Kids cooking at school AARGH!

Mariel

It kind of worries me that store-cupboard ingredients won't be available for much longer.

mama67

I run the after school cooking club at DS2 primary school,these kids are Yr 5 & 6, we are now into our second term and have made the following:
Chocolate Krispie Cakes
Shortbread
Fairy Cakes
Cheese Scones
Sausage Rolls
Cheese Biscuits

this week we are maiking
Chocolate Concrete
then until end of term it will be
Carrot Cookies
Apple Crumble ( this will be sent home to cook)
Rock Cakes

The cost to parents is 50p/week and they obviously get to take whatever made home.
The school is covering the cost of any extras needed.

All the children thoroughly enjoy the club and ask me during the week leading up to what is being made each week.

I have been trying to get a good mix of sweet and savoury and make things which can either be cooked within the hour session or put into cooking dish and sent home to cook. There is only an normal household cooker in the staff room which we use to cook things in, as this is a small village school with no dedicated kitchen.

When DS1 did cookery last year when in Yr7 he had to take 40p/weekly which covered the cost of any ingredients and then dishes to trnasport the items home in.

He made things such as:
Mince Pies, Scones, Kedgeree, Apple Crumble, Flapjack.

Both boys however do cook at home and now cook a meal for the family every so often.

At DS2 school next week the kids are organising a VE Party to conclude their unit on WW2, so I will be going in for 2-3 days to help them with the preparations. We will be maiking things like HM Ice cream, Bread, Gypsy Creams, Fruit Cake, all recipes picked from books relevant to the period.

NickiM

I spent a whole term just making cookies when I did cooking in year 9ish!

feedumall

when i was at school many moons ago:rolleyes: domestic science was excellent i gutted fish,made bread ,sauces ,soups etc ,it started me off on a life time of cooking:D ,both my daughters cook .my eldest makes the best jam and chutney ,both were taught by me as i became a pastry chef thought i had better pass on the cooking bug:D now i am teaching granddaughter her fruit cake is divine so much so that people ask for them as presents at christmas:D .she is just eleven ,cooking is a skill everyone should have:D ,i ran a play school for many years ,we cooked cakes,scones ,jam tarts with under fives most was edible:D .

tramps

DS1 (now 18) made some wonderfull dishes at school - the best being a rice salad mixed with condensed soup and baked in the oven i could not stop eating it now lost the recipe DS2 cooked but it never got home he and his mates would eat it on the way home!! total waste of money
I now work with adults with learning diffs we cook every week just the basics this week was sheppards pie followed by bread and butter pudding they choose what they want to cook (if i dont think it is healthy i just say the super market was out of stock of the things needed)they pay £1 each to eat it afterwards prehaps schools should adapt a similar system. the £1 they pay covers the cost the next week

brightonman123

sincewhen does an egg cost 40p?! might be worth pointing the school towards MSE, or a cash and carry!

vivw_2

I don't think things have changed. I'm 51 so went to school a long time ago. I certainly didn't learn much in my cookery lessons or in my neddlework lessons. I learnt about cooking and sewing at home [ made my first dress at the age of 10]. I know we used to spend a lot of time writing in our books about how to design a kitchen and writing out recipes but as to the actual cooking, the less said the better

pigpen

My daughter is at the end of year 10 and hasn't cooked a THING at school.. EVER!! As she is now doing GCSE's and hasn't opted to do food tech or whatever it is now called she won't ever be doing any.. thankfully I can point her at the kicthen and say'go"' and she is fine!.. but out of the 240 children in her year I wonder how many will be able to survive independantly!

Bambywamby

I enjoyed my Home Economics classes when I was at school (1988) but we did make tasty and useful things.
We started with scrambled egg on toast and welsh rarebit and progressed to cottage pie, toad in the hole, fairy cakes and for the final exam a fully decorated christmas cake.

My son who did cookery last year made a pepper salad (a chopping veggies lesson), decorating a pizza base (to be cooked at home) and chocolate krispies. Not exactly practical and no real baking/cooking experience for my son.

As we both attended the same school I can't help but see how much it has gone down hill.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I think it is important for children to be taught cooking at school under whatever name it is called at the moment.
My dd has been cooking the last few weeks. Her school also asks for money for some ingredients. I think this is quite ok. For instance this week she made some sort of sweet bread/cake thinks. She had to take bananas choc chips and 60p for the dough ingredients. I have all the stuff to make dough but I bet not all the parents do.
My dd is quite good at giving me about 4 days notice, so no complaints there.
The stupid girl put the pizza in a cliplock box sideways in her scool bag last week though. It was just a heap in the corner of the box.
Sometimes if she likes what she has made I don't even see it. ie she made 12 choc banana cakes and only 2 got home.
I do think you should send a note saying you will provide her with eggs next time. Are you sure that it didn't cover the cost of some other ingredient though. The kids don't always tell you everything do they.