What can your kids cook?

[BluePenguin]

Yesterday I heard someone say that they would expect a 9 year old to be able to cook simple meals...beans on toast, scrambled eggs etc...

I don't let DS do much but he probably could if I trusted him a bit more.

What can yours cook?

I have tried to get into the routine that the kids cook every friday (5 & 8).

I sam in the kitcehn but usually doing my own thing.

I do the into the oven bits and supervise anything on the rings. I just got a couple of cookbooks designed for kids that were not all puddings!

The older one follows the recipe and weighs stuff etc and the litte ones does all the squidgy stuff!

They have made fishcakes, burgers, lasgane, spag bol and more.

Eldest one could certainly be left alone to do beans on toast - my only concern is her height compared to micro / oven so would awalys want to do the final tip out of the beans!

Dd (13) cooks cakes, biscuits, bean chilli, pasta. Ds (10) likes to help cook stir fry's, curry, he likes chopping & stirring. He can do beans on toast, noodles & porridge for himself.

dd (14) cooks omlettes when she comes in from athletics But her best friend often cooks Sunday lunch si I'm sending her round there lots in the hope that she will copy.
If you could learn cookery on MSN she'd be masterchef!

my 9 year old doesn't really do anything, but you're right, she could do.

I wouldn't say she 'cooks' anything, really, but dd loves to put her own pizza toppings on, make sandwiches, grate cheese for her pasta, etc.

And she can break eggs better than I can

She's 4.5

DD can make a sandwich, and knows how to make a cake. she can even measure it out as long as I tell her the quantities. They are her limits but she is only 3.

In answer to your real question yes I would expect a 9 year old to be able to do a simple meal like that.

Blimey, by 9 I would expect them to be able to cook a three-course meal and select suitable wines - or I'm sending them back to the bloody baby factory.

6y DD can prepare cold food by herself. She has a safe child's knife for salad/veg which she uses.

She s also able to cook some warm meals with help from me - when dealing with the oven/hob. She knows how to make meatballs and burgers, prepares fish with breadcrumbs (I help with mixer due to sharp blade), lemon and herbs, and will follow simple recipes from her cookbooks.

DD loves the chance to cook but have to admit that we don't get so much chance to do these days. Hope to do more in holidays again. I hate baking, so have to say most of DD's kitchen work is cooking, not baking.

DD1 13 - crumbles; fairy cakes and muffins but gets into a flap about weighing); stir fries; omelettes (but panics about turning it); pizza; fab mugs of Earl Grey!

DD2 11 - Nigella's blackberry crisp; fairy cakes (without the flap) - still can't make a decent cup of tea though!

Just need DD to be a bit lder to deal with heat by herself now- I am waiting for the day she can make me a cup of tea

ds1 (10) can make buns and a cake by himself (but needs help reading recipe sometimes - (dyslexic)

He can make pizza topping/pasta sauce

He can make spag bol ( but there'd be no veg in the sauce bar the tomatoes )

He can make burgers

He can make a lovely cuppa tea and toast but wouldn't make beans on toast as he can't abide them

He is scared of the hob though. ..

ds1 can do scrambled egg and beans on toast..
he has always loved being the stirer or mixer in the kitchen..
I will qualify that by saying that I heat the pan whilst he cracks the eggs, he then puts on the toast and brings his stool over to the cooker pours in his eggs.. mixes them up till cooked, pours the beans into the same pan and then pours them onto the cooked toast that I have retrieved from the toaster.. so not totally by himself but he is only 4...

Blimey you lot - I had better get mine started.

DS's 11 and 8 - suppose I am a bit of a control freak in the kitchen, if I do it it gets done quicker.

If I am baking, they help weigh things out or stir, more often than not though they hang around so they can lick the bowl and spoon.

They have made the odd ham sandwich and DS2 likes to cut up mushrooms now and again when it suits.

Oh, they do offer to make me the odd coffee now and again.

ds1 who's 8 does very little in the kitchen, ds2 7 on the other hand helps prepare dinner every night! He's particularly good at caesar salad (he makes his own croutons bless!), and frittata but likes making anything. His dad's a foodie and I guess he's going to be one too.

he wants to be a chef - but he is the world's fussiest eater so I imagine with limited success

I can't remember when dd was totally on her own in the kitchen, but we've spent so long standing over her, guiding her through instructions and tips, she's completely on her own in the kitchen now. She's 12 btw.

Message withdrawn

DS makes his own toast and butters it - I take it out of the toaster though as he's 2. Mr Independant drags the high chair over to the counter gets it all ready and then shouts 'hot, hot' for someone to supervise.

My mum refused to cook on a Saturday evening from when I was 5, so my brother and I both learnt to cook for ourselves then. It stood us in very good stead later.

We've already told my kids (3 and 5) than in 3 years time (or before if they can manage it), Friday will be their cooking night. They will be given a budget, they will shop for their ingredients and they will cook and serve it. They can't wait. They already love 'cooking' daddy lovely lunches out of anything they can find in the garden, plus the contents of my herb cupboard, and lots of flour. Daddy then has to do a taste test!

They are also bonkers about 'Jamie at home' and my 3 year old goes mad to watch it. Start 'em young, that's what I say. Otherwise you'll be cooking forever.

"fairy cakes without the flap"

the mind boggles

ds is 7. He can make toast in a pop up toaster, butter and marmite it. He can do cereal and drinks.

Dd is 12 - and she can cook anything that's in a normal recipe book. She needs reassurance that things are "done"and we don't deep fry things (I don't think I'd be happy letting her deal with a pan of boiling oil), but apart from that, she's very confident in the kitchen.

I'm quite pro-active in this field as I have four kids and I want to forsee a time when my workload will lessen so ....

With no help at all my 9 year old dd can make a victoria sponge, beans on cheese on toast for 6, pasta with lentil and tomato sauce for 6.

My 8 year old ds can also do all the above.

They also make salads and fruit salads. Obviously they can make their own snacks of toast and jam/peanut butter/marmite. They enjoy doing this for the smaller ones too.

They make cafes. They produce menus do chef play. It's really great for them.

Oh and my three year old makes 'pies'. He cuts up apple, puts the bits in paper cake cases and I put them in the oven for him. Ahhhhhh!

nothing due to the fact that she is only four and not allowed to use the oven

but she does know what ingrediants go in pancakes, butterfly cakes and turkey apple bites and in what order how to mix them etc.

she can make sarnies (cheese spread or meat paste as she is not allowed to use knives either) if i bring the things to her table as she cant reach kitchen counter yet and can do her own cereal!

DD1 (10) can do scrambled eggs, pancakes, lemon drizzle cake, garlic chicken and pizza.
She could probably do other stuff but she only cooks what she wants to eat
DD2 (8) made tagliatelle all by herself on Saturday. I put it in the boiling water though. It was OK. She can make fairy cakes and stuff like that without help as long as I put it in the oven for her.
DD3 (5) doesn't make stuff on her own but she likes to help me with whatever I'm doing.