I often hear people say that they wish they could have someone else cook for them. I agree! Even though I'm a chef, I have the same struggles and challenges in fitting everything into the day.
Sometimes you just don't feel like cooking, or you don't have the energy at the end of the day. I totally get that. And that's why I understand how valuable a personal chef can be and why it's worth paying for the service.
What Is A Personal Chef?
A personal chef is a trained cook and prepares at-home meals for their clients for a fee. Personal chefs usually work with one family or household and customize meal plans according to the client's dietary needs and food preferences.
A personal chef's responsibilities include meal planning, shopping for ingredients, cooking, and cleaning up after preparing the meals. Some personal chefs work in a client's home to cook a week's worth of meals. They are responsible for safe packaging, accurate labeling, and convenient storage of prepared items in their client's refrigerator or freezer.
There are many benefits of hiring a personal chef, including healthy meal preparation, restaurant-style dining in your home, freeing up time in your schedule, and no kitchen clean-up!
Personal vs. Private Chef: What's The Difference?
A personal chef is usually self-employed and runs their own professional culinary business. They choose their clients and prepare meals in their clients' homes regularly (weekly or a couple of times a week). The prepared meals are left ready to be consumed at the clients' pleasure.
A personal chef sets their work schedule and selects clients accordingly. Some may continue to work in professional kitchens and cook for one or two private clients to supplement their income. Others run their business full-time, juggling multiple clients and their corresponding culinary needs.
On the other hand, a private chef works on a full-time basis for one client in their private residence. They prepare all the fresh meals and snacks for daily consumption by members of the household. As they are required to be "on-call," most live in the residence where they work, and some even travel with their employers on holidays or business trips.
Private chefs devote their full attention to the household where they are employed and will most likely cook for guests and visitors as well. They often work in large homes that have other professional support staff such as butlers and maids. A private chef should have the requisite skills to function well in this type of team environment.
Both personal and private chefs require mastery of a wide variety of cooking styles and excellent communication skills to understand and deliver food that will satisfy their clients. They should be able to come up with menus that offer variety and work with dietary restrictions such as gluten-free, vegan, paleo, or low-fat.
3 Reasons To Hire A Personal Chef
After a full day at work or with the kids, wouldn't it be nice to come home to healthy, gourmet comfort food without having to do the shopping, cooking, or clean-up? The meals are completely customized to fit you and your favorite ingredients, leaving out any dislikes or allergens.
That's the joy of hiring a personal chef. It may sound extravagant, but it can be quite practical.
1. Health Reasons
Ordering food from an all-organic, high-quality restaurant may seem like a healthy dining choice. However, the food is produced in large batches, and it's just not the same as a homemade meal. A personal chef prepares restaurant-quality meals made from fresh ingredients according to your preferences.
2. Save Time And Energy
Let's be honest: no matter how much you love cooking, it's quite a time investment to cook and clean up. Hiring a personal chef gives you the best of both worlds — you get to eat wholesome, homemade food without having to do the work.
3. Save Money on Restaurants And Takeout
Hiring a personal chef might seem like an expensive venture. However, suppose you weigh the costs of dining at a restaurant a couple of times a week against hiring a personal chef who fits into your budget. In that case, you might end up saving money.
Here's a bonus reason to consider as we adjust to life during the COVID-19 pandemic…
4. Safety Reasons
According to a recent CDC report, dining out is among the riskier activities when trying to avoid contracting the coronavirus. The report found that eating at a restaurant raises the risk of catching the virus more than shopping or going to the salon. Having a fully masked chef prepare restaurant-quality meals in the safety of your home while maintaining high hygiene standards is the safer option.
5 Interesting Facts About Chefs (That You Probably Didn't Know)
We all know that chefs work their magic in creating delightful recipes. But what else do you know apart from this? Here are some interesting facts about them.
1. Being a chef is an art and a science.
Chefs have to be artistic and create every meal like it is a masterpiece. The science side comes from understanding the chemistry of the different ingredients and what works best to balance and combine flavors.
2. Chefs have a favorite knife.
When you're working in a kitchen nearly every day, you quickly get used to the weight and precision of different chef knives. It's not surprising that each chef has his/her own favorite knife to use. However, it's a major faux pas to use another chef's knife.
3. The chef hat has an interesting history.
In the 1800s, the French began using the phrase toque blanche to refer to the white hat that a chef wore as part of his/her uniform. The hat's pleats came from the idea that the more experience a chef had, the more pleats his hat had. A pleat could signify a technique or recipe he had mastered.
4. Chefs are food connoisseurs.
Having worked with food for years, chefs can easily pick the subtle differences between a bad and a good recipe.
5. Chefs are passionate about what they do.
Chefs are incredibly passionate about their jobs. The best chefs enjoy pleasing their clients and creating an interesting combination of tastes and flavors.
So as you can see, there are many reasons to hire a personal chef. If this is something you think would benefit your life, we matchmake talented natural food chefs with busy people like you who are looking for a chef. Find out more and get in touch here.
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