how do you cook with a toddler around?

[mollysmum82]

I have this fantasy of sitting down for nutritious, cooked-from-scratch meals as a family every night. My 15 month old is getting into food in a big way now (about time!) and nutrition is really important to me. However I'm really struggling to cook with her around and wanted to know what others do/did? Its so hard and dangerous handling raw meat/knives and cooking on a hot stove when she is crawling around my feet and hanging onto the back of my legs wanting cuddles (very sweet, but difficult!) So do I just need to relax my nutrition standards and wait till she is a bit older/more independent? Or is there something others do that I'm missing?

Thanks lots in advance!

ps nothing I cook is overly complicated...just things like home made soups, chilli con carnes, spag bols, chicken stir frys etc

Could you give her some pots and wooden spoons so she can 'cook' like mummy? If it's any consolation my 2.9. Year old still does the hanging off my legs while I'm cooking thing :)

I pop a favourite TV programme on for my 18 month old, if I'm getting desperate. As long as he hasn't watched anything so far that day it usually keeps him occupied for a mo or two.
Sometimes have to let him hang around my feet and ignore him a little bit while i do the dangerous stuff.

Thanks for posting so quickly! I worry when she hangs off the back of my legs as we have a hard ceramic floor and she's still a bit uneasy on her feet! Maybe I'm worrying too much? Great idea about the "cooking like mummy, thank you"

Thanks wowooo. Unfortunately we don't have a TV in the kitchen and our lounge is upstairs, booo!

I let mine "wash up" or "clean the fridge" or other such things..that or stick the tv on!

Put her in a playpen with some toys or the TV on. We have done this with my DS since he was very little. He has just turned 2.

I put a stair gate on the entrance to the kitchen and kept 'em out

I tend to do most stuff in the slow cooker when DS naps. For the last minute stuff, I pop him in his high chair with a few bits to play with (crayons/pad/books etc.) and sometimes throw him a couple of breadsticks as a "starter" if I'm desperate

It is tricky sometimes, I try to do the main preparation while DS is napping, and then just shove something in the oven and do the veg at dinnertime. Also batch cook when DH is around so I can just defrost things when DS is being clingy. I've also child-proofed as much as I can in the kitchen so it's relatively safe (although he seems to be magnetically drawn to any type of bin - the muckier the better!).

We have a sort of guard around the hob which I am really pleased about as both children do want to grab things which are on the work surface.
My mum swore by a rucksack where she would put me at that age while cooking. Personally, I preferred slings to the baby rucksacks, but now my son is 23 months, my back can't take it anymore.
I do find that cooking things like stews/casseroles is my saviour. All it involves is chopping the vegetables and browning the meat (I buy it ready cut in the package) - but the best of all is that I can do it at a time when he's busy playing or even when he's sleeping, then just put it in the oven so I've nothing to do when he's starting to get hungry and in a bad mood. Otherwise, the best thing is making huge amounts (maybe when partner is around to distract child) and freezing them.
I cook nutritious things but rarely things that need a lot of "cooking". But, I also give the children a bowl of water on the floor and get them to wash the vegetables for me (even if I'm going to peel it afterwards anyway!). If I'm doing rice, you can give them some to pour with etc..And I think you have to accept that on bad days when everything's going wrong the meal is going to be nutritious but not a "proper meal". People can survive for an evening on bread, sliced ham and cucumber and tomato - ok so the bread needs slicing (what about sliced bread and cherry tomatoes?? - no knives needed! :o).

You give the toddler a mushroom or two to chop. Mushrooms can be chopped with a playdough knife, and you can need them very very finely chopped indeed. We used to have mushrooms with just about everything - it was the price I paid for getting to cook in peace.

Can you cook in bulk - maybe when your toddler is in bed - and freeze so you don't have this problem every day? It's still cooked from scratch.....just not freshly cooked from scratch.

Agree with other posters, though, that TV may be your best answer. My cooking problems (a toddler DS who constantly clung to my legs and said, "Up, Up...") got a whole lot easier when DD was born and I relaxed my PFBish views on TV.......

Mollysmum82 I have the exact same problem as our TV and living room are upstairs. Often resort to putting Peppa Pig on the laptop for DD!

I used to fill the kitchen sink with warm water and during the summer months she would play in there for hours making 'cups of tea'! I find giving her stuff to chop doesnt last because I cant give her sharp knives (OBVIOUSLY!) and if I give her water she generally tries to climb in it or tip it on the floor before climbing in it. So far shes shown little interest in cooking whatever my enthusiasm, just wants me to stop and come and play with her!

Now shes 2 1/2 shes happier to be upstairs playing while Mummy does stuff for a bit but she still has her times when she insists on cuddles or company and I just have to abandon what I'm doing. SO frustrating isn't it?

I used to stick DS in his highchair in the kitchen so that he could see what was going on and then give him little things to occupy him.

Off the top of my head, I remember:
play pots and pans
crayons
balls to roll around the highchair tray
fruit and veg to 'chop' with his own knife and fork
smelling (and tasting when ok) ingredients
little toys to play with (trains/dinosaurs etc)
stickers
'finger paint' (flour, water and food colouring) - put newspapers under the highchair for that one!
tupperware with lids to put toys in and out of
decks of cards to play with
'gluing' paper shapes with flour/water paste
playing 'music' with kitchen things like whisks etc
putting the ipod on in the kitchen and singing and dancing around

I used to chat to him constantly and tell him what I was doing and the names of all the techniques, equipment and ingredients.
He's nearly 3 now, still loves being in the kitchen and is turning into a good little cook.

get a slow cooker and cook at a time when she is asleep or less tierd.

or put her in a high chair so she can join in and you can tell her what you are up to.

Playpen or Daddy acts as child wrangler while I cook. Once everything is on the stove, if it's all out of his reach, then he can roam freely again.

Deal with being clutched round the shins while doing most of it. When moving pans of boiling water/fat etc, pick toddler up, put on other side of stairgate in the kitchen doorway, do dangerous task, open stairgate - we have windows into the kitchen so he can still watch.

I've moved to doing a lot more roasts and braised veg - ie meals that need little prep time and a long time in the oven, rather than stirfries and things with lots of prep and little cooking time.

Put her in high chair to do colouring/stickers (or is she a bit young for this?)

Put In the Night Garden on Laptop!

Wow thank you for all these brilliant suggestions! I'm going to compile a list...then I'll let you know how it goes!

How do you compile a list with a toddler around? ;)

high chair or we also have a pod as in my daddy cooks blog and both my DS love it!

I always cooked at the back of the cooker. I also invested a couple of quid in a play kitchen (sourced from a local charity shops, so the DC could cook alongside me.

We do theatre cooking. Dp's wanky name for putting him in a highchair and he watches and eats raw stuff