What would you like your child to learn to cook?

[pinkrocker]

I teach food technology and textiles and I love my job!
I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts here.
Which foods would you like your child to learn to cook? Are there any particular skills you think they should know up to age 13?
Which sewing skills would you like them to learn?
I've asked my classes and they've so far said they'd like to bake cakes and make cushions
I'm thinking of updating my planning so your feedback would be great.

Yes, eggs are definitely in there! I've planned that for September's new cohort.
Also loved the idea of making a noticeboard within Textiles (which I teach too) I think that would be awesome, and I think they'll all be able to manage it too.
I've got all your ideas in my planning spreadsheet, so a big thanks to everyone who's commented!

Just wanted to add - how to cook pasta and rice and how to check when it's properly cooked, and soups my dd is at uni and loves making soup as they're to easy, cheap and yum!

Sewing:
How to thread a sewing machine. In school, they were all set up for us and all we had to do was press the pedal and go for it. When I bought my own sewing machine as an adult, it took a bit of youtube watching to work out how on earth you got to that point!
How to take up or lower a hem.
How to darn and repair a minor tear.
How to use a pattern.
How to sew on a button.

Cooking:
Seasonal cooking and it's benefits.
General cooking temperatures - chicken, pork, beef, etc - so they learn how to safely cook meat.
Kitchen hygiene.
How to handle and sharpen a knife.
A simple white sauce and how that can be developed into various options.
A simple tomato based sauce and how that can be adapted into pasta sauces, stews, curry bases, etc.
A basic cake recipe and how it can be adapted into chocolate cake, coffee cake, carrot cake, etc.
I think a basic grounding in cooking simple meals from scratch, batch cooking, and meal planning around a budget are all priceless life skills.

Cooking wise - basic skills and techniques.

We learnt how to prep and dice veg, making pastry, cakes, sauces etc.

One of the things dd's made that stuck in my head was apple turnovers - with ready made pastry!! I mean what is the point in that??

If you could teach them to hand make pasta that’s be great! Now that I think about it I might just teach them myself so that I can use them as pasta slaves. Who needs kids that can vacuum when you could have kids making beetroot gnocchi for you?

@lalaloopyhead we made pasties using ready rolled puff pastry and premade fillings 🤦‍♀️ the person next to me used a tin of all day breakfast, I was the only one who brought a filling I'd made at home with my mum, teacher said she didn't see why I made extra work for myself! Couldn't even get just ready made puff pastry, had to be pre rolled stuff!