r/KitchenConfidential • u/Eggomyserbzoooo • 1d ago
Who else really loves Prep. It’s really fucking therapeutic 🙇🏾♂️🙏
It’s my fa
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u/zazasfoot 1d ago
Prep shifts are my absolute favorite at my place. Just me and my kitchen from 5 am until 11 am? Sign me the fuck up
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u/sukibean13 13h ago
Did the same at a pizza place a while back. My kitchen to myself for 5-6 hours blasting music and flowing. Had a system down but also if I finished early the owner let me chill and watch tv with a beer before I left 🙌
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u/welchplug Owner 1d ago
Im a baker. This is all I do.
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u/rognabologna 20h ago
All you do is prep and you never have to bake?
Thats the dream
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u/welchplug Owner 20h ago
Pretty much. My lady and I make all the product (about 1300 pastries daily) and our employees bake, fry and finish.
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u/BlarbequeBlibs 1d ago
Haha I just did the same prep job. After 3hours it started to get pretty tiresome, even tho I also love prep.
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u/High_Speed_Chase 1d ago
I’m one of the BBQ staff at a restaurant. All we do is prep, then watch fire burn.
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u/Quercus408 1d ago
Omg, so much. I love having the kitchen to myself in the mornings, not having to compete for oven space or equipment, and especially, noping out when my shift is over/service starts.
But in my career, whenever I got a prep cook job, that would last for maybe six months before a line cook would quit/get fired and I'd get moved over to the line and lose my princess prep shifts...
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u/Shanknado 1d ago
If I found a prep job that paid the bills I would just do that.
If anyone is hiring a prep position in Seattle my DMs are open >.>
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u/UnwantedPube 1d ago
Not when it’s a time-consuming job that you have to do 10 mins before service. And before you all say you need to be more organised, shit happens. It’s not always my fault either
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u/PinchedTazerZ0 1d ago
The only thing better than a prep shift is a dish shift. It's all fine and I don't even mind long ass inventory days and such but there's something nice about being able to turn the brain off and just get shit done
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u/No_Permission8014 1d ago
It is cathartic for me to sit in my kitchen for several hours and do a clean up, wipe down, organize, gather, prep, and cook a meal while watching media on my kitchen Nest Hub
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u/No-Marsupial4714 Prep 1d ago
It's my favorite. Just settled into a new prep position and nobody bothers me really - they just let me do my thing.
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u/beepichu 10+ Years 1d ago
i’m dying at work cuz all i’ve wanted to do in my current job is prep work but i was also trained as a cashier and were hemorrhaging cashiers lately. such bullshit. happy for u tho
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u/Acircusclown 1d ago
My favorite part of cooking is prepping. Today i tried out a new recipe that I was nervous about, and prepping made me feel in control
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u/porkchop2022 1d ago
If I have to prep everyday? I’d rather stick my hand in the fryer.
Someone calls out and I get to prep for my shift instead of managing? I’m in.
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u/Sudden-Woodpecker288 1d ago
I never minded prep shifts once in a while if I needed an afternoon or night off.
You're not doing to become an exec just working prep shifts though.
I thought they were really valuable to learn and execute some new techniques from older guys who were past their big service years.
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u/brainfreez012 1d ago
Seriously. I would rather do dishes. Standing in one place bored me. My back would ache looking down at the prep table all day. Dreadful.
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u/Squid-Radiant 1d ago
I come up with specials most days. And do all the prep for them while others do the everyday stuff. Its a dream honestly.
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u/stopsallover 1d ago
A really solid prep can hold up the most zoned out line cooks. Some restaurants are 100% built on this principle. If you ever make a menu, keep it in mind.
I have known a few guys who got paid $30+ per hour for that kind of work. It's not glamorous though and you have to be better than good.
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u/baked_bryce Sous Chef 1d ago
Absolutely adore it every once in a while. Id go insane doing it 5 days a week but that change of pace/tasks is nice.
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u/landgnome 1d ago
I remember when I first started the prep cooks made more money to ensure quality, now they all make less…made me sad because prep was always my strongest skill.
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u/Dantaeus 1d ago
It’s fun unless you work for a huge restaurant and the prep you do at the beginning of the day is gone by the time you’re done and you have to do it all over again before ya go
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u/Ok_Pension905 22h ago
It’s therapeutic only if you do JUST prep and not prep and then straight to service… smh
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u/Iatemydoggo Newbie 1d ago
It depends on what I’m doing and how much of the shit supposed to be prepped the day before didn’t get done
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u/MortaBella77 Prep 1d ago
Are you making those wrappers by hand??? I make dumplings at my job but we use premade gyoza skins.
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u/Draconuus95 1d ago
Planned prep shifts. Super chill. Love them.
Oh my god Johnny was an arse and didn’t do any prep yesturday. Quick. Pull out a full prep list ready to go in 1 hour straight from your ass.
Ya. That stuff sucks.
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u/Mgroppi83 1d ago
Man. I've been out of the game for a few years now, and there are times at my office job that I wish I was just chopping veg.
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u/goodnames679 1d ago
I've only ever been a prep cook at one place (though I've always done tons of my own prep as a line cook.) I honestly hated it so much, but that was a management issue.
Night shifts would start at 4pm and run till somewhere between midnight (weekdays) and 4am (weekends)
I would immediately start prepping stuff, and for the first two hours of the shift I would watch about 80% of the line cooks dick around and do literally nothing. They would sit and shoot the shit with the kitchen managers, leaning at their stations, perhaps doing one or two small prep tasks while I was running around like a madman.
Then the dinner rush would kick into gear and they'd all be screaming lowcalls and bitching that they were out of everything. They would all be absolutely fine, their stations fully stocked, if they actually did their fucking jobs... none of them ever learned this lesson, the KMs who helped them waste their time included. I didn't stay there long because of it, maybe about 4 months.
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u/HungryCod3554 Ex-Food Service 1d ago
I used to love if I could just prep uninterrupted for an hour or two
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u/_vulture_piano_ 1d ago
i fuckin love it its the absolute best...focus on the steps of the task til completion check it off your list and then onto the next one...cut and dry no bullshit it was especially great if you were alone opening and prepping blasting music locked the fuck in
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u/PherryCie 1d ago
yes please. just turning off the overworked part of my brain and zoning in on “doing the thing”.
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u/toysarealive 23h ago
I used to make empanadas professionally for events, now I just make at home for friends with fancy variations. I always just do the pinch and fold method to seal, cause the fork method I find more time consuming. My grandmother used to make them all the time but sealing them with the fork method. After she passed, my grandfather begged me to do the fork method. Most definitely as a way to keep her techniques alive and because he missed her dearly.
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u/Emotional-Maize9622 23h ago
I have a stressful af corporate job now.
And GOD do I miss my prep job some days because of how relaxing it all was-
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u/Cross_Eyed_Hustler 18h ago
I like prep, my specialty was always high volume high standard in house catering. We could run 1500 3/4 times a day with nearly everything done in the house.
I like everything about prep.
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u/NinthParasite 17h ago
I hate prep, it's boring. I don't want peace, I want tickets spitting just fast enough it feels like an hour passed between getting there at noon and leaving at 8
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u/ToothyMcButt 15+ Years 16h ago
Nothing better than popping on an audible book and zoning out with a bunch of prep 🙌
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u/silent_walerus Sous Chef 1d ago
Do i actually get to do prep or am I interrupted every couple minutes by questions or tickets?