Last night on episode 3 of “The Next Food Network Star” Season 5, the theme was entertaining on a budget, and in my humble opinion, one contestant was lucky that the judges didn’t issue a double elimination when they had every reason to. But more on that shortly. The show began with all 8 remaining chefs meeting up with Food Network star Tyler Florence at Stew Leonard’s grocery store, which looked sort of like a Whole Foods. The first part of their challenge was to pick out ingredients to serve a dinner party of 12, but with only $60 to spend. In addition, they each had to offer a budget-conscious tip on camera for Florence, who would judge them and declare a winner, with that person to have an advantage in the main challenge.
Jeffrey won the challenge with a brief but very effective tip on how to use Nutella to make crepes for both dessert and breakfast with his family. Melissa and Debbie also did a nice job with their tips. Teddy (who Florence referred to as a cartoon character of himself), Jamika (who advised to re-use marinade) and Michael (just a complete mess) all bombed in the budget tip portion of the challenge.
