Not to know how to get teens cooking dinner?

[Wahey79]

I try to keep on top of DS15 and DD12’s contribution to the household, and mostly they do what is asked of them, but one thing I haven’t cracked is getting them to cook the odd dinner.

Wondering if anyone has any tips on how to get this started? How much help should I give them to begin with? I was thinking they should offer, plan, shop and cook with minimal input from me, but I’ve realised that is just not going to happen!

I suggested they do one night per week on rotation, so not a heavy load, and they were up for it in theory. But since then nothing.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

Don’t they do cookery classes in school as part of home economics/food tech? Getting them to make whatever they did in school that week is usually a good place to start. DD also had two formal practical exams per year (no teacher or peer involvement allowed!) so she’d practice those recipes at home too.

I can’t say that I ever really made DD cook, it was just a natural evolution as she got older really. At 15 she started making the occasional lunch for herself (usually eggs or pasta) or would bake cookies/cupcakes/brownies etc for fun. Now she’s 20 and makes dinner for us pretty much every night! She’s a much better cook than me and enjoys it.

@DancefloorAcrobatics
I quoted you because I agree with you and wanted to continue with a related suggestion 🙂but the reply was to the OP. Probably that was unclear.

I picked DS's favourite food I make (chilli) and told him I'd not be cooking it again, so if he wanted it he'd have to learn how to make it.

I did it once whilst he watched

Oops...

Once whilst he watched and took notes.

Next time I watched while he cooked and asked questions/refined notes.

Third time was mostly by himself with me called to the kitchen for the odd question.

He then did it himself weekly. After which we did rinse a repeat for other favourite dishes so by the time he went to Uni he had quite a good repertoire of solid (but not fancy) recipes.

Yes it is cooking. It's more than sticking a Pot Noodle in a microwave (is that how you cook them?)
We cook from scratch every evening, and most of the recipes we use are Hello Fresh or Gousto but we buy all the ingredients now instead of getting them sent to us

Of course it's cooking. What else is it? Shitting? Walking? I mean wtf

I have similar age kids as well as an almost 18 year old. I'd definitely say you need to cook with them a fair few times before they'll be able to do it themselves.

Mine will cook but nothing particularly fancy. I always buy the ingredients though because we live nowhere near a shop so I'd have to take them shopping anyway. But my 18yo can cook completely by herself with no input from me and my 14yo can for some basic meals. My 12yo is just in the early stages so can chuck freezer stuff in the oven but can't yet do something like spag bol.

We did it together at weekends to start,

So Saturdays was DD and Sundays DS.

I started with easy stuff like pasta bake and burgers and chips. When they felt they'd mastered it we wrote it in the list and they had a go at doing it themselves (at the weekend).

After they had three or four dishes we moved to alternating a meal they could make on their own with one they still needed help on, so I was only cooking with one of them per weekend,

The aim was to get to ten meals they could make independently.

We did eat a LOT of pasta bake.

My own cooking is never more than 30 minutes hands-on time so I certainly don’t expect DC to slave over a hot stove.
Some variation on vegetarian pasta with fresh sauce that takes the same time to make will see them through a few months, so simple tomato and onions, pesto, fried grated zucchine, mushrooms etc. Make pasta night their night.

Then when it’s summer, salad variations with added rice and bulgur etc. They choose the protein to add, so veggie or cheese, grilled chicken, cold sausages, hard boiled eggs.

Autumn can be pressure cooking skills where they learn curry, chilli, soup and bolognese sauce. Pressure cooked risotto is great.

At that point in winter Sunday roast and veg, which isn’t far from doing Christmas dinner!

Please teach them how to handle knives and utensils safely (I’m still scared of chopper blades), how to use the tare on electric scales and what temperature things usually cook at.

BTW I’ve kept all my Hello Fresh recipe cards in a binder as they’re simple and written for 2 (4) portions including weights. A good resource for students.

I perosnally think, that with school work and studying after school and clubs they might want to go to, thst cooking once per fortnight is a bit much. Maybe doing it once a month each.
i think then they’ll be more likely to offer a little more, maybe on special nights like mum or dad birthday, wedding anniversary etc.
im all for independence, and it’s right they develop their skills in pal,ing and doing a bit of the “chore” of everyday cooking. But you do run a risk that it’ll put them off, and will take the fun out of it till they just do the minimum possible

dojt under estimate how much time they need to put into studying for gas and a levles. Chores shouldn’t get in way of that. So at very least cut them slack over exam revision periods. Also don’t under estimate how much social development they still need to do, it’s vital for the, to be active physically, and in company of their peers either just moping around or doing a productive activity. They’re still children at this age - they’ve got a lot of figuring out to get to being adults. Into well 20s we now know. Don’t burden them with too much adulting at this stage would be my advice. Do it, but in moderation.

Nope. I think this is way way too much.

once a month .
they’re kids.
they’re doing school, then homework which in teens that age will be rampin* soon to GCSEs and a levels and then social stuff
they didn’t ask to come into the world. You’re the parent, and as much as you might hate the faff of cooking it’s not their “job” to take over cooking so you get more nights off.
theirvtikecwill come when they leave home .

yep they need to step up and start to do regularly. But what your suggesting is way , way too much

ifvtheycwere working and had evenings off then yep. I’d expect them to “pull their weight”. But they haven’t weight in this argument. They can’t go off and live somewhere else