Help -setting up Young People/Family Cookery Sessions

leni

Hi

I wondered if people could help me or send me in the right direction.
Basically I'm currently trying to set up 2 projects to runfornightly. One will involve cooking with 10 children aged 6-13 years and the other is aimed at young mums and their children as part of Family Learning.

The aim is that the session will run for 10 weeks (once ever 2 weeks for 20 weeks) and they will be able to produce a meal to sit and eat for their tea or bake something that they can take home. The sessions will be 2 hours.

I'm no chef, though I do have my basic food hygiene cert!

Any idea's on easy to make, nutricious meal planner? I need atleast 5 main meals and 5 baked goods.

thank you :T

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi..leni..... the board is full of meal planning and recipe ideas......i think one of the best ones is black-saturns..which is also worked on a low budget.. which might be usefull ..especially for young single mums... which are just starting out on their own, and need to balance their money every week....as this might help them not borrow and get into debt early on in life..( wish i was taught this earlier on in my life ...)

it might be worth going to a local catering collage for ideas and help.....

good luck.... as i personally feel coarses like this would help all ages....to get back to cooking from scratch...and make people realise...it is quite easy.. its just knowing where to start and the confidence....

newlywed

At high school spaghetti bolognaise was considered "too easy" and so we weren't allowed to make it. How about that one with the mums?

The next week you could do lasagne/shepherds pie.

What about chocolate cornflake cakes and small fairy cakes with the young kids? Bread pudding with left over bread is cheap and easy. Welsh rarebit on toast was one of our first cooking lessons in school!! My 11 year old stepson likes making flapjacks and scones. I remember doing baked potato with various toppings too at school.

As you can see the things I preferred to make as a kid (and now as an adult) are all the sweet things!!

leni

thanks cooltrikerchick - I've found a course locally but it's £1500 per 10 week course, without room hire and transport. My budget won't allow for potentiall £3500+ for 2 courses, even if it would benefit 15 people.

I'm thinking maybe I should devise something myself now! I can get access to a kitchen for £5 per hour and I'm figuring the costs then would be equipment/ingredients/laminated menu/budget planning and laminated menu sheets. I figure I could run the courses myself for £500, it's just finding time!

I'll have a trawl through the threads and see what I can find!

leni

ok, the 10 main meals I've chosen are....

1. Chilli Con Carne

2. Shepherds Pie

3. Toad in the Hole

4. Lasagne

5. Quiche

6. Homemade Pizza

7. Meatballs and Tomato Sauce

8. Burgers and Sweet Potato Wedges

9. Stew and Dumplings

10. Chicken Pie or Sausage and Apple/Tomato Pie

newlywed

Remembering back to my Home Ec classes at school, I think an important point that wasn't emphasized enough was the ability to adapt a recipe. The importance was always put on having every single ingredient and following it to the letter. Although that is a good skill and very useful, as soon as we were able to do that, we should have been given tips on how to adapt them. Eg replacing ingredients for others that you already have or missing them out and trying it anyway.

leni

newlywed wrote:

Remembering back to my Home Ec classes at school, I think an important point that wasn't emphasized enough was the ability to adapt a recipe. The importance was always put on having every single ingredient and following it to the letter. Although that is a good skill and very useful, as soon as we were able to do that, we should have been given tips on how to adapt them. Eg replacing ingredients for others that you already have or missing them out and trying it anyway.

thanks - to show this I could only get half of one item and buy a selection of others than can be added to adapt a recipe and get them to discuss and try eachh others once cooked!

newlywed

Yeah it was my mum that taught me to use leeks if you have no onions, use a bit more herbs or worcs sauce if you have no stock cubes, use soft marge if you have no butter, use any type of mince, don't bother with proper sponge flour, just use S/r - unless it's a competition or something obviously.

Saves loads on the budget that way as not buying things just for one recipe and Oh loves the way I can make "a meal from virtually nothing".

Edit: school just taught us if you're missing an ingredient you can probably scrounge it from the teacher's store cupboard!!!

leni

newlywed wrote:

Edit: school just taught us if you're missing an ingredient you can probably scrounge it from the teacher's store cupboard!!!

we had to pay 20p if we forgot and needed to borrow some ingredient

hgbels

Leni

As a not very young mum - can I come on your course. I sounds really worth while.

As a mum with limited basic cooking skills, I think your list sounds great, but I would need help on what to cook to go with these meals.

I can follow a recipe etc, but it is pulling the whole meal together I struggle with. When DS was very young, DH used to come home from work to be greated by half a meal in the kitchen which he then finished off.

Good luck with the course and keep us updated

Hels

leni

hgbels wrote:

Leni

As a not very young mum - can I come on your course. I sounds really worth while.

As a mum with limited basic cooking skills, I think your list sounds great, but I would need help on what to cook to go with these meals.

I can follow a recipe etc, but it is pulling the whole meal together I struggle with. When DS was very young, DH used to come home from work to be greated by half a meal in the kitchen which he then finished off.

Good luck with the course and keep us updated

Hels

Thanks - I'm not the worlds greatest cook, I often cook meatballs and forget the pasta, or curry and forget the rice or as yesturday, cooked the beef and roast potatoes, but forgot about everything else to go with the roast lol!