove at one time, but they have a basic set of a 12 inch, a 10 inch and an 8 inch saute pan, then you’re not going to be able to cook efficiently as you could.
It depends on your timing too, of what you’re cooking. And is there one thing on the stove, one thing in the oven, one thing. A pressure cooker or is everything on the stove? I think we’ve all had those days. Some of the things that I only bring when needed, like I mentioned, are a, pressure cooker, a food processor.
We [00:07:00] all know at the end of the day, there’s nothing that a food processor can do that a knife can’t with, or a box grater and not only is a food processor heavy and bulky, but it’s a pain to clean. You really have to weigh if you have a very heavy veggie prep day, then it might be worth it to bring but it’s not something that I bring on a regular basis. I definitely don’t bring a complete set of pots and pans. I only make sure between the client and me, I have what I need and here’s a side note, I don’t bring my entire spice pantry. Some people do. Some people have like a little kit they have set up that they just keep in there, whatever they transport their stuff in.
Some people use like rolling crates with a long handle that make it easy to bring in. Some people like Rubbermaid crates because they’re bigger to haul in. I definitely like something on wheels. To not have to, of course, again, you need to be careful with that because although having a [00:08:00] wheel thing like a cart or a wagon makes it easier on you, the client might not want you rolling that through their home, depending on how particular they are, what their flooring is and stuff.
So that’s just always something to check out. So again, I don’t bring, that was a little segue. My entire spice cabinet, I throw in only the exact things I need for that cook day.
The other thing I might bring is half sheet pans because I use them a lot for if I’m cooking for things in the oven and mine are, good heavy duty quality rimmed pans. And again, if they only have a set of like three small chinsy non-stick baking sheet pans that won’t cut it for like roasting vegetables and other things.
So that might be something I bring, but only when I need them.
Part three, the mindset shift. You have to remember, especially if you’re coming from a hospitality background, you’re not setting up a commercial kitchen, you’re not a [00:09:00] restaurant, you are a personal chef. Doing a customized service, exactly what they want, only on that cook day in their space.
The goal isn’t to recreate your home kitchen or anything like that. It’s smarter just to work with the things that you love that you can’t do without and what’s available. That’s what makes for the most efficiency, minimal stress, minimal hauling, and honestly, your back will thank you.
Now, here’s one pro tip that I love to give to people that you may not have thought about before, especially if you’ve already been doing personal chef services, a.k.a. weekly meal prep services for clients in their home.
If it’s a cook day where for whatever reason you absolutely have to get out of the client’s home as fast as possible, whether it’s for your kids or an appointment or whatever, a spee d pro thing you can do is actually take from your home [00:10:00] every knife cutting board, utensil, pot pan, piece of equipment that you will possibly be needing, and a couple empty Rubbermaid crates and a couple of the big black garbage can size plastic bags, not even the kitchen size, but the garbage bags. And what you do is you cook their cook day.
You use all your equipment, you give it a quick rinse off, line the Rubbermaid crate with the black past plastic garbage bag, and then throw your cool, dirty stuff in there and just haul it all home to clean at at your leisure.
That way you can clean it at home when you have the time. This enables you to get out of their house and leave their kitchen clean as fast as possible. Sometimes we just need to do that.
Now again, the trade off is you’re going to be hauling more stuff. And it’s going to take you time later, but sometimes we have to do that. So there’s a little pro tip that you might want to use.
If you’re [00:11:00] still struggling with what to bring, what not to bring, maybe you’re just starting your personal chef business and aren’t really sure what to do.
You can get my free complete equipment checklist of anything you might possibly need to bring. Just comment below with the word “EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST” and I am happy to get that to you. It has everything you need. You can go through it with the recipes that you’re going to cook from and cross off the things you don’t need at all, and then you’ll know you’re being super efficient with your time and only taking the things that you need to.
If you found this helpful, go ahead and like if you’re on YouTube, hit the subscribe button or follow on Facebook or TikTok. I post new, usually videos, sometimes audios every week to help you grow a personal chef business that you love on your own terms getting paid to do what you love.
Thanks for joining me, and we will talk again next week because the clients [00:12:00] are out there and they are hungry for what you’re cooking.
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