Old School RuneScape has no shortage of money makers. From flipping at the Grand Exchange to high-end PvM, most players think they've seen it all. But every now and then, a method appears that's so bizarre, so off the radar, that it feels like it shouldn't work at all—until it does.

This is the story of one of the strangest and most profitable non-combat money makers in OSRS gold: intentionally burning food for profit.

It's not on the wiki.

It's not on Soup's unusual money makers list.

And if it were, it might be the best non-combat method on both.

The Discovery: Burnt Food Has a Market

The idea began back in October 2025 while testing free-to-play money makers. Someone suggested collecting the burnt bread spawn in Corsair Cove. On paper, it sounded useless—burnt food has no in-game function.

But after picking up 135 burnt loaves and selling them to a collector for 405,000 GP, something clicked.

Burnt food isn't junk.

It's a collector's item.

There's a surprisingly large underground market for burnt items, with players paying premium prices for foods that most people go out of their way to avoid.

That led to a simple question:

What if you could mass-produce burnt food on purpose?

Guaranteed Burns: The Starting Point

The first test was with foods you can always burn—chicken and meat. These items are special because even at 99 Cooking, you can burn them by cooking them a second time.

In one hour:

~1,300 burnt chicken

~200 GP each

~160,000 GP/hour

Zero requirements

Not bad for something anyone can do, but nowhere near groundbreaking.

The real profit lies in rare burnt foods.

Why Burnt Bread Is So Valuable

Burnt bread sells for around 2,500 GP each, making it one of the most valuable burnt items in the game.

The problem?

You stop burning bread at 37 Cooking.

Creating a fresh account and cooking bread until level 37 only produces around 300 loaves before you outlevel it. That's not scalable—and definitely not efficient.

So the challenge became clear:

How do you permanently lower your Cooking level to maximize burn rate?

Weaponizing Stat Drain

Anyone who's visited God Wars Dungeon knows how punishing the trip is. You lose run energy, take damage, and—most importantly—your stats get drained.

By staying inside long enough, Cooking can be reduced all the way down to level 1.

After draining Cooking to 1:

Teleport out

Start baking bread

Achieve the highest possible burn rate

But there was a problem.

Stats naturally restore by one level every minute, slowly reducing burn chance—and profit.

That's when the final piece fell into place.

The Key Item: Shilhack Red

Shilhack Red, released in September 2024 with Varlamore Part Two, is sold at Moonrise Wines in Aldarin.

Its effect is simple:

Drinking it lowers Cooking by 1 level

By drinking one every minute, Cooking can be permanently locked at level 1, maintaining maximum burn rate indefinitely.

Yes, this technically breaks Rule Five of the Burnt Food Discord.

But the money is simply too good.

The Results: Nearly 2 Million GP per Hour

Using this setup:

777 burnt loaves of bread per hour

~2,500 GP each

Just under 2 million GP/hour

For a non-combat method, that's already impressive.

But it didn't stop there.

Tick Manipulation: Turning Burnt Food into Big Money

Normally, cooking takes four ticks per action. With item dropping and pickup methods, this can be reduced to two ticks.

To avoid constant inventory dropping, sacks of potatoes were tested instead—allowing individual items to be withdrawn and cooked.

That's when something unexpected was discovered:

Removing items from a sack doesn't consume a game tick.

In theory, if clicks are fast enough, you can cook—or burn—one item every single tick.

That's nearly four times faster than normal cooking.

Optimizing the Method: Two Sacks Are Better Than One

The first attempt yielded only ~2,200 potatoes per hour due to mistimed clicks. The limitation is that only one item can be removed from a sack per tick.

The solution?

Use two sacks of potatoes.

By alternating between them:

Timing becomes much easier

Idle ticks are reduced

Burn rate nearly doubles

With this setup:

~1,800 burnt potatoes per hour

~3,000 GP each

5.4 million GP/hour

With perfect clicks, the method could theoretically reach:

~2,500 burnt potatoes/hour

7.5 million GP/hour

All with just 7 Cooking.

That's absurd.

Selling Burnt Food: How the Market Works

Selling burnt items isn't done through the Grand Exchange. Instead, it happens through dedicated collector communities.

The most reliable place is the RS Burnt Discord.

How it works:

Go to the buying channel

Find buyers listing burnt items they want

Message them (screenshots help)

Agree on a world and meeting spot

Trade—Potion Decanter at the GE works well

Replies can take some time, but once contact is made, sales are quick and easy.

Looking Ahead: RuneScape Goals for 2026

This discovery kicked off the first OSRS gold for sale video of 2026—and it set the tone for what's ahead.

The goals for the year:

All Master Clue requirements, followed by a large clue opening

500 Collection Log slots, with room to push further

Elite Combat Achievements, primarily for the superior slayer boost

One pet every two months, aiming for seven by year's end

First mega-rare item, either a Tumeken's Shadow or Twisted Bow

With bonds funded entirely through in-game GP, money makers like this won't just be fun experiments—they'll be essential.

Final Thoughts

Old School RuneScape continues to reward creativity. Sometimes the best money makers aren't about killing bosses or grinding skills efficiently—they're about finding value where nobody else is looking.

Burnt food might look useless, but in the right hands, it's worth millions.

And if this is how 2026 starts, who knows what other secrets are still waiting to be discovered.