What's in your cooler?

Processed foods are convenient and at times inexpensive however, it's garbage disguised with tomato sauce and cheese, loaded with sodium and cholesterol that huddle in our fat cells like a bunch of guys on a football field and litter our insides with....Honestly I don't even know what to call it but what the heck, it fit’s the budget right? Wrong! I will admit, there are some tasty frozen entrees at the local supermarket and obviously there is a huge market for these products but lets get down to honesty, we can do better from scratch and save on the budget.

What’s in your freezer, cooler and dry storage rooms? How are your menus laid out and are you being passionately creative or just waiting for the kids to eat the food you warmed up in the oven that someone else maid in a factory 3000 miles away and shipped over on a boat? I guess what I am asking is this “are you a Chef or an employee who was hired to warm up food?"

Please understand, there’s nothing wrong with just being a cook but when your running a kitchen and your responsible for the quality of food that goes into multiple bodies several times a day, you had better have your head on straight. Because as good as food is and as fun as it is to eat and make, it can also be very dangerous if not handled and prepared with a certain level of care. What’s the difference between a chef and a cook? Great question and I will answer it like this “ what’s the difference between an airline pilot and an astronaut?” They both leave the earths surface in a flying object, they both wear a cool uniform, they both have cool gadgets in their cockpit and they both are responsible for the well being of their vehicle. But lets face it, the chef is the astronaut and the cook is the airline pilot because the chef rises above the cook….it’s also a mindset.

Here’s something to think about. If you know how many students you have in the house and you pay close attention to the amount of food that is left over at the end of the day, you can then have a better understanding of how you should be shopping, cooking and menu planning. Are you creating the menu out of your own creative genius and then at times nobody eats your food? Come on admit it, we all have done that before, but the real question is, are you still doing it? If you answered yes to this question, I would suggest you stop and start asking the students what type of food they would like to see on the menu and then, you can creatively put your passion into making the food they want to eat and you can do it in a healthy and tasteful manner.

Multitasking and clock watching. If your watching the clock and doing several things at once to ensure food hit’s the dining area on time and at the correct temperatures, the food exceeds your pallets expectations and everyone seems happy then congratulations! If you’re not doing these things then shame on you! My favorite word is “Accountability”. Take credit for the good and the bad because you own them both. Have a great day and create something fantastic and feed it to somebody!