FEED A FAMILY ON A BUDGET
Chef Chad Byrne found himself out of work and with hungry mouths to feed – so he’s devised recipes and shopping lists suitable for those struggling financially
THE camera work is a little shaky and the editing needs a bit of a tidy, but as chef Chad Byrne says himself, ‘the production values might be a bit crap, but the content is good’.
In fact the content of his first full-length cooking video, which he posted up this week, is excellent.
Aimed at those struggling financially — for instance, families now relying on the PUP payment — he demonstrates how to get three dinners and one lunch out of a 2.3kg chicken that cost €5.40.
The meals, which include a chicken barley risotto and a chicken noodle broth, look fantastic and use ingredients he picked up at his ‘local friendly German supermarket’. He also posts up a shopping list and calculates that one dinner portion of the risotto costs about 50c.
It’s inspired cooking for times like these and the homemade quality of Byrne’s videos make them all the more accessible. He fluffs and slightly swears a little while his cameraman/sous chef, Danny Moynihan, does his best to keep the phone steady as they film in the kitchen of the Brehon Hotel in Killarney, Co Kerry, where Byrne has been head chef for almost nine years.
The idea to produce these budget menus and videos came straight from his own current situation. Since Covid-19 hit last year, Byrne has worked full-time for just two weeks, while he was part-time for a number of months before we went to level 5 again.
Now relying on the PUP payment to cover all of his family’s bills, he was finding it difficult to make ends meet.
‘I’m separated and I’ve got my three daughters with me for this lockdown, which I didn’t during the first two,’ he explains. ‘I was finding it hard to stretch my money with bills coming in and everything. With four mouths to feed, it’s not easy.’
The 41-year-old year old now shops every three or four days, spending about €30 a time, and carefully plans to buy enough ingredients for breakfasts, lunches and dinners that are nutritious and that all four of them enjoy.
‘I just felt with the skills that I have it would be a lot easier for me to do it, than someone who’s not a chef,’ he explains. ‘So I thought it would be worthwhile to post them online, to show it can be done.’
Byrne, a recent Irish Chef of the Year, has form when it comes to sharing his experience with others. In 2019, he founded Chef Collab, an initiative that pairs apprentice chefs with established chefs as mentors. A huge success for the short time it was up and running, before Covid hit, it saw apprentices learning valuable skills from some of the country’s most talented cooks.
Originally from Dublin’s southside, Byrne knows the value of learning from the best. After leaving school at 14 he worked for a few years as a kitchen porter in a Chinese restaurant before being encouraged to train properly in cooking. ‘I then went to the Merrion Hotel and as soon as that happened it completely changed my direction in life,’ he explains. ‘It gave me an ethos about cooking, respect for food and myself, a bit of discipline.’
He worked in kitchens around Ireland and the world, in Michelinstarred
‘I was finding it hard to stretch my money after paying bills’
restaurants and five-star hotels, before moving to Kerry to take up his post at The Brehon.
‘My first ever placement was down here when I was 18,’ he says. ‘So when the opportunity came up, I jumped at it and I don’t think I’d move anywhere else, I love it down here.’
With the uncertainty about when hospitality will open up again, Byrne decided several weeks ago to try and convert a horsebox into a food truck as a way of getting back to doing the job he loves.
‘No one in the industry really knows what’s going to happen,’ he says. ‘So the only way I can guarantee myself work is if I do something myself. The only things open at the moment are mobile units and takeaways. Food trucks are the way forward, the country will probably be awash with them in a couple of years and things will go back to normal, but for the time being, if you can earn a crust from it when you need to, go for it.’
He’s been blown away by the support he’s got since telling people about his plans.
He calculated it would cost about €15,000 to convert the horsebox
but was disappointed to get turned down for a bank loan.
Friends and colleagues persuaded him to post an online appeal for the funds, where he offered foodie gifts in return for contributions. Within 24 hours he had surpassed his goal and work is underway on the horsebox, which will be based in Killarney and called the Hungry Donkey, selling ‘fun, vibrant, ethical and sustainable food’.
‘My next door neighbours, Ivor and Geraldine, have been amazing,’ says Byrne. ‘Ivor spotted a horsebox for sale online one night at about 11pm, he rang me and by the next morning we’d picked it up. He’s allowing me to use his yard and tools, he’s also guiding me. I’m hoping it’ll be ready to open in about three weeks’ time.’
In between working on the renovations on the horsebox and taking care of his three kids — Lily Rose, 14, Shannon, 10, and threeyear-old Chloe — he’s busy with his budget meal plans and video demonstrations.
‘I stick the camera up on top of the window and the girls sit down looking at me wondering what I’m on about this time,’ he says laughing. ‘I just fire away, and when the girls go to bed, I chop and edit and then post them up.
‘I love it, they’re a great way of communicating with people, especially at a time like this, and you can have a bit of a laugh. As you can imagine, a lot of my chef friends take the absolute mickey out of them and I enjoy that too.
‘The way I see it, only good can happen from this, and if I can help a couple of people along the way, it’s a nice thing to do. If my girls can see that happening and if it helps instil a bit of that kind of ethos in them too, I think it will stand to them. What more can you ask?’
■ FIND Chad on Twitter, @chadpbyrne