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Original poster

Gobsmacked about daughter's food tech lesson

234 replies

dottybooboo22 · 14/09/2016 18:37

I've just been informed by dd that she's cooking next week in her food tech class. I have to buy the ingredients. I don't mind that but then she said they have to practise at home so they'll be able to make it in classConfused
She then got all stroppy when I pointed out that it would cost twice as much for the stuff and wasn't it the whole point of the lesson to teach them how to make it??? Am I missing something here? Angry

OP posts:
derxa · 15/09/2016 05:27

I had home economics in 1st and 2nd year (Scotland) which would be a cookery block followed by a block of sewing/knitting etc
Same here and I went to secondary school in the 1970s
I learnt a lot - honestly.

WinchesterWoman · 15/09/2016 05:33

Sounds a bit like 'we'll be doing the 6x table nex week so can you make sure they know it by then'

Bad luck the kids without any support at home

Longlost10 · 15/09/2016 05:36

Sounds a bit like 'we'll be doing the 6x table nex week so can you make sure they know it by then'

yes, that is exactly what flipped is, and no, it is nothing to do with the parents, the onus is putting the responsibility on to the children.

stripesstpots · 15/09/2016 05:46

Haven't read the whole thread but ours used to have to practice it at home first.

I don't mind so much but sometimes it would have a non essential ingredient none of us liked or the one with allergies couldn't eat. I once asked the teacher if we could leave it out of the recipe and was sternly told no they had to make it as per the recipe.

I kind of get this but two lots of food no one can eat but I still pay for is a bit annoying!

mathanxiety · 15/09/2016 05:52

I bet those children whose parents have the time and resources to help with the responsibility for their own learning do far better than those with parents overwhelmed by life in general..

On another note, what is being taught to students if food is not stored properly or if recipe substitutions can't be made?
It has been my experience that making it up as you go along and subbing whatever you have to hand or whatever your family will eat (in the interests of not having to throw food out) is an essential part of cooking.

ButterfliesRfree · 15/09/2016 05:55

Yes I remember we had this happen (our year 8 student?). It was just a practical to show they could follow a recipe and make something. They got marked for it and needed to practice it before they would do it in class.

AverageGayLadAtChristmas · 15/09/2016 06:26

I'd never even consider eating some 'cookies' baked by toddlers or a bunch of gormless teens.

Hmm I'm only 18, I've been cooking for six years, all for myself for about a year - whenever I cook for anyone else, staff for example, they're always complimentary and finish their plates! I'm very keen on food hygiene, and storing food properly - I'm not just a "gormless teen" who doesn't care about any of that Confused

Ditsyprint40 · 15/09/2016 06:34

Working in a school, kids always bring their 'delights' to us to try. I've perfected the 'I'll take a bit to eat after my lunch' 🙈

I'd be surprised if she'd said this.

I also haven't heard of parents refusing to buy ingredients, and we are in a v deprived area. Some just don't turn up with it to be fair and they always have loads of spare ingredients

GoldFishFingerz · 15/09/2016 06:35

Mathsanxiety - the teacher will have covered some of the groundwork already with the meat balls recipe. They will just be making a structured recipe at home and then ironing out any niggles the second time they make it at school. It makes sense.

The same is said for art homework. The teacher talks about it in class, the kids sketch and research at home

lalaloopyhead · 15/09/2016 06:48

When I was at school we made things that incorporated basic skills, so roux sauce, pastry, cakes, biscuits chopping & dicing etc and bread and learnt the why and wherefore of ingredients.

I've really disliked the cooking lessons dd have done, as others have said such a waste! Apple pie with ready made pastry, when surely the point of making would be to learn how to make pastry. Also many things with relatively costly ingredients that can't be easily reheated, so the meatballs would have to be mixed with sauce (fine) but then served up at school with spaghetti for marking purposes, then all chucked in a box to bring home.

Toadinthehole · 15/09/2016 07:15

I did HE in the 80s. Parents paid for ingredients. I remember:

Y7: open sandwich (eaten)
Sausage hot pot (eaten)
Something in white sauce (mum ate it)
Flapjacks (eaten)
Y8 or 9: wholemeal scones (food fight traveling home)
Pizza with wholemeal base (dumped off bridge).
Minestrone soup (eaten)

Didn't do it for GCSE.

The best place to learn cooking is at home. As for me, I taught myself when I left home. I can't say HE really taught me much except that wholemeal pastry can be really foul.

Ledkr · 15/09/2016 08:01

Dd had to take in a quarter of a red, green and orange pepper! I sent one of one colour. Also a pizza. Pizza base, PIZZA SAUCE I mixed sine tomato purée with some fresh tomatoes and some herbs abs debt that!

She's now taken it for gcse!!
I have two years of requests for ridiculous ingredients in Sunday nights. Hmm

imwithspud · 15/09/2016 09:18

When I did food tech in the 00's we did fruit salad, veg samosas, sandwiches (mine was some god awful combination of ketchup, cheese, onions and Pom-bear crispsConfused). But we also did a cake with fondant icing, roux sauce, cookies.

I did it at GCSE and one of the assessments was to create a balanced breakfast. It wasn't so much about cooking but more about the 'technology' of food, what a balanced meal consists of, if that makes sense....

Cagliostro · 15/09/2016 09:42

I think the idea of paying a set amount per week/term so the ingredients can be bought in bulk is a good one. Popping to the shops to buy ingredients isn't always easy for people (even while my DCs were in infant school the frequency of 'please bring xxx in 2 days' caused major issues as I'm disabled) and the advantage of buying in bulk to save money goes without saying.

I didn't think the OP was saying it was the school's job to teach her DD to cook generally - I would take issue with that, it's something that should be encouraged when children are young IMO - I thought the problem was that they were going to have a specific lesson in 'how to make meatballs' so you'd think the actual lesson would be where they learned that process, rather than learning that specific thing at home and just recreating it in a group afterwards. Like with maths or something, most of the time I'd assume you'd learn a technique together in class before being given homework on it.

Food tech at my (uber pushy grammar) school was pants, we spent half a term planning a sandwich. We then did one pasta dish when we were supposed to make one of 3 dishes (I rebelled and learned how to make arrabiata instead :o). That was it.

DixieNormas · 15/09/2016 10:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AcrossthePond55 · 15/09/2016 18:16

I remember (back when the earth was cooling) my class having to plan, purchase, and cook a healthy (for the late '60s) balanced meal from scratch in Home Ec. We did salad, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, fresh veg with cheese sauce, and an apple pie. You know, it never occurred to me that our parents bought the ingredients with some parents purchasing more expensive items than others.

Fucking delicious meal was served to the Home Ec teaching staff!

Cocklodger · 15/09/2016 18:16

Food tech for me was useless.
We made fruit salad, which was made with some weird kind of cream and fruit from a tin (Ingredients provided as we paid a weekly fee) and cheese on toast.
Thats it.
The rest was theory stuff that totally contradicted practical lessons and other theory exercises.
Now I don't know what the aim was, But I didn't learn how to do anything of use.
Tell a lie, I learnt how to use a can opener.
From year 7-9, weekly lessons taught me how to use a fucking can opener.

Housemum · 15/09/2016 18:56

DD1 did food tech 10 years ago (years 7-9, not GCSE). Think the only actual cooking was scones. She had to take a Pot Noodle in once to use boiling water safely...

MammaBear091114 · 15/09/2016 20:15

Jeez, I've only read the first page of comments but did the OP seriously say it's not her place to teach her daughter to cook? Is that a serious question or what?

kierenthecommunity · 15/09/2016 20:17

If you don't fancy duplicating the recipe how about getting her to fo another one that may use similar skills? A pasta sauce or chilli or something?

Sounds like a win to me Grin

Lunde · 15/09/2016 20:24

I remember my Mum talking about doing her O-level in 1947 which was very high stakes as not only did the family have to pay for the ingredients BUT she also had to use the coupons from the family's ration books so nothing could be wasted and the family had to eat it for dinner.

Notmuchtosay1 · 15/09/2016 20:26

My boys have made quite a few things at secondary school. None of which had to be made beforehand with a practice.

WinchesterWoman · 15/09/2016 20:58

Longlost - notes in 'message home' books for the parents are in fact for the children? Seems an odd place to put them if they're not for the parents.

Ericaequites · 15/09/2016 21:11

A year of group singing is better than Music Appreciation. My sister and I still loathe classical music because it was forced on us at school. Most people shouldn't mess around with music theory or learning to play instruments in secondary school. I come from a tone deaf family.

battgirlatheart · 15/09/2016 21:24

In this day and age of Internet ordering etc I wonder why they can't order them to the school etc and split the cost. I'm sure buying in bulk would work out cheaper and be far easier for us parents. Seems daft thirty parents buying the same thing when teacher could order it then share it out