(This is an offshoot of an earlier topic on meal planning.)
Long story short, I plan to take back the cooking responsibility in the Fall. I had a good system going the school year of 2015/16 (cook weekly meals on the weekend, all at the same time), and 2017/18 is going to be even better because I will give hubby the shopping responsibility. Even better, this coming year, I will involve the kids, so Saturday mornings are going to be part useful work, part bonding, part teaching. I really think kids need to learn to cook basic stuff (fried eggs, vegetable soup, etc.), some basic skills (handling knives: cutting, chopping, peeling; pairing spices with dishes, etc.), and some basic attitudes (cooking from scratch, cooking non-fancy meals, cooking without a recipe, are fine). You get the idea. At the very least, it's important to witness someone doing these things, so that they know it can be done. I witnessed my grandmother cook all kinds of meals from scratch and from memory, and it's come in handy 10-35 years later when I cooked my own food. I also witnessed her shelling green peas, peeling plums cooked in hard water, baking liver over rice, and while I don't do these things, my horizons are certainly expanded.
So, the bonding/teaching... Kids need to be actively involved. The older will be 12 in the fall, and already cooks basic things like scrambled eggs, willingly and of her own volition. She can probably do most tasks, but needs to practice the physical acts of handling stuff. The younger one will be an old 5, and likes being involved in the cooking. If given all the time in the world, he can already peel potatoes using the peeler, peel hard boiled eggs with mixed success, wash vegetables/fruits, etc.
So the question is, what tasks can I give them that a) are manageable at their age, and b) won't stretch the 3.5h sessions into 5h. Some ideas for the little one are:
- peeling/washing as he already can do
- getting started at mixing things without spilling much (with me finishing up)
- stirring stuff occasionally while it cooks
- measuring (I don't do much of that)
- moving chopped ingredients into pots
- setting up and watching the timer
Most of the other work will be chopping, which I will involve my older one with. I will have to set up two work surfaces, so I don't have to wait for her to finish in order to do my stuff.
I would welcome any experience/suggestions/advice.