Teaching kids to cook

liz545 · 17 May 2007 at 1:39PM

I've recently volunteered as a cookery teacher at a local project; I'll be teaching a group of 8-12 yr old girls how to make basic recipes. A lot of the girls don't have a very healthy diet, and come from poor backgrounds, so it's important to teach them about eating healthily, and how to make good meals without expensive ingredients. The lessons are about an hour long, but cleaning up eats into that time, so I need dishes that really only take about 10-20 minutes for an experienced cook. Last week we did French Bread Pizza, which would only take me 10 minutes, but the girls need to take longer as they're still learning. Does anyone have any suggestions of basic recipes which they think all kids should learn? So far I've thought about:

spaghetti bolognaise
soup
vegetable curry
stir fries

And in terms of teaching them the transferrable skills, there are loads of recipes which I would think are cookery basics, but I'd really appreciate the input of the mums on the board as to how they taught their kids to cook!

livinginhope · 17 May 2007 at 1:53PM

What an excellent thing to do

I learned to cook from a very early age,but when my brother was due to leave home,my mother made sure he had a few healthy recipes under his belt,so he wouldn't go hungry

these were,omelettes of all kinds,spag bol,shepeards pie,a basic loaf of bread,victoria sponge cake and chicken casserole,I can't think of many things healthy that can be cooked in a very short time,but if I think of something,I will post it later.
Good luck
LIH

annie-c · 17 May 2007 at 1:56PM

I learned to cook aged 8ish and my first recipes were:

Salad (no joke! You need to learn how to wash, prepare, cut safely etc...)
Pizza
Cheese and potato pie (basically mash with grated cheese) with beans
chocolate mousse
fruit salad
cooked breakfast

HelzBelz · 17 May 2007 at 1:57PM

A few suggestions, they're not exceptionally healthy, but would bet whole grains and fruit into them:

Flapjacks, I know they're not stricktly healthy, but are something they'd enjoy making, could take home and share and you could add dried fruit and the oats would be healthy, or baked apples stuffed with dried fruit

Pink. · 17 May 2007 at 2:04PM

Hi Liz,

Well done on volunteering for this, so many young people don't know where to start with cooking. Thankfully all three of mine are interested in it and have learned mostly by watching and asking questions.

Some ideas of things you could try:
omlettes
simple sauces for pasta
pancakes
quiche
basic white sauce or gravy
cauliflower cheese
grilled fish
salads and things like coleslaw etc
some simple baking such as scones.

The replies on this older thread might help you:

evening cookery classes - how does this sound to you?

Good luck with the classes.

Pink

liz545 · 17 May 2007 at 2:45PM

Thanks everyone - I think omlettes would be a good thing to try, and I think we're doing a salad today (at the moment I'm just shadowing the current teacher until she leaves in a few weeks). Scones and flapjacks would probably be good, I think they did cookies a few weeks ago and they were very popular! I've been looking through my cookery books, but most of the stuff I cook is a bit more complicated than I think we'll have time for. It just occurred to me a few weeks ago that I could actually do something to help people, rather than just complain about how no-one cooks anymore!

Becles · 17 May 2007 at 4:33PM

Have you got a Be-Ro book?

My children like making things from in there. The recipes are quite easy to follow, and most are quite quick.

Ytaya · 17 May 2007 at 4:47PM

How about fairy cakes? You could have the kids clear up while they're in the oven, so they might work out ok timewise.

Omelettes/scrambled eggs. Basic white/tomato sauces. Basic veg/lentil curry? Use curry powder so there's no faffing with lots of jars of spices. How about even simple things like baked (microwaved) spud and beans, or cheese on toast? Ooooooh, eggy bread! That's always popular with kids.

nikibella · 17 May 2007 at 5:00PM

Hi,
there is a new website of the EU to teach the children cooking and healthy eating. http://eu.mini-chefs.eu

prettypennies · 17 May 2007 at 5:22PM

What about healtheir versions of popular junk foods such as chicken nuggets.

My kids are 8 and they love making these with me. I give them a breast each. They cut it into chunks, dip it in seaoned flour, egg and breadcrumbs and bung themin the oven. Sometimes we make little carboard cones to serve them in too.

You could also use fish. Coley is a nice cheap one.

Fishcakes or mini burgers are another option and smaller hands are perfect for making bitesize ones.

mel123 · 17 May 2007 at 5:41PM

As above my kids love HM nuggets, we also make chicken kievs in near enough the same way.

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Teaching kids to cook

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