Food technology

[mishgs]

Hi - my DS is due to start high school in September and I'd like some advice on what sort of dishes/desserts they generally start out doing. I think he could do with some practise over the summer as we've only really done cakes, brownies, pizza. Also, what sort of equipment (& what size) will I need to send in (containers etc). Thanks

I think it varies from school to school, they do go through it step by step so if he has never made it before he will be fine. from memory, dd made some chocolate chip biscuits, scones, pizza. this is one school's recipe book for year 7.

equipment wise, i got dd these containers, and the different sizes meant she could use the large ones to take home what she cooked and the smaller ones to bring in the ingredients (we had to provide our own)

all the best x

DS made

Spaghetti bolognese
Chicken Biriyani
Scones
Swiss roll
Carrot cake muffins
Pasta from scratch

I love his Food tech weeks

Wait to see what school ask. My only did one term of food tech in year 7 and year 8, so it may well not be an issue until summer!

Thanks for your replies We've not had the timetable yet but we're going to have a go at a few recipes as it won't do him any harm. A bit of practise in peeling, chopping & weighing will stand him in good stead. Thanks for the links too - will definitely have a look at those.

DD's first was fruit salad. Then blueberry muffins. She only did it for 1/4 of y7 though as they did the 4 techs on rotation.

You will probably need a largish waterproof lidded plastic tub (eg if bringing home fruit salad or chilli).

You may need a method of taking in 2 tablespoons of milk, or 1 egg, or 50g of flour. I have found Sistema pots are good (and plenty around this time of year for picnics), until DD lost a whole lot. Small freezer/snack bags work well too. Eggs travel well when nestled into a bag of flour or sugar.

I try to put everything into the large container and then provide an additional bag to bring the extra pots home in. I try not to send extra ingredients unless I am happy for them not to come home.

Occasionally I have had to provide a small baking dish or tin so the
dish can be brought home in whatever it was cooked in.

DD has picked it for GCSE so I have another 2 years of delicious food to look forward to.

Teach him how to wash up, as they need to do that as well as prep and cook the food!

At DDs school they get one theory lesson where they are shown how to make the dish and learn other stuff around it, and then one practical where they actually cook it.

Really useful tips - thank you 😀. There will be plenty of 'Can't cook, won't cook' going on in our kitchen in the next few weeks..... We're going to start with the fruit salad 👍

Various pasta meals
Ratatouille
Muffins
Scones

They really don't need to practice as they are shown how to do everything though. We didn't need to supply anything as the school asked for an amount of money and they provide materials and containers to bring food home in. Every school is different so you would be best waiting and seeing how the school does it. Also as a pp said, they may not do food tech for months after starting.

Our secondary advises to keep reading and to do some Maths over the summer which may be more helpful.

yy what Teen says, big clippy watertight box, lots of small boxes that can carry a spoon of curry powder or a tablespoon of oil.

Mine made things like fruit salad, cakes, veg curry, some really nice stuff. I loved their food tech lessons.

Ds1 did GCSE and did such good stuff, gutted a fish, jointed a chicken, here's a year 10 afternoon tea practice (he has SEN so this is actually pretty good unaided)

He now works as a chef so something worked well.

The most important thing is that the containers are named. Eggs are a bit of a problem but parents have come up with a multitude of solutions including kitchen paper, cut down egg box and a ball of wool with an egg stuffed inside.

Wow clary - that's very impressive. Glad it went well for your DS. Thanks everyone for your advice.

By the sound of it your DS is already ahead of the game.

As has been said small containers that fit inside a bigger one for bringing in ingredients.

Don't buy expensive containers, they will get lost or left in school.

I found that an oven proof dish with a plastic lid (for storage use not for in the oven) was useful for bringing stuff home when DS has done things like lasagne and shepherds pie. IKEA do lots of different sizes of these.

an oven proof dish with a plastic lid

Now that's a revelation! I had no idea such things existed. Shall investigate.

@Mumski45 I have just searched these dishes with lids. They are wonderful . This will make certain dishes in the next 2 years much easier.

@TeenTimesTwo they are very useful and work perfectly. I have three different sizes and use them for storing home made dishes in the freezer and also leftovers in the fridge.

all we are doing over the summer before starting year 7 is making sure dyspraxic child can use a knife and peeler safely. showing how to hold things in the safest way possible.

oh just thought, need to add grater to that list.