Home chefs cook meals in their own kitchen and sell them at Duck Mart’s community food counter, or keep them to eat and to stock a player business. How much you can cook at once depends on your Cooking life skill and the oven you have placed.
Getting started
Choose a home, start Home chef and use a placed kitchen or cooking station you have access to. Pick an unlocked recipe and a batch size, then read the quote for ingredients, pantry or kit use and cash cost. Recipes and station requirements vary.
How the work goes
- Prepare the ingredients.
- Use the cooking station for the cooking step.
- Go back to the preparation station to plate. Follow the next-step prompt and stay near the active station: the recipe is not finished just because the first timer ended.
- Collect the finished portions.
- At Duck Mart’s community food counter, choose the recipe and quantity, review the sale and confirm.
Progression
Recipes come from the Cooking life skill, not the career level. Batch sizes need both the skill and a big enough station nearby:
| Batch | Cooking skill | Station tier |
|---|---|---|
| 1 portion | 1 | Any |
| 3 portions | 1 | 1 |
| 5 portions | 10 | 2 |
| 10 portions | 25 | 2 |
| 25 portions | 50 | 3 |
| 50 portions | 75 | 4 |
| 100 portions | 90 | 5 |
Owning a large oven somewhere else does not upgrade the small station you are using.
Pay and XP
Cooking gives Home chef career XP and Cooking life-skill XP for the recipe. Selling pays, but it does not give that XP again. Meals you cooked yourself count toward career pay at the NPC counter. Strength does not affect cooking.
Common problems
- A batch failed. Recipes can fail until their success chance reaches certainty, so budget for some lost ingredients.
- Meals are waiting. A full inventory leaves finished meals waiting to be collected.
- The sale quote changed. An expired quote just needs a fresh review. You have not lost the meal.
Modeled earnings
Scenario: Soup below Cooking 15, Pasta to 29 and Cake from 30, with the largest batch the matching Cooking level and an already placed oven allow. The Cooking life skill is assumed to equal the career level, and failed batches lose their ingredients.
| Career level | Strength 1 | Strength 50 | Strength 99 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $567 | $567 | $571 |
| 10 | $1,074 | $1,074 | $1,081 |
| 25 | $2,970 | $2,970 | $2,988 |
| 50 | $8,243 | $8,243 | $8,243 |
| 75 | $11,022 | $11,022 | $11,022 |
| 99 | $13,773 | $13,773 | $13,773 |
No rows match that filter.
These are calculations from the R51 — Timber in Motion source, not measured play. Each figure repeats one clean cycle with the equipment above already owned, then scales it to an hour. Seller VAT and recurring ingredients or seeds are taken off. Income tax, club tithes, debt repayment, fuel, repairs, gear purchases and breaks for needs are not, and neither are travel delays, mistakes or other players. Treat them as a comparison between levels, not a promise of what an hour of play pays.