What can your 9 year old cook?

[wegetthejobdone]

I'm trying to encourage my 9 year old to cook meals rather than cake. He does like cooking and can use the oven and hob independently (although he can't use the grill as its too high up), and he can chop veg safely. Its helping his confidence to cook by himself which he really needs at the moment.

What do your 9 year olds or a little older cook for the family? I'm particularly looking for simple meat based meals as I'm vegetarian so aware my meat based cooking is pretty limited.

My dd has been cooking family meals from 10. I was cooking at that age nothing odd about it. Lasagna, enchiladas, tray bakes were the mainstay

I let my 8 & 10 (with dyspraxia) prepare food, but not cook yet. I let them stir maybe under supervision but DD isn't tall enough to cook safely yet and DS too clumsy.

DS is an adult now but when he was around 7 or so he started becoming interested in what DH and i were doing in the kitchen, and by 9 he could make Hunters chicken, cheese and potato pie, spaghetti bolognese, jacket potatoes, smoked salmon pasta and fajitas. We helped him with some of the more dangerous stuff but as sous chefs rather than leading him. He went on to do a catering qualification at school and loves cooking now. DH wanted all the boys to be able to cook well before they left home!

My 8yo can do eggs in various guises. She can make a cake and put things in the oven like fish fingers etc. No great shakes but she is very keen to learn so it's something I mean to do with her. 12yo is able to do things but can't be arsed.

My 9yo can do:

Cups of tea
Salads
Toast
Baking cakes/muffins
Some meal prep eg peeling things
Loading and setting off the breadmaker

Certainly not lasagne!

My 8yr old makes a lovely Jack shit ragu served with effallghetti.

10yr old does pancakes, lemon drizzle, eggs, and most importantly, cups of tea.

My 11 year old - proficient in toasted sandwich making, French toast, instant noodles, scrambled egg etc. Not that interested in cooking much other than very occasionally.

My 9 year old - independently cooks cakes, pastry, crumble, scrambled egg, French toast, mini pancakes, salads. Needs help/supervision with risotto, things like traybake chicken thighs, pasta (heavy pans of boiling water), soup, sauces. Is very keen to learn and do it independently so motivated.

I think it depends on the kid? I’d like mine both to be self-sufficient to do a variety of simple meals by mid teens, but clearly one will be more ambitious if they keep interested.

My 3 year old has 5 Michelin Stars to her name. You are all failing as parents

I'm almost 30 and I can't cook most of the listed on here

Nothing at all. Reading this I realise I really need to start involving him in cooking more.

At 9 years old:
Child #1 could make cakes, biscuits, french bread pizza, pasta and sauce. Completely unsupervised.
Child #2 could make biscuits on his own.
Child #3 could make vegetable soup, following a recipe, on her own
Child #4 can make biscuits with a LOT of adult supervision. (She mainly just sits on the worktop and chats while Daddy or older sibling makes them.)

On reflection, I think child #4 needs to up her game a little. It depends what they are interested in, though. Child #1 is now doing GCSE cookery, and loves making stuff.

As soon as our twins were born, the more advanced of the two instantly stir-fried the placenta with a (very basic!) black bean sauce. Obviously, I realise this is unusual. The other didn't master choux pastry until he was nearly three!

Bloody hell, my eight year can do toast but I prefer when they don't because of the mess left behind in the butter. My younger one loves to help out with the most fun bits of my cooking efforts (pizza dough, cake mixing, peeling carrots) but the idea that any independent cooking might happen at this age has left me rather open-mouthed! I didn't realise it was something people let their children do, and now feel I should probably join in because it is a good life skill, sigh!

I have 9 year old twins. One struggles to to make a sandwich but the other one can make a cakes, biscuits, spaghetti bolognese, chilli, pasta sauce, risotto, meatballs, fajitas, stir fry, beans on toast, can prepare all the veg for a roast and use the bread maker. She loves cooking and started helping from a vey young age. She is not strong enough to drain pasta or rice yet. I do think a lot comes down to motivation and confidence which she has but her twin does not.

My 12 year old won't even make toast. He can't hold the knife properly to spread the butter and gets frustrated. Lasagne bloody hell.

Pizza, omelette, fajitas, nachos, stir fry, baked cornflake crumb "fried" chicken, lasagne (with jarred sauce, mince and pre grated cheese), pasta bake. More than I could by the time I left home

Baked goods, we have done about a billion fairy cakes, but also lemon sponge, Victoria sponge, chocolate sponge, basic bread, dinner rolls, scones, various different biscuits and cookies, brownies and rice crispy tray bake, corn flake cakes and tiffin.

Mine can make toast, and chocolate mug cakes, and that's about it 🤣 (he's 8)

Toast and open the biscuits.

Spaghetti bolognese
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That's it. He could cook that from 7 (because my version is simple AF!) and he wanted to learn.
He did cook a pavlova during lock down, but that was with DHs help, and it turned out he doesn't like meringue...🤦🏽‍♀️

He's pretty well into cooking and has just turned 9 but we have high up appliances that he can't reach so requires us "helping".

Super impressed at the 9 year old who can make lasagne. I can’t and I’m 40

I made lasagne for the first time at 44...... in the slow cooker. Probably cheating but who cares!

My gob is smacked !

I can't cook half this stuff, although I despise cooking.

I'm truly amazed.

Mine could bake at that age, so cakes, biscuits, desserts, but proper cooking for a meal started at perhaps 12 or 13. One was very keen, the others less so. Now in their late teens, early 20s, all are competent and inventive cooks. They certainly didn’t get it from me - I find cooking a chore - which probably encouraged them to try more.

My ds who is 9 can all enter the cupboard, retrieve his body weight in snacks yet the empty packets are too weighty for him to take to the bin.
Lazy little toad.