Cookery at your child's school

[KurriKawari]

Just wanted to know if this is normal for schools. DD11 is given a list of what to buy for cookery lesson. Sometimes the things are a pain fo her to transport (for example 100ml milk and 1 egg). Carrying all that is a pain in itself but on the same day she has to take in her PE kit and books. I've got a small screw top box for the milk, will cushion the egg with lots of tissue, decant everything else like the flour, sugar, raisins into smaller sandwich bags and label. There are no lockers in the school.
They've asked for a few tablespoons of cocoa powder! even the smallest bag of flour, caster sugar, cocoa powder etc is too much for what she needs and so we end with ingredients we won' ever use or then make a conscious effort to use up, because I hate food waste.
Is it too much for the school to ask parents for payment at the beginning of the year and the school provide at least some of the ingredients? Esp for PITA things like milk and eggs? And cupcake cases?!

I fully agree with you on this, I have a few years to go until secondary but this sounds like a massive PITA.

Would it be possible for your DC to buddy up with a couple of the kids in the class and pool the ingredients??

Yup, I'm with you. This seems to be the norm I'm afraid. I ended up with heaps of ingredients that I'll never use again. I bought a selection of little plastic containers for all the tiny amounts they asked for - and yes I also had to send small amounts of milk etc. It was summer so I had to pack the milk with an ice brick to keep it cool.

I don't know why the schools can't just ask parents for a donation at the beginning of the term, and the cooking teacher could buy the ingredients for all the kids to use.

That's bonkers. At DS's school they asked for us to contribute money at the beginning of the year (I can't remember how much but don't remember it being a lot, definitely less than £10) and they buy they ingredients in. They even bought specific ingredients for children with allergies, etc.
The only things DS needed to take in were if he wanted, for example, a specific cake filling other than jam, or a special quiche topping. But they didn't have to, and all the ingredients were provided to just make the standard versions.

I’d much rather pay per term and we do a lot of cooking/baking so do have a lot of the ingredients in stock but it’s such a faff to make sure you have everything - School could then just get a supermarket delivery. 1 pot of cinnamon or coriander would do half the class, couple of pints of milk would be enough for the whole class etc

Agree, it would seem much more sensible for the school to ask for a payment from the parents and then buy the ingredients in bulk.

But maybe they already tried that and too many parents weren’t paying?

Lots of parents wouldn’t pay. The school end up chasing them and the refuse.

It’s parents fault not schools

Yep, it's the same at dds school. I was so glad when eldest finished cookery lessons! They always seem to have it on pe days too. Usually they have to take all the ingredients to the classroom first thing in case anything needs refrigerating. I'd much rather pay a lump sum up front than have a cupboard full of useless ingredients that will never get used again.

Dd is at mainstream secondary and this is how it was with her. So inconvenient and needlessly expensive, not to mention awkward for her as she also has no locker to keep it all in. Ds is at specialist secondary and they ask for a contribution at the start of the year which I much prefer. He also makes some incredible things, and because I don’t have to provide the ingredients it’s always a surprise when he brings it home. I also really like the relaxed approach that comes, I assume, from them having a properly stocked kitchen at school. It’s a school for autistic children and really focussed on teaching them life skills so they seem to have a degree of free choice what they make each week. Ds is only 11 but has become quite the dab hand at making pastry, he came home last week with two tubs of sausage rolls with instructions to freeze them for Christmas. Dd on the other hand seemed to make bizarre things that no one would actually choose to eat let alone make. Egg muffins were an oft remembered low point.

At DS1 school, we are asked to give £15 at the start of the year. I'd much rather that than all your faff OP.

The kids bring in the ingredients at the school I work at too. Kids have to drop off everything into the kitchens first thing. There's an emergency / and for kids on pupil premium at school stash at school

Trouble is- kids paying up front creates the following jobs-
Order/ shop for food
Take the delivery in and store/ label
Weigh out exact amount for 20 pupils every hour, 5 times a day.
Not possible unless schools have a dedicated technician.

Surely things like sugar/ flour/ spread are in the house already?

Sounds like a right pain!

But....food tech has recently been scrapped from my dd's school due to cutbacks. She (and I) would have loved the opportunity to cook at school.

Can you put the one egg in an egg box and keep the other eggs from the box at home? Could she get together with a few friends with the things like flour and cocoa powder?

Yes it's a faff but at least they are being taught to cook properly. Should pay off in the future!

Also- weighing and measuring at home is a really useful skill for kids.

DD was at a special school for moderate to severe learning disabilities/autism, so a big emphasis on life skills. There was a minimal charge for the cookery. The class would go out shopping in the morning to buy what they needed then come back and cook and either eat what they made for lunch or bring it home. As a pp said it was always a lovely surprise to see what she'd made.
I was well impressed with their cookery lessons, they spent an entire term making different types of bread one year - much more practical than the cookery I did at school!

What on earth ingredients would a school cookery class ask for that you wouldn't use at home?
In my years of parenting and being a school child cooking class meant going to the kitchen cupboards the night before aka homework

Ja, my kids weigh and measure at home because they cook with me, but more times than not I've sorted out their cookery ingredients.
I think they should do the weighing at school.

I also usually send in two lots of ingredients- I learned DS1s best friend usually forgot.

I got annoyed when I sent in ingredients for the stinky kid who rarely saw his mum and dad drank too much, at DDs request because she knew he wouldn't have ingredients, and the teacher refused to let her give them to him, and gave him a detention

No time for weighing out in an hours lesson that had to include prep, cooking/ baking, washing up/ labelling and photographing food, and the kids actually leaving on time.

Padded envelopes can be cut up to line plastic boxes for egg carrying

DD's school is the same, have to take everything - DD even takes salt and pepper with her! They have given the children flour when needed (if the mixture they are making is too wet, for instance) and when there was one recipe with fish they had to take money in for that. They also have fridges for the ingredients and if they have food tech that day have to put all their ingredients in the food tech room/fridge before registration (and collect at the end of the day).

The food tech is more expensive than I'd anticipated tbh, because I have plain eaters and there are a few ingredients that I don't carry all the time, as well as small bottles of oil etc that are easier to carry.

DD's school asks for a small donation for Design and Technology at the start of the year (fiver) which I do pay.

What a bitch Lynette.

There are a lot of underprivileged boys at DS1 school whose parents cant afford ingredients or who have chaotic home lives. I think that's why they do it the way they do.

notthenormal it might surprise you but I don't have ingredients for cupcakes and pizza and apple crumble at home. Neither DD nor I eat cake so see no reason to have plain flour, cocoa powder, raisins, cupcake cases, cupcake decorations etc that shes been asked to bring in.

When DD started high school (now year 11) it was like that - take all ingredients from home.
Last year when DS started in Year 7 there was the option to pay £5 to cover milk, eggs and all other "not in the cupboard" ingredients but we still had to supply flour sugar etc.
This year it was £15 to cover everything.
You have the option to not pay and send stuff from home if you wish.
I find it easier to pay the school even though I usually have all the things needed.

There's memes all over the internet about the horror of having food tech and pe on the same day, having to carry all that stuff.

It is a pain I remember all too well! I only had to do food tech up until year 9 when it got dropped for options so hopefully itll be over soon! ( I know my mum couldn't wait!).