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is anyone on here a cook or chef ?

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lucylou
lucylou Posts: 1,036 Forumite
in Old style MoneySaving
hi I am just curious is anyone here a Chef or Cook ?I think the majority are just people who love to cook:D and eat;)
half scottish half italian :100%moneysaver
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  • apprentice_tycoon
    apprentice_tycoon Posts: 3,300 Forumite
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    I used to be...I took the City and Guilds professional catering exams 30 years ago whilst working in a restaurant. After the children came I worked as a course tutor for adult evening classes (the 2 classes I devised were dinner party cookery and freeze a feast for Christmas, they were 'demonstration and taste' classes)

    At the same time I was working from home making around 60 cakes a week for local teashops.....now I have chosen an easier life (full-time ebaying) and forgotten half of everything I ever knew - I think that I just spent too long in the kitchen and I'm recovered now!
  • lucylou
    lucylou Posts: 1,036 Forumite
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    hi I have a question apprentice tycoon :is it still ok to make cakes from home to sell to tea shops I mean with the health and safety and all the rest?I would be really interested in doing this as I love making cakes and biscuits
    half scottish half italian :100%moneysaver
  • apprentice_tycoon
    apprentice_tycoon Posts: 3,300 Forumite
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    I started the cakes business 20 years ago, things were less strict then but even so I had to have the Health Inspector to check out the kitchen, I had to have a double sink put in and the wallpaper taken off the walls (they needed to be scrubable). He came back every couple of years for a 'chat'. I'm pretty sure that things are much tighter now. I also had Public Liabilty insurance in order to sleep at night
  • foreverskint
    foreverskint Posts: 1,009 Forumite
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    I too tooke the city & guilds about 21 years ago, and worked as a chef until 1996, but it's a young single persons job. I still enjoy it but only for friends & family now.

    As for cooking from home, you need to contact your local environmental heath dept and take a food hygiene course. The regulations for home kitchens are very strict, but if you involve EH from the start they will do everything they can to assist you in meeting regs.

    HTH

    Sorry must have posted at the same time;)
  • apprentice_tycoon
    apprentice_tycoon Posts: 3,300 Forumite
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    foreverskint wrote:
    I too tooke the city & guilds about 21 years ago, and worked as a chef until 1996, but it's a young single persons job. I still enjoy it but only for friends & family now.

    I so agree! the hours are terrible and it's such hard work. I think that all the TV progs like Hells Kitchen and Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares have shown all of this, and I think they may have even put off the next generation.
  • foreverskint
    foreverskint Posts: 1,009 Forumite
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    I think you may be right, I don' think I would ever have gone into the proffession if I had know just how hard it would be. Especially at this time of the year, how hot does it get?

    And then to watch as your lovingly prepared meal is laquered with salt & then they ask for the tommy ketchup Arghhhh.
  • tootles_2
    tootles_2 Posts: 1,143 Forumite
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    I am a fullly tranined chef too, having aken it up at the tender age of 43..... I had been cooking for years, 3 of my children had the qualifications so I decided if you an't beat em' join em' was in a class of 20 16 year olds and came out top of the heap.... which to me was a great satisfaction........I did work for a numer of years, but until I found a cushy little number working in a TV studio's, the hours were manic.......


    Living in the sunny? Midlands, where the pork pies come from:

    saving for a trip to Florida and NYC Spring 2008

    Total so far £14.00!!
  • apprentice_tycoon
    apprentice_tycoon Posts: 3,300 Forumite
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    Well done you Tootles - beating the 16 year old is great!
  • squeaky
    squeaky Posts: 14,129 Forumite
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    Old age and treachery will beat youth and enthusiasm every time :)
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  • ancasta_2
    ancasta_2 Posts: 951 Forumite
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    I used to be, in various restaurants and cafés and pubs but gave it up for more sociable hours and a job with more money... made seeing OH alot easier when we first got together....

    Queue violins.... i gave up a job i loved to be with the man i loved. Might get back into it one day if im still up to scratch and with current trends and stuff
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