Mumsnet Talk

I am thinking of being prepared to self-cater. So far we have made leek and potato soup, mushroom soup, cottage pie, carbonara and pancakes. Some years ago a well meaning secretary of state for education was going to give a booklet of 20 recipes for every 11 year old but I didn't receive it.

Spaghetti bolognaise, roast dinner, stir fry, risotto, chilli

Some form of tomato pasta
A simple roast
Plain old vegetable soup
Scrambled eggs

Omelettes
Basic curry

Risotto not sure, but certainly spag bol, curry and roast dinner,
also shep pie, stir fry and as they seem to concentrate on baking at dd1 school a good cake!

scrambled eggs is a good idea; full English Breakfast.
I figured that the basic mince sauce for cottage pie can be used as bolognaise and chili con carne.

I forgot to mention that I am ovenless at the moment so it all has to be hob cooking.

Risotto is also a brilliant idea

Do you have recipe for basic curry?

Does anyone remember the booklet that I am talking about?

What do your 15 year olds cook and do they do the washing up?

I could of course, heat things up at that age so I could make myself some tea, but I couldn't do any actual cooking without a recipe. Even then I would mess it up some of the time. By the time I went to university I could do curry, spag bol, chilli, stir fries. But I never made a roast dinner until I moved in with DH. I only started to make successful cakes quite recently - about 5 years ago when I got Nigella Feast. I used DH's Delia book before that and none of the recipes ever worked properly for me.

In the last 2 years I've got better and more consistent with baking. And only in the last again about 5 years have I become more confident with cooking a wider range of things without a recipe and just looking at a set of ingredients and thinking of several things I can make with them. I'm 37 and I only started making my own meals some of the time at 14, so learning to cook and learning about food has been a long process.

So I wouldn't have very great expectations of a 15 year old. I would expect them to be able to heat up convenience food etc to make a simple meal for themselves, but I wouldn't necessarily expect them to be able to cook anything well with or without a recipe. I would expect them to be able to cook a few things by the time they left home at 18/19 though.

My lot cook pretty much anything now, and I've taught them to clear up as they go along, loading stuff in the dishwasher and keeping a bowl of hot, soapy water on the go for non dishwasher stuff. They especially love baking. They'll be 14 in a couple of weeks.

As for curry, buy a jar of curry paste and there's normally a good recipe on the side. Rogan Josh isn't too hot.

I think teaching them how to properly prepare and cook meats and fish is a good idea. Not necessarily for a specific meal, but to reduce the likeliness of them poisoning themselves.

Make sure they know what things should look like when they are cooked, how to check things are cooked and when you should throw away meat. Also teach them about reheating meat dishes.

Bread.
Stir fry.
A good pasta sauce.
Victoria sponge.
Boiled eggs.
Roast dinner.
Jacket potatoes.
Scones.

bangers and mash.

I had forgotten about the slow cooker.

At 15yrs they should be able to follow a recipe book and choose what to try. (After all they are only a few months away from being able to be legally married!!)

A basic fish recipe is a good one!

chilli and bolognaise - builds on the cottage pie - things to do with mince theme
roast chicken/ roasted chicken pieces and roasted vegetables - learn how to tell when meat is cooked
risotto?

Was typing that from before you said about the oven-less bit.

(After all they are only a few months away from being able to be legally married!!)

If being able to cook was a prerequisite of being married my parents would have never managed to pass the test.

My 14yo has just done baked chicken breasts with oven chips and peas. There was no one else in the house, I didn't want to ask him to do anything more complicated. It was fine.

poached eggs

Jacket potatoes. Omelet and various other ways of cooking eggs. Pizza. Spag bol. Lasagne. Shepherds pie. Steak. Chicken. Roast including yorkshire puds. Pancakes. Curry (google, there's loads of basic curry recipes). Rice. Pasta. Stew. Soup. Fish. Seafood. How to prep veg and how to make mash without boiling a kettle. How to make gravy from scratch. Stir fry. Pies. Cakes. Biscuits.

This is what mine at 15 are capable of making. But it wasn't the case of one night deciding right I think you guys need to learn how to cook. It started years ago, with biscuits, cakes and pizzas. And them being in the kitchen helping making other meals. As they grew, and they felt confident, they asked if they could do more. Now I know, my youngest dd (15) can go into the kitchen and cook a meal with ease, without recipes because that's how they have been taught.

I am interested in how much your dc cook. Ds1 is currently cooking once a week but I act as ingredint getter and do all the clearing up so that he doesn't lose interest. We don't follow recipes because I want it to become second nature for the most basic recipes.

If being able to cook was a prerequisite of being married my parents would have never managed to pass the test.

Which goes to show why they should start early and be able to tackle anything by 15yrs. They do at scouts-my DS aged 15yrs got his patrol to cook an entire 3 courseTurkish meal, chosen from recipe books-for a cookery competition. He had 2 10 year olds ,whose parents probably thought they were being adventurous with cup cakes-if they let them do that.

well dd 2 is 14 and can produce

macaroni cheese
pasta and pesto
chilli con carne
swiss roll
victoria sponge o die for
fairy cakes
home made pizza

How do you make mash without boiling a kettle??!

steak is a good idea.