School cookery lessons (and inedible food)

[OublietteBravo]

DD (year 7) is doing cookery at school this term. Every week we get a shopping list. Every week we get something inedible that goes straight in the bin.

Now this isn't DD's fault. It is down to the fact that every recipe contains raw onions (or sometimes raw Spring onions). I cannot eat any type of raw onions - they give me terrible indigestion. No one in our household likes raw onions.

I've tried excluding the onion (or spring onions) from the ingredients I send in. But whatever she makes still contains them (either provided by the teacher or 'borrowed' from another child).

WIBU to complain and insist that her creations must be free of this evil ingredient?

I've now thrown out 4 weeks worth of her food - and next week looks like it is going to continue the raw onion theme and contain olives - one of the few foods I detest

Risotto would be disgusting. You can't reheat risotto. You can do this with it though.

Go from Step 3

Oh yes I made pineapple upside down pudding too! My other dishes included Victoria sponge, sausage rolls, scotch eggs and cheese straws. DD hasn't made any if these yet

We've had savoury scones, puff pastry pies, stir fried rice with veg and ham, fruit salad, banana bread...it's all been very good.

Marmitelover You must be younger than me because you have a DD at school now. But maybe my Domestic Science teacher came out of mothballs for you because that's just the kind of thing she taught me.

She also showed me how to make Marmite Wheels. They were a 70s party thing before M&S or Iceland nibbles were invented.

After you'd made your cheese straws you bundled your pastry back together and rolled it out to a thin long strip.

You then spread the upper side with Marmite and carefully rolled it. After about three twirls you cut it and started again.

Bake at 190 for 15 mins. Serve with gin and tonic.

I passed the cheesy marmitey baton on to you because of your name.

Keep the flame alive

Thank you limitedperiodonly! Sounds fab and will give them a go

Do - but not like me, because my hands were always a bit grubby.

Marmite covers a multitude of sins though

So cooking is now back on the school curriculum.

That's fabulous. Cooking teaches a multitude of things: READING (the recipe). MATHS (the quantities). SCIENCE (how raw ingredients change by the appliance of heat, etc) LIFE SKILLS (you won't starve to death if you can boil an egg).

So great that cooking is back on the curriculum - thank you Michael.

However, they have to avoid the obvious allergies. Meat has to be halal, or whatever to avoid insensitivity. There are vegetarians. There can be no nuts. It's a bit of a minefield!

What the parents like to eat of an evening?
You really expect the teachers to take that into consideration?
How the fuck does that contribute to a child being able to cook? Your convenience? Sorry, but how does that contribute to a child's education? Don't mean this to come as a shock (and I'm saying this after a particularly horrid day, when a parent didn't consider that a Yr 6 child needed to see their potential secondary school before potentially attending it, so I'm in a state of rage at the moment) but what you like to eat isn't actually part of your child's education.

It's not about you.

If your child is able to cater for themselves if you're not around, is that not a good thing?

Sorry to be mean. Quite cross tonight!

Our school expects us to provide ingredients - there are meat and veggie options, dcs choose a from a suggested selection of veg. They made granola bars, the recipe had walnuts - ds included the walnuts, dd didn't - most recipes the dcs cook are pretty easy to adapt and this is a good skill to learn too and that way the child actually learns to cook something that will be eaten which will be more likely to be cooked again - therefore a better experience for all.
Is it really that hard to give kids alternative suggestions, our school seems to manage with very little fuss.

Can you not just eat something else by yourself cheap and simple for those days she brings back her own cooked food? Baked beans on toast? Stir fry?

It seems such a shame for her to grow up hating something so basic that is in so many wonderful dishes just because she's watched you faff about it. Fair enough if you have an intolerance, but she might actually realise she quite likes it if it's in something she made herself.

When I did cookery in school the boys used to gather outside the kitchen door and offer considerable sums of money for our creations. The only thing I ever took home was Irish soda bread, because I wanted to eat it myself on the bus. So in reality only a little end piece made it home.

We made the aforementioned Irish soda bread, baked fish with breadcrumbs and herbs and chopped onions, apple pie and apple crumble, Irish stew (we all brought some money and meat was provided as there were worries about refrigerating it otherwise. Same for the fish we baked), a sponge cake filled with whipped cream and jam, not a Victoria sponge though, scrambled and boiled eggs, and omelettes with fillings (onions again), bread pudding, veggie quiche, spaghetti bolognese, shepherd's pie, bacon and cabbage (again, meat was supplied), and salads rice salad and pasta salad with homemade dressings. All simple staples.

A year or two after I took the class they let boys do cooking, and sewing too.

Why would anyone eat raw onions?

A thick slice of raw red onion is excellent on a cheeseburger. Onions are also raw in salads and salsa.

I love the fact that cooking is back on the curriculum!

Agree that you should just put a huge, red pen note on the list saying raw onions are a 'no'.

It does seem that there's a lot of choping prep and very little cooking though. Mind you, my sister had to nuke a potato for her first double period cookery lesson. Can't imagine there was much weighing, recipe following or prep learnt there to be honest

When was cooking not on the curriculum?

I just assumed it was no longer a 'must do' Cassie as it wasn't available at a few schools we've been to

You should send in a 'can't eat raw onion note' but throwing the food away is pretty nasty.

Cooking has always been taught at all schools I know - its usually called Food Technology.

Admittedly DC's school doesn't involve much raw onions. Most stuff is cooked at least a bit, the only exception is the pudding creation - but I think even that they have tweaked so they have to make custard (from powder).
They also always get a range of options; eg. when making scones they can choose: cheese scones, fruit scones or plain scones. The teachers would also try to allow for a gluten free version - if it would work. Ingredients cost about £2 tops. And it has been known for my DC to arrive home with very little as its been sold to friends at break time.

Oh and we usually have to taste the food - as an evaluation of the food is usually the homework.

Food tech here - really excellent lessons, though not sure if that's about the curriculum or the teacher. DD has learnt skills including making a white sauce, tomato based sauce for pasta, meat curry, yeasted dough, basic vic sponge mix, risotto, can't think what else. I would have thought any child that pays attention and works hard would come out with the ability to cook a range of basic nutritious cheap meals + some treats. Can't ask more than that!

We didnt have to buy the ingredients when DC did cooking. We just paid about £10 for the term and school provided everything There cooking lessons were so much better than mine back in the 70s. The teacher had this stupid idea that only half the class would cook and the rest would to the washing up, then swap the next week. It took 3 weeks to make one thing as she did the demonstrating in the first week.

bruffin that sounds like a more sensible approach wrt paying a specific amount each term and letting the school organise things.

I'm still that people eat what their DCs bring home, ick. It's even been confirmed by a couple of food tech teachers on the thread.

When my eldest DS was about 6 they made jam tarts. I was eating them & praising him when he came out with the epic 'I love making pastry Mum because it makes your hands soooooo clean'.

Fatmomma - surely it is a good thing if pupils are taught that they don't necessarily have to follow a recipe slavishly (unless they are baking of course) - but they can adjust a recipe to suit their personal tastes and the tastes/needs of the other people who will be eating the dish?

LimitedPeriod - I love the sound of the marmite-y cheesey nibbles!

Have you tried marmite roast potatoes? Parboil your potatoes, and drain them, then add a slurp of oil and a spoonful of marmite to the pan, and give it all a good shake. Then put in a hot roasting dish and roast in the oven.

You get potatoes with lots of crispy bits, where you have chuffed up the outside of the potato - and the crispy bits are marmite-y too!

Am I reading this wrong; you can't eat raw onions so you throw the food away completely?! That is a bloody waste.

Dd has home economics and we pay a set amount at the start of term and the school provides the ingredients. So far she has made a wrap, chocolate truffles (she left them at school), rice krispie cakes and scones. Next week its supposed to be Rock buns.

I've tried excluding the onion (or spring onions) from the ingredients I send in. But whatever she makes still contains them (either provided by the teacher or 'borrowed' from another child).

Can you clarify please. Is this "borrowing" instigated by your DD because she realises she doesn't have any onion with her and asks for some, or is it forced on her by the teacher saying "Oh you don't have any onion, here have some of this"

If the former then why on earth are you having a go at the school? Surely your DD knows she is meant to exclude it for a reason.

If the latter then your DD is not a toddler incapable of speaking up. Why doesn't she just tell the teacher she is leaving it because of food intolerances in the family? As my Mum would say "Doesn't she have a tongue in her head?"

Either way it is your DD you need to take issue with.