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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think there must be a cheaper way of teaching Home Ec

111 replies

Ceramicpumpkin281 · 03/11/2022 18:43

On today's list:

A clove of garlic
Pinch of paprika
Table spoon of olive oil
1 chicken breast

This is an area where lots of families are struggling, Couldn't the school have store cupboard basics for the class to share that we all pay an annual amount towards. I know people will say these are the types of things families will already have at home but a lot won't!

The food also comes back inedible after kicking around all day so it's not proving a meal for the family either.

OP posts:
pavillion1 · 03/11/2022 20:09

Really? I can't see that being something that would come up in most households when deciding whether or not to start a family.

No having a tenner spare???? Really ??

GracieLouFreeebush · 03/11/2022 20:25

Please don’t blame the teacher.

I tried to put it in place that we provided all ingredients, school couldn’t afford it.

I then tried to get students to bring meat and then 30/50p for herbs/spices/flour but school said I’m not allowed to charge students for their education.

I have to give the full list to parents, anything not on the list I end up paying myself, so for example with a couple of classes today I was worried they needed lots of little bits so I bought it myself rather than the parents, it’s cost me £40 to provide for all of them. On average I spend about £150 a month which I cannot afford but it’s better than students missing out because parents don’t have time/can’t afford it. Please be mindful when you contact them that they will be doing their best and many things are beyond their control.

MrsToothyBitch · 03/11/2022 20:30

I refused to do home ec and my mum backed me up! It always seems a massive, complicated waste of time, money and food. I like the idea mentioned up thread of pooling together to get ingredients.

I always remember my uni boyfriend saying his mum would provide the food but reminding him and his brother that whilst she didn't want them to feel under pressure, they essentially had her meal budget for the day so try not to waste it and bring home something edible as dinner was on them. His parent had two not bad incomes but as they saved and put money into other focus areas, they found buying for home ec a bit exorbitant. If schools can't afford to wholly provision it, they can't afford to run it, by my book. I don't think it would be missed tbh.

blackheartsgirl · 03/11/2022 20:32

Yes our school have just introduced a 7 quid a term fee for ingredients.

prior to this the dds would have to provide everything else, including herbs, spices, oil. It all had to be weighed before carting it all to school,’then dds oil leaked all over her bag once…

i remember once that dd had to have this specific ingredient and it was out of stock everywhere. Went to 3 supermarkets before I thought fuck this shit, she’s year 7 notGcse and complained as did many others.

it now works well.. and I don’t have to have the stress

IreneJones · 03/11/2022 20:34

@GracieLouFreeebush That's terrible. You absolutely should not be spending your own money on ingredients. Can you claim back what you've spent? If you can't then you need to discuss a way forward with HoF.

Wheretheskyisblue · 03/11/2022 20:43

Maybe gousto needs to branch out into providing discounted boxes for home ec teachers in return for free marketing.

savehannah · 03/11/2022 20:46

Yeah at ours we just pay upfront for the term and it covers all the food tech ingredients and materials for other tech stuff too.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 03/11/2022 20:46

I’ve been told by a Scottish friend that in Scotland they do provide the ingredients. Which makes sense!

But Id be equally happy to pay a termly fee for them to do so - and perhaps those who can’t afford it could have it free? Maybe for anyone free schools meals and anyone who comes forward to say they really can’t (schools seem to go by this for several other things)

Spidey66 · 03/11/2022 20:47

I was at school early 80s, school provided everything for the class but we had to bring in money each week for the cost of the ingredients.

Buttons0522 · 03/11/2022 20:56

The thought of all the chicken breasts festering in the bottom of bags on the school bus… 😬

MarmiteCoriander · 03/11/2022 23:24

Out of interest, if your child does woodwork- do they need to bring in their own wood and nails for their lesson too??? What about metal work? Do they also source their own metal, solder etc???

As said up thread, I have no children and when I went to school- all the above, along with food in cooking lessons was there already and provided. I don't recall having to pay extra per term. Seems so odd that you'd carry raw meat and ingredients to school, to sit in your bag, unrefrigerated for hours and hours before cooking and eating! 😬

tunnocksreturns2019 · 03/11/2022 23:28

MarmiteCoriander · 03/11/2022 23:24

Out of interest, if your child does woodwork- do they need to bring in their own wood and nails for their lesson too??? What about metal work? Do they also source their own metal, solder etc???

As said up thread, I have no children and when I went to school- all the above, along with food in cooking lessons was there already and provided. I don't recall having to pay extra per term. Seems so odd that you'd carry raw meat and ingredients to school, to sit in your bag, unrefrigerated for hours and hours before cooking and eating! 😬

Yes, most of the stuff for Resistant Materials has to be provided too. That’s next term of Y9. How I wish DS had chosen a different option…! (But this is the stuff he is good at, so I don’t really mean it. Amazing stuffed peppers this week, did me two dinners as he doesn’t like peppers!).

They can - if they remember - take ingredients straight to DT fridge on arrival. However my DC have a 15 min walk to school, others are on a bus for an hour first, some will totally forget…

Toddlerteaplease · 03/11/2022 23:39

We had to Bring ours in from home. My teacher insisted we should not bring in boil in the bag rice as it was expensive. My mum always used book in the bag and no way was she going out to buy normal stuff!

Changingmynameyetagain · 03/11/2022 23:39

Ds1 has just finished his term of food tech. One week he made a lasagna, they made it from scratch, white sauce, meat sauce and fresh pasta. Unfortunately they didn’t have time to actually bake the thing, my daft teenage dick of a son put the entire uncooked thing in his school bag ShockAngry About £8 of ingredients all over his bag/school books/pencil case. I was not best pleased!

America12 · 03/11/2022 23:52

pavillion1 · 03/11/2022 19:04

We took in what we needed to make what we was being asked .
Surely you knew these things would come up when deciding to have children ?

Do you honestly think people would think about things like this when thinking about having a baby ????

SnooozyTree · 04/11/2022 00:35

They are paired up to cook in dds school, and split the ingredient list between them. Had to point out to dd that the way they divided the list (you bring the first 4, I'll bring the second 4) meant the other family had to spend more and find more unusual ingredients every time. For example, making beef chili and dd would have an onion, a pepper, a garlic clove and chili flakes.

Now dd pays more attention, and I make sure we cover more of the costs to make up for it.

Total pita, but it has been effective in helping dd with thinking ahead and planning for class.

Original poster
Ceramicpumpkin281 · 04/11/2022 07:03

MarmiteCoriander · 03/11/2022 23:24

Out of interest, if your child does woodwork- do they need to bring in their own wood and nails for their lesson too??? What about metal work? Do they also source their own metal, solder etc???

As said up thread, I have no children and when I went to school- all the above, along with food in cooking lessons was there already and provided. I don't recall having to pay extra per term. Seems so odd that you'd carry raw meat and ingredients to school, to sit in your bag, unrefrigerated for hours and hours before cooking and eating! 😬

No but at the end of last year the art department ran out of money for paint! Kids were told to bring in their own if they wanted to use it. No joke.

OP posts:
Passenger17 · 04/11/2022 07:10

My dd had to bring in 150g of cheese for a pasta " bake" which in turned out they cooked on the hob and just needed a sprinkle of cheese...dh threw the cheese out when it got home because it has been kicking about the school all day in clingfilm. In fact the whole "bake" had so that was inedible.

BooksAndHooks · 04/11/2022 07:14

Be grateful yours still teach it. My eldest did a couple of lessons and only made a pasta sauce. Middle DS never got to do it at all and it has been removed from GCSE syllabus altogether at their school now.

Whycanineverever · 04/11/2022 07:17

Another one here where we Buy the main ingredients but the smaller ones are covered under a £10 annual payment.

RampantIvy · 04/11/2022 07:18

MarmiteCoriander · 03/11/2022 18:51

OP- are you saying that the children have to bring the ingredients to school with them from home? And remember to do so???😧

I have never heard of this! Admittedly I don't have children, but when I went to school- all the ingredients were there- at the school already! We never bought anything in at all!

When I did HE at school in the 1970s everyone brought ingredients in. The school didn't provide any.

Comtesse · 04/11/2022 07:20

We used to have to bring in all the ingredients in some big stupid wicker basket as well as “presentation materials” like a nice tablecloth and a little bunch of flowers - seems insane now that I think about it! This was in a random comprehensive in 1990 Shock

funtycucker · 04/11/2022 07:20

IreneJones · 03/11/2022 20:34

@GracieLouFreeebush That's terrible. You absolutely should not be spending your own money on ingredients. Can you claim back what you've spent? If you can't then you need to discuss a way forward with HoF.

Claim it back from what? There is no money left in budgets. Not even a few pounds to pay for some paprika

tigerbear · 04/11/2022 07:21

@BooksAndHooks same here.
DD has just begun secondary at what is supposed to be an outstanding school, and there’s been zero mention of doing any food tech.
She does an independent cookery class every so often, but it’s so expensive - £35 for 2 hours!

caringcarer · 04/11/2022 07:30

My son did Food at GCSE last year. Any children getting pee or free school meals got their ingredients provided other children could choose to pay £5 per lesson 1 week in advance and teacher ordered ingredients in for them or could bring own ingredients. Most paid the £5 each week and teacher got Tesco delivery. All food was kept in fridge in own containers with names on and collected after school. He made some nice meals we had for dinner. Certainly made him realise about cleaning up after cooking too. It worked very well. Any child not bringing in ingredients or paying the £5 had to do written work instead.