This idea is a little impromptu because I just started trying this money maker out a couple of days ago. Basically, when the price of Granite started its suicidal high dive into an empty pool I decided that it was time to come up with something that would still provide a tidy income but be fairly easy to acquire. So I came up with potatoes.

First thing we need to start my “Hot Potato” technique of money making is to get our hands on potatoes. This should be no problem for anyone. There are potato fields all over Runescape. My favorite one is between Lumbridge and Draynor Village. From that field you can easily fill your inventory, run to the Draynor bank, and run back to the field. And the best thing is the potatoes are free. Of course you can also farm your own potatoes, which gives the added benefit of nominal farming experience. But maybe you are a complete lazy arse. In that situation potatoes can be purchased on the Grand Exchange for around 96 gp.

Step two of the “Hot Potato run for the Money” is to get your hands on pats of butter. I highly recommend churning your own butter [GEC 619 gp]. Purchasing it on the GE will deeply cut into you profits and nullify any point to doing this technique. Thankfully, churning butter is not hard. All you need is a bucket of milk. In this situation I purchase the milk on the GE for around 112 gp. But you can also just as easily milk the dairy cows throughout Runescape. I recommend using the farm south of Falador. The cows are near to a churn and a bank isn’t too far away. For me, I buy the milk and then churn the butter in the Cooking Guild which is within sneezing distance of the Grand Exchange. The churn is on the second level (1st floor/story for our European friends).  If you have completed the Varrock achievment diary then you can use the bank of the first floor of the guild.

Step three is very easy. Bake the potatoes. Find a range. Do not use open fires. I use the Cooking Guild and the ranges located right by the churn. After I have all the potatoes I want cooked, I return the Grand Exchange and start the finishing touches. Use the pats of butter on the potatoes. When you see the little yellow ‘x’ on your potato you know you have a food item worth around 977 gp (market price). A full inventory of baked potatoes with butter will earn upwards of 20k in gold. When I get a good rhythm going I average out to about 60k in an hour. Fast and easy money.

Some final thoughts. Try not to accidentally eat the potatoes. At every step in the potato cooking process, left clicking will cause you to automatically eat the potato.  Churning the butter takes time and is boring. Make sure you don’t accidentally time out while you wait.  Don’t forget to be wearing a Chefs Hat if you plan on using the Cook Guild.

BTW: How I come up with these money making tips usually falls between one of two techniques. Either I get ideas from other blogs and fan sites (which I normally try to credit). Or I go through the Grand Exchange database on the Runescape website and find simple items selling for over 500gp. If I can acquire these items at a fraction of the GE cost then I go about finding a routine that uses time and resources efficiently. Then I test to see how hard it is to sell the items on the GE. If everything goes smoothly I post about it here. One last disclaimer: The Grand Exchange market is highly volatile and market prices referenced in this blog are highly subjectible to change.

PS: Prices listed in this article come directly from the GEC and are up-to-date within 24 hours.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.