In order to cook and serve a meal to your family or to guests, what basic skills do you really need to know? If you had to break down all the tasks you have to accomplish in order to enjoy even a basic meal in your home, what would be on that list?
My basic list would include things like:
- turn stove/oven/range on and off. Depending on your child’s age, if they are tall enough to reach the stove top, they are probably old enough to learn how to turn on the burners and the oven. Show them how to adjust the temperature and explain why they would use high heat and lower heat.
- boiling water. Simple dishes like pasta or potatoes require the water be boiled. Vegetables can be cooked by adding water and boiling them. Under your supervision, allow them to handle a pot of steaming liquid. It won’t be so scary, resulting in fewer accidents and injuries. Using a tea kettle to pour hot water over a tea bag or some other hot beverage is another good way to get comfortable using boiling water.
- using oven mitts and hot pads. It might seem obvious to you, but it might not occur to a young person who’s already nervous in the kitchen that a pan in the oven would be too hot to touch with the bare hand. What about setting hot pots on the counter or table? Do they know when to use a hot pad to protect the surface?
- following a recipe. Pull out your favorite cookbook, search online, pull out that index box full of recipe cards and choose a simple dish to create together. Have your child read it out loud to you. Explain what the different cooking terms mean.
- measuring ingredients. When my children were young, they would sit on the kitchen floor playing with my measuring cups and spoons. They would play in the sink when we did dishes, pouring water back and forth between different sizes of cups. They also measured rice and oatmeal, pretending to cook like Mommy. Now, they are near grown and do they know how to use those measuring tools properly and accurately?
- slicing and chopping vegetables. Do they know which how to use a knife? Do they know which knife to use for different tasks? Demonstrate proper knife skills. Show how to hold it and what to do with their other hand and fingers. Supervise while they practice good, safe technique.
- proper use of pots and pans. There is a difference between frying, sauteeing, boiling and baking. Plan a time when you can work together using these various types of cooking methods. Add a dish to your menu each month that will give them experience with each one.
- loading the dishwasher (or washing by hand.) This is really important! Getting food on the table means someone made a mess somewhere. Consuming a meal means there’s clean up that has to happen. Might as well give your students practice in washing up things like sharp knives and caked on gook in baking pans. Some things clean up nicely in the dishwasher. Some things must be washed by hand. Does your child know how to rinse, stack and wash? Do they know how much dishsoap to add to the sink or dishwasher? Don’t assume!
Have you given your children opportunity in the kitchen to learn and practice these skills? The most basic on the list above might be boiling water. Giving your child specific instruction, under your supervision, they’ll learn these basic skills and carry them for life. Will they for sure use all these skills? Maybe, maybe not. But I’m pretty confident they’ll come in handy in some form or fashion. I know grown women who still do not have confidence enough to open a package of frozen vegetables and cook them without referring to the instructions, even after a decade or more of cooking for their family. It’s a good thing to know how to read instructions, but it would be an awesome thing if your kids had been given the opportunity at a young age to practice and gain confidence.
The very best teacher, of course, is experience. But resources like {my affiliate link} Simplified Dinners for New Cooks can be a great help as you ‘teach’ home ec to your own students. If you need help, you can find a lot of things out there for teaching cooking to your children. Do a google search for a cooking school for kids. Check out websites like Craftsy.com or YouTube videos for cooking demonstrations.
How are your children’s basic kitchen skills? What would you add to my list? In the upcoming days I’ll be sharing ideas for basic meal planning and cooking, mending, sewing and more. You can see the full line up in my intro post!
Once again, I am joining my fellow Homeschool Review Crew Mates for our Spring Homeschool Blog Hop! Enjoy the selection of great ideas and helpful posts in our link party below.
Leanna says
My sons are all grown and my sons all learned how to cook etc in the kitchen. They are all comfortable and talented around the home and I think it comes from starting them at home. Thank you very much for hosting.
Linda says
Sounds like you had your boys off to a great start, Leanna. Isn’t it a wonderful things to see them be able to take care of themselves when they head out on their own? My grown sons are also comfortable in the kitchen, and I know it’s in part because they had opportunity to learn and practice.
Mother of 3 says
My sons all help out in the kitchen. We rotate jobs once a month and they take turns helping prepare dinner, clean the counters and tables, load and unload the dishwasher, etc. They gripe and complain sometime but I love knowing that they’ll be self-sufficient in these skills when they move out.
Linda says
That’s a great system you have in place! Your boys will thank you one day 🙂
Jas @ All that's Jas says
My granddaughters (2&5) love helping in the kitchen. Hope that won’t change when they’re told to. 🙂 Thanks for hosting!
Linda says
Aww, that’s sweet. I love having my grandchildren be my kitchen helpers <3 Keep the invitation open, and they'll continue enjoying kitchen work!
Marilyn Lesniak says
Thank you for hosting and giving bloggers a place to promote their links. Today I am leaving my Crock Pot Sausage and Sauerkraut, Crock Pot Meatballs and Gravy, and a cool Cucumber and Onions dish. Enjoy!
Sheltie Times says
Great life skills, also a great way to demonstrate why you need math and science. When will you ever need this? Well fractions were one of the things I learned in the kitchen first as I grew up in a very large family and we rarely ever made anything from the standard recipe it was always at least doubled, sometimes the batches were even larger thus fractions has to be combined and that’s when I started to learn about converting fractions.