What are the first meals your DC started cooking alone?

[NCIRL]

Trying to get the DC to cook some more, to build up to them being able to cook unsupervised when no adult is present.

How did you go about it, which meals did you start them off on, and how much practice had they had before you let them do it completely unsupervised?

DC2 is 12 and DC1 is 15. DC2 very occasionally helps, but usually only preparation or baking. DC1 has dyspraxia and ASD, no sense of danger, generally manages to cut himself with a sharp knife in his hand, panics easily.

My 15 year old started with a spaghetti bolognese and other pasta dishes.

She can cook anything in the Ninja.. I hear that thing beep all the time.

She has always watched me cook so picked bits up and then had a go one day on her own and now she can cook most things. I didn’t want her to be someone who can’t even cook a frozen pizza.

What would they like to cook? Best to start there. At those ages I would just leave them to it, but sitting in the kitchen with a brew and book.

Ramen, omelette (ham and cheese), gnocchi, pasta with tomato sauce (food tech lessons), bread from scratch. We have an air fryer now which makes things like chips/sausages/most things from the freezer easier than reaching in to a hot oven.

Omelettes and pasta

We started by getting them to do meal prep, moving to watching and assisting the cooking part, then cooking on their own with me in the kitchen, and then going solo.

In terms of what they want to cook, I think this can be individual. DS liked to cook soup as it was just basically throw everything in a pan and blend, and progressed to tomato sauce based meals. DD mastered a Béchamel sauce quite early on so she did quite a few sauce based meals, then she started cooking the meals she personally liked. So I think you can definitely tailor a plan round your DC's skills and personal preferences.

Despite years of trying to get mine to cook, they didn't really start properly until they left for uni. But they seemed to take in all the advice and meal safety/prep/focus on fresh not processed info from over the years even if we didn't think they acknowledged any of it.
Now they cook all sorts, because they have to. Pasta, roast dinners, fajitas, eggs a million ways, chilli, steak, homemade burgers, curries, Korean and Thai noodles dishes.
I'd say just keep encouraging them to cook what they like and they'll pick up the skills they need, and use them when there's no-one to cook for them 😀

First things would have been heating up a frozen pizza or microwaving ready meals. Or anything on toast.

Then cooking pasta but using a tub of ready-made sauce.

And then progressing to making their own pasta sauces.

I seem to remember sausage and mash being an early meal too. Plus bung-it-all-in-one-casserole-dish meals, like ratatouille.

Soup. Taught my daughters different soup recipes so they can always have a quick nutritious meal in many different circumstances, with whatever they have to hand. They still make soup for themselves, for us and for uni mates.
Then it is only a minor step to stews, sausage casserole, cottage pie, fajitas, spag bol, enchiladas ...

Fun stuff helped too like nachos, then loaded nachos, loaded potato skins etc - "drinking food" before going out - as they call it.

They liked gadgets, so a stick blender and toastie/panini press were used often.

11 year old can heat up baked beans or soup plus toast to go with it, make and bake cupcakes, fruit smoothies in the ninja and cook a vegetable curry using a jar base and coconut milk (cut basic chunks of vegetable)

My boy started with the basics like beans on toast or heating up a pizza, we moved on to things like egg fried rice and omelettes etc with conversations about what could be added to it to fill it out or make it a meal in its own right, he experiments with flavours now but isnt really motivated to learn

My girl has loved cooking since she discovered she likes to eat lol i think the first meal she made on her own was spaghetti bolognaise from scratch, now shes 15 and cooks all sorts, she has a full repertoire and is happy to research and try things

Salmon parcels were an early success - not much chopping needed so might work for DS1?

It’s just foil parcels with salmon fillets in the oven; a dot of butter, some lemon slices, fresh herbs and salt and pepper, then sealed up and baked in the oven or air fryer.

He could serve them with new potatoes and veg or with couscous or tabbouleh and a salad.

Macaroni and cheese with peas and crispy bacon was DD’s favourite meal to cook - again, no chopping.

Yeah, I feel you. I've not done enogh, in part as DS can be clumsy (he's not actually dyspraxic but only because he doesn't quite meet the threshold so he has lots of traits albeit not as severely as you'd see in someone who is!)

The oven scares me shitless with the kids. Although I think that might also be because we have a slightly awkwardly sized/positioned oven. and while our kitchen is a decent size, it's almost impossible to have two people working in it at once because of how it's had to be laid out - "lots of restrictions" is what the Kitchen designer man said to me when we were redoing it!

We started with eggs - scrambled and fried. Made with toast. He still does this frequently for breakfast on weekends. Theoretically can add bacon but hasn't for ages. Also very basic things like fresh pasta with pesto.

He also does a few things in the airfryer but that's not really cooking - it's putting some stuff in a wrap and sticking in the airfryer, or throwing some fish fingers in to make a fishfinger sandwich! Next step is to convert this to a bit more effort - eg marinating raw chicken and cooking it.

I am very conscious I need to do more. He and I have talked abot him learning to make fajitas as he loves them and I feel like the slicing of peppers is a relatively easy starter task for chopping and it's the kind of thing that I don't really mind him having after school or on a weekend if we'r enot at home.

DD is younger but can use the airfryer for small things like a fishfinger and chips. She is also able to make a waffle batter and use the waffle machine. Theoreitcally she can do pancakes but is a bit short to handle the pan easily. She also likes to experiment with dips so has done a few recipes from a kids recipe book for things like an avocado dip or a sort of hummus (she doesn't eat these things, she just likes making them).

DS loves salmon. This is a good idea for us too - in the airfryer.

Macaroni cheese and other pasta dishes
Things you can just put in the oven - pizza, chicken kievs, chips
Beans on toast
Scrambled eggs or omelette

Get them involved in picking out recipes too. My 15 yo is currently on a healthy eating / gym kick … last night he cooked spaghetti with anchovies, capers and olives! Was delicious!

My 9 year old likes to cook but is a very fussy eater who won’t eat any sauces or chopped vegetables - so bolognese/curry are out. He makes chicken breast (sealing in pan with butter and then over baking), I do the potatoes and veg to go with it. He does omelettes, fried eggs, pancakes. With some supervison/support he does pizza from scratch and burgers- he was inspired to do this from Buddy Oliver’s tv programme, I would recommend this for ideas.

At 12, DD can bake a cake, cookies, brownies etc. She can make a smoothie. She often cooks her own lunch on a weekend, things like scrambled egg, jacket potato, pasta with a tomato based sauce/cheese sauce/tuna&sweetcorn/chicken and garlic in a creamy sauce (all cooked from scratch, no jars). She's occasionally cooked our evening meal things like spag bol or chicken and bacon pasta

She baked with me from being a toddler, we started cooking evening meals with her around 8. First meal she made completely by herself was scrambled egg on toast, maybe around 10 ish

When she was starting and I was nervous, she'd do everything and I'd just come in to put things in the oven.

For the nervousness around sharp knives... Lots of thi gs can be cut up with kitchen scissors instead

My eldest is also dyspraxic, and letting at anything with a sharp knife has me hovering close, so I get you!

He started out a couple of years ago cooking himself instant packets (like the pasta in 'cheese' sauce). That lead into him wanting something that tasted better, so I taught him how to make cheesy tuna pasta - ie. cook pasta, cook cheese sauce, mix in a tin of tuna. This holds plenty of danger for him, and I had to work with him on modifications (eg. using a doodad to open the tin of tuna as he doesn't have the grip strength, showing him step by step how to put a colander in the sink to drain the pasta so he doesn't burn himself etc.). He can now do that entirely alone (although he hasn't understood cooking the pasta at the same time as making the cheese sauce, and does them one at a time - but that's the organisational challenges kicking in there). We recently branched out into lasagna, which we do need to work on, but builds on what he already knows at least.

Youngest has been cooking nuggets/pizza/cakes since he was about 7 (I did the oven stuff at first, but he soon took over for nuggets). He can also be trusted with a knife, but unfortunately has no interest in cooking savoury food, just desserts.

Started with snacks like toasted sandwiches, cooking oven chips etc, then onto spaghetti bolognaise, stir fry, other pasta dishes, stews, curries etc by 13 dd1 was just about cooking, stir fries and noodles mostly, at the same age dd2 could prepare full family meals including for guests eg a roast, she wanted to be a chef at that point

Seafood pasta and omelette type things

Omelette, pancakes and porridge when they were 8, then chicken goujons, salmon wellington ( side of salmon/ pesto wrapped in pastry), spaghetti Bolognese/ chilli, stir fries etc

I have a similar dilemma @NCIRL

When kids have SEN, you have to take it slowly and let them build up their confidence and knowledge gradually.

My DS 15 has severe dyspraxia, autism and adhd and is anxious around knives too. He struggles to hold and use cutlery so for most meals at home he still uses his fingers, although he does use cutlery when eating out. Whilst that's a good thing, it takes him aaaages to eat a meal so we don't eat out very often and not with other people as it's too much pressure. One reason why he skips eating lunch at school. 😕

I plan to spend time helping him learn some cooking basics during the summer holidays (10weeks) and it's his Transition Year from September here in Ireland, so he'll have more time to learn new skills at his own pace.

He does eventually master new skills as he's happy to keep practising (with encouragement) and I hope to get him using cutlery full time within the next 6 months or so.

He's a dab hand at using the coffee machine and can do some v basic stuff in the airfryer. He used to be very fussy with food but I've managed to increase his range of foods and he now eats a much wider variety including spicy meals.

We had a go at Japanese tempura vegetables last summer which was pretty successful and he really enjoyed it.

I helped DS master one meal at a time from the age of 8 - to begin with it was a LOT more work for me than cooking it myself, but gradually he began to figure it out. As part of the process I got him to write or type out his own recipe for each meal and we keep them in a plastic wallet in the kitchen for him to refer to. The first meals were based on what he fancied cooking really, spaghetti carbonara, burgers with wedges, fajitas and then a gradually encouraged him to move towards more of the meals we enjoy eating as a family such as curry. He is 12 now and a confidently cook a dozen meals (of varying complexity and healthiness!) without any supervision - and he isn't a child who is hugely interested in cooking either, it's just a chore but an important one and he cooks for the family once a week.

You are all inspiring me. i always said my children would learn to cook, especially the boys (they weren't taught in our house growing up) and I've been slack because frankly, it's SO MUCH EFFORT. But that's it, I'm on it now. It has to be done.

DS won't know what's hit him. (Neither will the cat because I've just decided the space for the cat to eat away from the dog is abotu to become DS' cooking prep area!) Wish me luck.

Baked beans on toast
cheese & tomato omelette
Fried egg on toast
spag bol

He also makes a mean salad.

Not only the effort @SpaceOP also the time it takes!

I think I'm going to have to do a first aid course for them too! So that they both, but mainly DC2, know how deal with cooking injuries...

Thats a nice idea @JackShephard but DS can't really write or type. That would put him into refusal mode if I even suggested it.

@UpsideDownChairs i think we will have similar issues with the timing, I suspect it's why he doesn't want to try. But if we can get him to do a sauce and then the pasta rather than trying to coordinate it, he might feel less overwhelmed. That's a good tip.