Food Revolution

[KB]

How do they get to the end of Uni without being able to cook?!
Lessons on cooking healthy cheap meals should be part of the A level 'enrichment' course at the very least.
Agree with all Amber has said but was tempted to point out that perhaps the practical cooking of meals is something parents should be teaching at home ( & for those who don't like messy children it can still be tackled at a later age). However I then realised that many adults don't have the skills to shop for & cook healthy low cost meals from scratch because they were never taught themselves and have just got used to processed food.
Its so sad - apart from being healthier, fresh food just tastes better!

[Amber]

Totally agree parents should be doing it KB. But why aren't they? You are right when you say many of them can't/don't do it themselves so can't pass on the skills nor indeed the habit of it. When my oldest was little and we were still involved with some of the people we met at NCT, 2 mothers asked me to make cakes for their children - as in, plain sponge cakes. I am just an ordinary cook and a Victoria sponge has to be the easiest thing ever but I was greeted with 'aren't you clever? I could never do that!' as if I had iced an entire replica Chelsea flower show onto the thing.

I think a lot of parents think it is important for their children to be learning instruments/doing exciting sports/having lessons in Chinese etc, even as toddlers, but somehow don't see the whole idea of being able to feed oneself and others as either important or their job. That has to be a generational thing, surely? And it isn't popular in education policy as it is hard to assess and measure, and we all know that if it can't be measured, it isn't worth doing.

(Downside to cooking=oven cleaning. Am sitting in highly ventilated room waiting for foul chemicals to do their monthly job. Bleah)

[DIY Mum]

Yes, a change in the curriculum would be good seeing how the teaching of food tech is so varied. Sadly, some schools (e.g. ds1's highly regarded school), don't offer it at all! And if parents don't teach dc to cook at home, this does have repercussions.

I have to admit, in ds3's school- it's all about baking atm. Not such a bad thing In dds' school, they cover alot more and every Friday, instead of eating from the canteen, she and her friends do spend either Thursday evening or Friday early morning cooking up something fresh from home (either a mainmeal, starter, salad or dessert) to share together at lunch. They've been doing it since y7 and are currently in y10. Even I've learnt a thing or two with what else I could to do with spinach and kale.
But I wish the curriculum was such that all schools could do much more as it is such an important life time skill.

[KB]

I thought it was compulsory now - or is your DS not at state school?
Local boys GS had to put in ********* a few years ago to comply with regulations - not that the boys take it very seriously I fear. They don't get that many lessons and there did seem to be a lot of baking of sweet dishes. Sort of think that those who are interested can develop those skills themselves so school should focus on basic meals they will need to cook when they leave home and making sure they understand healthy eating even if there is little hope of anything green being chosen at present

[doodles]

(Downside to cooking=oven cleaning. Am sitting in highly ventilated room waiting for foul chemicals to do their monthly job. Bleah)

I have no house help apart from DH and DC but I do use an oven cleaning company to do that job for us as I can't deal with the chemicals.

I find it sad that children don't know where their food comes from or how to prepare it. I'm not sure why it can't be included in the PHSE (or whatever it's called these days) syllabus as it surely is part of learning to live as an adult.

I used to belong to an online slowcooker recipe group and the number of people on there that asked the most basic questions and seem scared to use their common sense was quite startling. There also seemed to be a trend of using packet cake mixes and a can of pop to make a cake in the slow cooker , that along with making an omelette in a slow cooker made me think perhaps it wasn't a group for me

[RedVelvet]

Monthly oven cleaning.



I am such a slacker.

[Amber]

that along with making an omelette in a slow cooker made me think perhaps it wasn't a group for me

When my daughter was small we were invited for tea to someone's house and they made scrambled egg in the microwave for her. It was foul, like a big wobbly yellow table mat. And packet cake mixes? Ugh.

Monthly oven cleaning.

It gets so horrid - if I don't do it every month it is a health hazard. It does make me cough to the point of sounding like an old 50 a day veteran though - really bad stuff. But we do cook a lot.

My son went to primary school with someone who did it every week! She was so stick thin that actually I doubt she ever ate anything, let alone cooked, so I used to wonder how the oven got so dirty.

[KB]

That why I love the aga - it burns off most of the inside mess

It is perfectly possible to make decent scrambled egg in a microwave - useful student grub if they only have toaster, microwave & kettle in their kitchenette.

Only packet cakes have tried are the gluten free ones because its such a faff to make the flour mix from scratch for small amounts & the self raising flour by itself doesn't work that well. Not very healthy but an occasional treat for DC if covered in sufficient chocolate icing Chocolate brownies with ground almonds are favourite though.

Now I'm getting hungry....

[Peridot]

Monthly oven cleaning? Oh dear. Maybe my oven is an aga manqué as in 12 years or so I have never cleaned it properly - it gets an occasional wipe out but mostly stuff just burns off. Lots of cooking in this house but I am obviously not very house proud...

Back to the original premise of this thread - I completely agree with you all that not enough is being done in schools. My mum is an ex domestic science teacher and she was distraught when cookery lessons changed to food tech years ago. It really hasn't got any better.

[scary mum]

Monthly! Amber! I confess to paying someone to do it once every 6 months & we are about due now. Too many roasts in this house. I do work full time

My kids aren't great cooks & I do blame myself but they also don't have a huge interest in it. DD turns out great soups & cakes but not a great deal in between. Her food tech classes were rubbish (6 types of pizza one term, flapjack with different toppings every week the next term) but they did teach her to make an omelette. DS2s food tech classes have been much better than DS1's.