My Life as a Private Chef in Austin, Texas

It's been about 2.5 months since I took the leap and became a private chef. I'm sharing all my thoughts on how I landed this gig and what my weeks look like.

Back in April, I got a voice note from my old personal trainer asking if I was still doing meal prep for people in Austin. I had posted about cooking for new mom’s and people in Austin a few times, but nothing was 100% permanent because I had a full time job at the time. Back in March I left my full time job because I had truly felt so out of alignment for SO long. Crying everyday. Hating my schedule. You know the deal. I was also dealing with a slew of personal things and knew it had to be done. This was my time to really focus on me. Long story short about 24 hours later, I connected with my personal trainer’s client and started cooking for them 3 days later.

Cooking always puts me in the best mood. I’m in my flow state when I’m in the kitchen. I get to cook every Monday for this family and have a few different clients on the side that I help with meal prep.

My schedule usually looks like this:

Thursday:

I work on sharing the invoice from the previous week. I’m reimbursed for the food I buy and they pay me for my time cooking in their kitchen. On Thursday’s I also share a new menu for the following week. This gives them time to look at all the meals for the week and provide any feedback.

Sunday:

Sunday is my game day. I visit 2-3 grocery stores depending on what’s on the menu / what’s in season. We’ve been focusing on sourcing locally and organically so I’ve been shopping at places like Radius and Local Pastures. Depending on the amount of stores I need to go to, it can take me between 1 - 2 hours to shop. If I need to prep anything, Sunday afternoon is when I do it. I put everything into my fridge and Monday is go time.

Monday:

I’ll do my typical morning routine - make the bed, walk the dog, make breakfast, then I’ll get ready for the day and pack up all my groceries because I start cooking at 10 in their kitchen. With this particular client, they prefer their proteins prepped and not cooked so they can cook them fresh. I totally agree with this because reheated protein after a few days doesn’t typically taste amazing. What I’ll do is prep the proteins and carbs, cook the veggies, make any sauces, bake the baked goods, and make breakfasts. Timing is usually between 5-7 hours of work that day.

Once I’m done I usually pick my husband up from work and either he makes me dinner so I can rest or if I’m in the mood I’ll cook something up.

It’s been so rewarding to finally feel like I’ve found something that fits my mold and not the other way around. For so many years, I tried so hard to fit in this corporate box that the world projected on to me and it NEVER felt right. Like two opposite puzzle pieces. Every job just felt like I was striving for more but left with empty promises. Even if this doesn’t go far, at least I get to walk up happy everyday, stress free, and in love with what I do.

XO.

T