As many of you know I have been working in the restaurant industry for almost 15 years. During that time I have learned so much about food. Today I want to pass on an inside secret that will help you to loose weight, and be more efficient in the kitchen.
Food prepping.
This means washing, cutting, and storing the produce before cooking. I spend one day grocery shopping and then prepping all the food. It saves me time, I have to do less cleaning, and it makes it so much easier to just grab ingredients and cook. I always recommend this to clients looking to drop a few pounds because investing your time and energy at the beginning always makes you much more likely to actually eat all those tasty veggies!
Think about a restaurant, when you order a meal no one is going to the fridge to start washing and cutting. They have prep cooks that do all of that in the day. Why? Because they are under the gun for time! A dinner entree has 20 min from the time it’s punched in to get out the kitchen doors, and they get LOTS of orders at once. Having everything cut, sauces ready, allows the whole process to actually work.
While you are cutting and peeling you will create a lot of scraps. Here is the genius part, make stock! That’s right, use every single piece of those veggies you just spend your hard earned money on. I just bring some water to a simmer and add them as I go, letting it simmer the whole time until I am finished prepping! BAM! It’s like makin’ money!
Trust me, when the kitchen runs out of something during a rush, tempers run high, because that takes two hands off the line, where they are needed. Even in the bar it works the same, garnishes are all cut before, lemons, limes, etc. God help the person who leaves it empty for the next shift, because you are setting someone up to fail.
I want you to set yourself up for success!
Another industry tip is menu planning. Clearly menus are planned out in the utmost detail, with regard to cook time and food cost. However, we can plan out what we are going to eat for the week. For example, the night before my grocery trip I flip through some of my favourite recipe books and pick a few. I make a list with the ingredients I need to buy, take that to the store and ONLY buy what I need, which saves time and money too!
I really want to make it easier for you to be healthy and realize YOU ARE A CHEF!!! So get organized, you will be shocked at how much more food you have available when it’s all ready to go. No more opening the fridge a million times feeling like there’s nothing to eat.
Try this out today!!
Amanda Greenthumb 