Season 1, Episode 3

Wild in the Aisles

In the first game, Guy challenges the four chefs to make their best version of spaghetti and meatballs, but some of the key ingredients are "Out of Stock." In the second game, the chefs will use their supermarket savvy and couponing genius to make a family meal for four for under $7! In the final game, the two remaining chefs will make their best dishes using only ingredients from the frozen food aisle. The winner gets to go on a $uper $hopping $pree worth up to $20,000.

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Welcome to Guy's Grocery Games

Guy welcomes the four competing chefs. The first challenge will be to cook spaghetti and meatballs. Sounds simple — or so the contestants think. The chefs will have 30 minutes to shop and cook. Once they're out racing in the aisles, Guy informs them that pasta and ground beef are out of stock, so they will have to make due with substitutions.

Clever Chef-Like Creativity

Tom, an investment banker turned chef, has been cooking for only three years. Even without formal culinary training, he manages to come up with some clever solutions using ramen noodles to replace the spaghetti, and precooked chicken sausage and duck confit to turn into gourmet meatballs. Guy is impressed that Tom will be garnishing the dish with fried chicken skin.

New Approach on a Classic Dish

Stanley, a sous chef, decides to use Filipino noodles even though he's never cooked with them before. He also picks up Italian sausage, which he squeezes out of the casing to make meatballs; he throws them into the oven to bake. He garnishes with raw cherry tomatoes, which he hopes adds some color.

Infusing the Jewish Penicillin

Karen, a private chef and single mom, decides to do a nod to her Jewish heritage by making a matzo ball soup version of spaghetti and meatballs, replacing the matzo balls with chicken meatballs and adding egg noodles to the broth. Unfortunately her noodles don't make it into the bowl before the clock runs out.

Upping the Italian Quotient

Nia, a baker, a bride-to-be and a proud Italian, picks up wonton wrappers, ground pork and Italian sausage as her substitutions. She also picks up a jar of tomato sauce; Nina says if her nonna could see her using it, she'd roll in her grave. Nia's idea is to make ravioli, but she has trouble getting her water to boil.

Tasting and Judging

The judges thought Tom's dish was beautiful, but Melissa couldn't get past the mushy texture of the meatballs. Nia's plating suffered, and her wonton wrappers were too soft. Troy thought Stanley's sauce was lacking in flavor, and Melissa called his raw tomatoes a crime. Karen's use of chicken base made her broth too salty, and she was missing the noodles, which resulted in her checking out of the game early.

Testing Budgeting and Couponing Skills

Tom, Stanley and Nia make it to the second round, which will be the Budget Battle. Each chef is given an envelope with just $6.35 to spend on shopping. Guy suggests they use coupons to stretch the buck as far as they can.

Spending Decisions Gone Wrong

Both Stanley and Tom have no problem in facing the challenge. Stanley makes a pea soup thickened with tofu and topped with sauteed pork, but the judges would have rather seen chops. Tom makes chicken and dumplings, which the judges absolutely love. But as Melissa pointed out, Nia's decision to use yellow squash, a $3 item, wasn't a smart one because her dish suffered. She ultimately checks out.

The Final Challenge

Stanley and Tom go onto the final challenge, the Frozen Food Feud, which has them shopping from only the frozen aisle. They will have 25 minutes to shop and cook their dish. As they're out shopping, Guy announces that he'll let them use two items from the produce sections. Tom decides to go the savory route, but Stanley takes a risk and decides to make dessert.

Savory Soul Food vs. Sweet Treat

Tom makes a classic Louisiana maque choux using frozen corn, frozen shrimp and a frozen Southwestern sauce that turns out to be way too salty, but he cuts it with vanilla ice cream. Lorena felt the dish transported her to New Orleans. Stanley's dessert, on the other hand, didn't pay off. The cheesecake and strawberry ice cream pie he made was fine, but Troy found the Popsicle sauce bitter. Stanley ends up checking out.

Get Ready, Get Set, Go Shop

In the end, Tom goes onto the Super Shopping Spree. Guy gives Tom a shopping list of 10 items, each one worth $2,000 in cash. Tom has two minutes to find the items in the market to win up to $20,000.

Pocketing the Prize

Tom finds eight out of 10 items on the list. He wasn't able to get the almond paste in time. And he ran right past the canned olives at the last second, but there wasn't enough time for him to grab the item. He walks away with $16,000 in prize money and the confidence that his career change is paying off in more ways than one.