Making Mealtime Meaningful: Discover how we're giving back with the 12T Cares program →

From the back of house of a buzzing, busy restaurant kitchen to the home kitchen, cooking and baking are done differently in many ways. While there are some similarities, one user on the forum r/Cooking asked other users if they had any pro kitchen tips for home cooking.

Stainless Steel Bowls

“Get a big stack of stainless prep bowls and lots of kitchen towels. It makes it so much easier to keep organized as you cook.” Via: throwdemawaaay/r/Cooking

Better With (More) Butter

Via: MarianVejcik/iStock

“My answer is butter. I don’t think people realize the ungodly amount of butter that goes into the food they order at a restaurant versus what they make at home. And that’s why it tastes SO good!” Via: Dependent_Top4425/r/Cooking

Labels

“Label everything, deli containers, masking tape, sharpie, the date and what it is, no mystery containers” Via: ttrockwood /r/Cooking

Compile Scraps and Trash

Via: Candle Photo/iStock

“Get a trash bowl” said one user and another user mentioned another idea “My variation is re-using the produce bag as a trash bag. One less thing in the dishwasher.” Via: Col Hannibal and dma_pdx/r/Cooking

Know Your Knife

“Using correct knife techniques not only makes it much safer, but because it’s so safe, you can go much faster (don’t try to go fast while you’re learning, just use the techniques, and speed will come with time). Seriously, when your prep is fast and consistent, cooking is so much quicker.” Via: Hot-Celebration-8815/r/Cooking

Prepping Before You Begin

Via: Gabriel Trujillo/iStock

“Mise en place. It’s much harder to forget or burn ingredients when they’re all laid out in front of you in an organized manner. This is key to a successful kitchen.” Via: Daswiftone22/r/Cooking

Surfaces Matter

“Get a decent cutting board” Via: Lex1520/r/Cooking

Beyond Salt And Pepper

Via: Hazal Ak/iStock

“Learn to play with spices – different varieties with different flavor profiles, whole vs powders, roasted spices, freshly hand pounded spices, blooming spices in oil before adding the food to it.” Via: Zehreelee/r/Cooking

Waste Nothing

“Learning how to utilize the same ingredients for many dishes to reduce waste.” Via: wpgpogoraids/r/Cooking

Tasting Spoons

Via: nico_blue/iStock

“You can never have too many teaspoons. Taste, taste, taste.” Via: nobertyeahbert/r/Cooking

Plastic Containers

“Deli containers for leftovers, spices, etc… multiple sizes, same lid… no searching for the right Tupperware lid. They are microwavable, and when they get too old you just recycle them….” Via: Jucas/r/Cooking