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AIBU?

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Original poster

Excessive cooking ingredients?

35 replies

Rosebel · 02/03/2020 15:11

My children are at secondary school. Eldest is doing cooking as her GCSE subject so does cooking every week. Youngest is doing cooking this term but will change to another DT subject after Easter.
We pay £20 a term for eldest cookery and it covers things like milk, oil and stock. We pay £10 a term towards materials for youngest daughter. This is fine don't mind but what is getting ridiculous is the ingredients my daughter has to take to school.
Youngest is reasonable. This week it's chicken, peppers,carrot and noddles. My eldest on the other hand is lemongrass, chilli, ginger, onion, chicken, thai lime leaves (whatever they are), lime juice, fresh coriander,, coconut milk and green beans.
This is one of her shorter lists. It seems ridiculous. Lemongrass and Thai line leaves, not sure where to buy them and doubt they will be cheap. I understand cooking is about exploring different tastes but it is costing us a lot of extra money every week. Am I unreasonable to think this list a bit excessive and they could teach the children to make something just as nice but cheaper?

OP posts:
FelicityBeedle · 02/03/2020 15:19

As a GCSE it’s obviously going to cost a lot more. They can’t just continually make fairy cakes and expect to get decent grades

PenCreed · 02/03/2020 15:20

YABU with regards to not knowing where to buy it as all of that stuff is easy enough to find in a big supermarket. It’s also the ingredients for Thai green curry paste made from scratch - most people just buy a jar of paste and some coconut milk but I suppose that’s not much of a cooking lesson. If multiple kids are making it, why aren’t the ingredients divvied up between them? You don’t use all the pack of lime leaves in one go! What happens to the left over ones? That’s just wasteful.
YANBU that it’s a lot every week.

TeddyIsaHe · 02/03/2020 15:23

You can buy all the ingredients at a larger supermarket.

It’s a GCSE subject, it’s goi g to be more complicated and ingredient heavy than other years. I think it’s great she’s learning this!

ShadowMoonlight · 02/03/2020 15:24

If you live in a big city (obviously no idea if you do), find an Asian food store. Most of those ingredients are quite cheap for large quantities.

That said, if you are relying on the world food aisle in Sainsbury’s then yes, that’s going to cost a lot.

I am on the fence as to whether you are BU. I think is expensive and unrealistic for unusual ingredients, but if she wants to succeed she will need to try cooking a variety of dishes. There’s only so many bologneses and roast dinners she could cook.

cliodh · 02/03/2020 15:26

I don't think the ingredient list is unusual or unfair in any way but £20 per term for oil and stock is a lot! Can you not just send her with the relevant stock cubes, oil in a screw top jar, etc?

LittleSweet · 02/03/2020 15:26

Ds1 is doing food tech gcse and I think I have spent nearly £100 in equipment and food to practice with. Not including another practical which counted towards his final grade. That was probably about £50.

antisupermum · 02/03/2020 15:27

YNBU that its a lot every week considering you are already contributing an amount of money every term. I assume its necessary to buy the ingredients if they want to cook more exciting, difficult dishes. I doubt the local authority has Thai curry lessons in its budget, so I suppose paying for the ingredients is necessary unless everyone would be happy to just be making Spag Bol or Moussaka every week. Like yourself, I wouldn't be chuffed but I imagine its less of a school decision and more a Local Authority imposed budget.

PineappleDanish · 02/03/2020 15:28

That's crazy. DD is 14 and has chosen Home Ec as one of her subject choices (we're in Scotland). She cooks every week, and we paid £15 at the start of the year for ingredients. Have never been asked for anything else, except that she brings a tupperware tub to bring it home.

She's not making stuff with lemongrass and chilli mind... it's more soup, pizza, pasta dishes, sticky toffee pudding, muffins. Maybe next year when it's the run up to the exams we'll pay more. But from what I've seen of the curriculum it's less about the practicalities of cooking and more about looking at nutrition overall, recipe development and the science of food.

BarbaraofSeville · 02/03/2020 15:28

That sort of stuff needs to come out of the £20, which would buy far more oil, milk and stock than anyone could use in a once a week cooking lesson.

But I don't know why people buy coconut milk unless they are made of money and very time poor as you can buy block coconut and make it into coconut milk for about a quarter of the price, plus you can make up any amount you want, not just a tin's worth.

AdaColeman · 02/03/2020 15:33

As they are not each going to use a full pack of lemongrass or bunch of coriander etc, it would make sense for three or four of them to split the list of ingredients between them, then each bringing just a couple of items and pooling what they have brought.

Princessfaffalot · 02/03/2020 15:37

@BarbaraofSeville I didn’t know that! How do you do that?

Sorry to derail!

HopelessLayout · 02/03/2020 15:55

Coconut milk is needed for green curry as you only use the separated (thick) stuff on the top of the tin.

LoveFameTragedy · 02/03/2020 15:57

You can get dried coconut milk powder though, and so would just add less water to get the correct consistency.

Quinceandmedlarsrule · 02/03/2020 16:05

My two did GCSE and one chose Italian food so was quite pricy - Parmesan every week, squid, and other special ingredients, the other did puddings, so a bit cheaper. It wasn't so much the cost but only telling me at 8pm the night before, that they needed things I couldn't get from the local co-op!

coppersuits · 02/03/2020 16:08

GCSE Food is a very expensive GCSE - ingredients cost at least £10/week, the list was always sent at very short notice and then there was quite a bit more of everything coming up to the practical.

Notso · 02/03/2020 16:14

As pp said it would be better if they each had one or two ingredients to share instead of all buying whole packs if the same thing, but I guess that would be really disruptive if one person was off or forgot.

As an aside I always used to buy creamed coconut in a block but haven't seen it for ages.

C4tintherug · 02/03/2020 16:28

As a food teacher, I get parents moaning about this but you might find this is a practical where she has chosen her own ingredients and chosen herself what to cook. Most of the stuff we choose tends to be pastry, pasta etc. If we use spices I tend to buy a job lot then charge them 50p for a spoonful or whatever.

Original poster
Rosebel · 02/03/2020 16:30

She's only in Y9 though so only just started the course this year. I dread to think how much it'll cost in Y10 and 11. My youngest has said she'll probably do cooking for GCSE too.
When I did my GCSE (long time ago) we did quite a bit about budgeting but that probably isn't part of the course now. Tbh I'd rather pay more at the start of each term instead of ending up with all these jars and containers with a tiny bit taken out of each.

OP posts:
BarbedBloom · 02/03/2020 16:32

Those are all normal ingredients in our home and you can get them from the supermarket or cheaper if you have an Asian store nearby. Cooking GCSE can be expensive as the meals are supposed to be more complex and involve different cultures etc. I remember that from when I did it.

VeniVidiVoxi · 02/03/2020 16:41

Everything except the lime leaves are available in our local Aldi. Aldi and Lidl seem pretty good for ingredients even where I live in an area not noted for it's multiculturalism. Kaffir lime would be Thai lime leaves I guess?

Either split the cost with other students or keep a stash of frozen stuff for repeat practice of the recipes?

Can you ask for the term recipe plans so you can be prepared?

TinklyLittleLaugh · 02/03/2020 16:42

We are very fortunate not to be on a budget and we like our food. Everything you have listed would be pretty standard in our house, certainly on my Tesco favourites list. Possibly the same for the Food Tech teacher.

I think it’s easy sometimes for teachers to forget that not everyone has the same budget and spending priorities.

formerbabe · 02/03/2020 16:45

When my dd was in reception, they did a healthy breakfast week where the children prepared and ate a different breakfast each day. Nice idea. Parents were asked to bring in one ingredient each.
Unfortunately I got sodding blueberries...went to supermarket on a Sunday afternoon and all that was left were bloody organic ones. I ended up spending over £10 on blueberries.

Floribundance · 02/03/2020 16:54

Coconut milk is 59p at Aldi
Kaffir lime leaves are available fresh or dried - dried should be with the herbs and spices
Lemongrass again is available fresh or dried and dried should be with the herbs and spices

The cost per week seems excessive as a lot of people have to keep to tight food budget and the food made might not be fit to eat later (no space to refrigerate in school.) It does sound more interested than designing pizza though which I’m sure I’ve seen discussed on here before.

Floribundance · 02/03/2020 16:57

If you have to buy dried ingredients then at least you can use them at home. Mmmm Thai food.

dottiedodah · 02/03/2020 16:58

I think this is quite a lot TBH! Does she get to bring the food home with her ? (Could have it for dinner LOL) Maybe have a discreet word with the Teacher ? When we did GCE cookery (long time ago) We were taught about budgeting too .Is there a practical lesson every single week ,I am sure we did quite a lot of theory .Its not a good lesson for the future either ,as so many threads on here are asking about ways to reduce shopping bills !