The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle Stuff Pack Review: Slightly Undercooked (PC)

It’s been a long wait for the next Stuff Pack for The Sims 4 to drop, and Home Chef Hustle is the first in nearly 3 years since Paranormal Stuff. The question is: is it any good? My answer: yes – but there is room for improvement. Don’t be put off by the words “slightly undercooked” though. I’m not saying this is a Stuff Pack you should pass. There were just parts that left me feeling a tad underwhelmed. If you’re wondering what I mean, then read this review of The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle Stuff.

The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle Stuff Pack is now available for PC via Steam and EA App, Mac via Origin, Xbox One | Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 | 5, and Epic Games Store for $9.99.

Story – Become a Home Chef

The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle doesn’t really come with a story. Since this is The Sims, it’s up to you to come up with your own stories. However, Home Chef Hustle does open up potential for new storytelling. This Stuff Pack allows your Sims to sell homemade food at their own food stand. With hard work and determination, your Sims can make their business a success.

Gameplay – Something Smells Good In the Kitchen and on the Stand

When I first learned about The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle, it reminded me of the Cool Kitchen Stuff Pack and the Dine Out Game Pack. I admit, I was worried Home Chef Hustle would be too similar and not bring much new to the game. I’m pleased to say I was mistaken. Whilst playing The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle for this review, I discovered that the core focus was on the brand-new objects and gameplay they bring.

New Kitchenware and Recipes

There are three core features that make up Home Chef Hustle: the new appliances, the new recipes, and the food stand. Together, they make a fun cooking experience.

The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle comes with 3 brand-new small kitchen appliances: the pizza oven, electric mixer, and waffle maker. Each of these are easy to use and come with their own recipes. If you play The Sims 4, you know that you have to have a high Cooking skill to unlock all the available recipes, but that just made me all the more eager to level up my Sim’s Cooking skills so I could try out everything. Plus, having a high Cooking skill is beneficial in a financial way when using the food stand. Watch out if you have a low Cooking skill though, because there’s a chance that the appliances can catch fire if your Sim is inexperienced. You don’t want to burn down your sleek new kitchen before you’ve even started!

This is what happened to me when I first attempted to make waffles. Not a good start!

I quickly discovered that these new appliances differ from others in the game. With each of them, your Sim sets whatever they’re making to cook, and then it’s left to make. Once it’s ready, you have to manually take it out in a separate interaction. This actually works out because you can go and do something else while your pizza or waffles or prepped ingredients are being made. You can see the time left to prepare by hovering over the appliance, which is handy. If you’re tired of waiting around, you can speed up cooking time by upgrading any of the three appliances. They all have the same 3 upgrades available: make unbreakable, speed up cooking time, and self cleaning. You need at least Handiness level 4 before you can do this though. 

I like each of the three appliances in their own way. I’ve always wanted my Sims to be able to make their own pizza, so I was thrilled with the pizza oven. Plus, this Stuff Pack has added lots more pizza toppings and recipes! It’s especially satisfying watching your Sim tossing their pizza dough into the air. I kind of wish they’d added a traditional brick pizza oven with this Stuff Pack, but the portable modern one works because it’s portable and the bigger oven would take up a lot more room.

Mmm, pizza!

I wasn’t sure what to make of the mixer. I thought it was a bit pointless when I first learned about it, but I quickly found out that it is very beneficial. It speeds up cooking time and increases the quality of food. You can make lots of prepped ingredients for different kinds of recipes: batter, dough, vegetables, meat and seafood. You can even make substitute meat and seafood for vegetarian meals.

When I first learned about the waffle maker, I was pleased, although I wasn’t sure about all the waffles being heart shaped. I wish there was a way to have different shaped waffles instead of just hearts. Saying this, the waffles in the game look delicious, and there are lots of mouthwatering combinations you can make.

Selling at the Food Stand

I’ve talked about the new appliances and the new recipes you can make with them. Now let’s look at the other selling point for The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle for this review: the food stand! Without this, your Sims cannot sell their delectable food creations.

I’m personally not a big player of the run-your-own-business activity in The Sims series, but I had to try out the food stand to do this review. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised, not to mention impressed, with the food stand that comes with Home Chef Hustle.

The main thing I like about the food stand is that it’s not overly complicated to use. It’s portable, so it’s easy to transfer into your inventory and then place it on a lot, whether it be your own home lot or a commercial lot. You can also customize it by changing the swatches, give your stand its own icon, and even give your business a name. It’s nice being allowed to have that personal touch.

Setting up your own business via the food stand couldn’t be easier.

Setting up the food stand to sell food isn’t too difficult either. It didn’t take me that long to work out how to use it. You store your food wares in the stand’s inventory, then you just start up the food sale and you’re off! The food sale works as a timed event, about 3-4 in-game hours. This is plenty of time to sell stuff. I do wish it didn’t function as a timed event, and instead you could sell indefinitely.

The cost of the food you sell depends on the dish and its quality, as well as the Cooking skill level needed to make it. You can raise prices with the Mark Up interaction, and can go as high as tripling your costs. You do risk putting off your customers though, but there are interactions to encourage them to buy your food. Using the food stand raises the Charisma skill, as well as the Entrepreneur skill (if you have High School Years installed).

The first time I tried out the food stand, I honestly thought I’d only get one or two curious customers who might buy something and then that would be it. I was surprised to discover that the food stand does attract a lot of attention, and very soon after you open the stand, you’ll have quite a crowd gathered around your table. I learned that it’s best to have lots of food on offer, as you’ll have more chance of selling something. What I love about the food stand is that there isn’t a limit to what you can sell. You don’t just have to sell waffles and pizzas. You can sell pretty much anything! Got Cool Kitchen Stuff? Why not make and sell ice cream? One time, I went out with the food stand and forgot to bring any food with me to sell. I was able to whip up some food on a nearby grill and sell those instead!

You’ll be making money before you know it.

The great thing about Home Chef Hustle is that thanks to the most recent update, all small cooking appliances are now portable, not just the new ones. This means you can take them with you in your Sim’s inventory, place the appliance on the stand, and cook on-site. I had heard about other Sims using your appliances to cook, but I never had this happen to me. Having portable appliances is also useful if you have limited counter space for cooking. You can swap out appliances as you cook!

Mastering Appliances and the Food Stand With New Aspirations

If you find yourself struggling to get motivated to use the new food stand and appliances, then consider assigning your Sims one of the two new aspirations that comes with Home Chef Hustle. One of them focuses on mastering the new appliances, while the other gets you becoming an expert seller with the food stand. I made a family with two adult Sims, each who had one of the new aspirations. I found this a good way to guide me through playing with what Home Chef Hustle has to offer.

I can’t honestly say which aspiration I enjoyed more. They were both good and different from each other. The good news is that unlike the Horse Ranch aspirations, the Home Chef Hustle ones have multiple levels to them. I had a sneak peak at all the tasks in the different tiers and they do grow in difficulty, so they will provide a good challenge and keep you busy!

Whether you want to work on being a master home chef or an expert at the food stand, the new aspirations will help you get to the top.

Graphics & Audio – Slick Kitchen Stuff

No Stuff Pack is complete without new stuff! The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle Stuff does come with a selection of new outfits and objects. However, I have to admit, I couldn’t help feeling that it was a little lacking and was left wanting more.

Quantity-wise, I’m not sure how Home Chef Hustle Stuff compares to other Stuff Packs for The Sims 4, but there didn’t seem to be that much. I do like what the brand-new objects bring; the food stand and the three appliances. I do like the new Nordic-themed kitchen objects, even though they did burn a hole in my starter Sim’s pocket. I especially love the new counters, the matching cabinets that glow, and the new wall tiles. It just seemed that there wasn’t quite enough new stuff. I know Expansion Packs come with a ton of new objects, and Game Packs, but this Stuff Pack felt a bit disappointing. I’m not sure if it’s because the team behind this Stuff Pack wanted to focus more on the new objects and gameplay. It just felt as if this Stuff Pack didn’t quite have enough new stuff.

Since we’re talking about new stuff, I couldn’t do this review of a Stuff Pack for The Sims 4 without going into Create-A-Sim, aka new hairstyles, new clothing, and new accessories. With Home Chef Hustle Stuff, you get new outfits so your Sims really do look like chefs who make homemade recipes and then sell them at a food stand. There are even swatches to get that been-busy-cooking-in-the-kitchen look. Every age group gets something new. My one favorite CAS item was the new knitted hat that looks like a bun. While I generally like the new CAS content, like the objects, I couldn’t help wishing there was more added. 

The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle Stuff Pack was reviewed on PC.