10 Tips for Cooking with Kids

Mums Tips

Feeding the Family

Published on Saturday, 26 October 2019 11:03

Last Updated on 22 October 2019

annabelle

0 Comments

Kids always find it fun to help adults in the kitchen, but the cooking items don’t seem to interest them, plus safety issues are there to consider. However, you can overcome these limitations and cook with kids. How? Keep reading to learn more.

Tip #1: Don’t be in a Hurry

Patience is essential when cooking with kids. So, do not expect everything to be perfect. And, you have to add extra time to your normal cooking time since you will encounter a lot of delays cooking with kids. Besides, you should get ready to endure a messy kitchen — cooking naturally creates mess, but the mess would be much more when kids are involved. So, get ready for heavy clean up after cooking.

Tip #2: Teach Kids Essential Safety Rules

In fact, this tip should be the first step towards cooking with children. You should not just teach them safety cooking rules, but you should emphasise those rules over and again. When you instruct kids on safety, come down to their level by using simple and direct statements to stress on the dangers inherent in a kitchen. Also, from the onset, spell out what they can help with and what they can’t go near to while helping you in the kitchen. For instance, teach them the following safety essentials;

• Knifes are sharp and can cut someone: While they chop the vegetables, knifes are sharp and can cut the fingers.
• Fire can burn – Fire will cook the food, but it can badly burn the hands
• Steam – It will cook the noodles, but you must not meddle with it, so that it doesn’t burn your skin.
• You must not place the cookies in the oven, only mom will do that, but you can help out when they are placed on the cooled trays

#3: Make the Workspace Kids-friendly

Rather than let the kids stand in an elevated object (e.g. chair) to help out, you should create a temporary workspace that would be within their reach for safety and convenient purpose.

#4: Allow the Kids to Measure the Ingredients

One of the basic things a kid can start handling when cooking with adults in the kitchen is measuring of ingredients. Teach and let a toddler measure the ingredients that you need for some recipes.

This is a less risky and easier task for a kid, especially a toddler. They should learn how to use the right measuring cup or spoon, and how to measure accurately. For instance, a kid can learn to measure ¼ cup of flour, or get to know the quantity of almonds that would make up a half cup.

#5: Get Your Kid Ready for the Task

Let the kid wear apron or other protective/safety apparels. This is one of the ways to get them ready for this exciting and fun hobby. You should also let them know the importance of hygiene while cooking — washing their hands before and after handling food items, and learning to wash some food ingredients before using them to cook.

#6: Start with Kids-Friendly Recipes

It’s great idea to start cooking with kids by introducing kids-friendly recipe such as apple volcanoes. You should allow the kid to read out the ingredients. In this case, the ingredients/what you need for this recipe are;

• Apple
• peanut butter (creamy one)
• Apple corer
• M&M’s and/or sunflower seeds

You should also read out the step by step instructions on how to prepare the meal, then get the kid involved in the actual preparation (only tasks that are safe and convenient for a kid).

#7: Introduce Basic Kitchen Tools and Skills

Teach and let the kids handle basic kitchen tools. For instance, show the kid what a dull fork is and how to use it to mash bananas. You can also let even a preschool kid try out simple tasks such as spooning the barter.

#8: Teach Kids How to Grill

It’s actually great fun to involve the kids during summertime outdoor cooking and grilling. At least, teach and practice the basics of grilling and smoking food with the kids.

However, safety is a high priority when grilling with kids. So, make sure this fun task is injury/accident-free by first teaching the kids about basic grilling safety tips — e.g. kids and pets must always be reasonably far away from the smoker or grill. Finally, make sure you purchase grills suitable for home cooks.

#9: Make it a Time of Learning

You can make cooking with children even more fun and exciting by turning it to a learning opportunity for them. For instance, talk about ingredients you are using to prepare a particular dish — including the cooking techniques, processes, and the origin of such ingredients, and cooking utensils.

#10: Let the Kids Taste the Food

The excitement can soar more if you let them get a taste of the food that has been prepared leveraging their inputs. They will definitely be proud of themselves and would always want to help out, not just in the kitchen but in the home generally. Don’t forget to teach them the best way to taste food, and the right spoon to use when tasting.