Teach Your Kids to Cook This Summer

School is out and your kids are home.  Now is the perfect time to teach them an important skill.  Maybe you could teach them how to do their laundry, use a hammer, or grow vegetables.  All of those are amazing skills that any kid would benefit from learning.  Another skill to teach them, and one of my personal favorites, is to cook.  Giving your kids the ability to prepare their own food means they will not have to survive on takeout and ramen noodles when they go off on their own as adults.  Give them the basic skills they need in the kitchen and they can eat proper food later on. 

The first basic skill you should consider teaching them is how to cook an egg.  Teach them to boil, fry, or scramble an egg and they will forever have a healthy option for breakfast (or any other meal) that they can make for themselves.  It will also give them a good protein option that they can add to that ramen that they will probably eat at some point, even if they know how to make other meals. 

Next, have them boil up some water and cook up a pot of pasta together.  Spaghetti, mac and cheese, baked ziti…these are all simple to make, relatively inexpensive, and pretty filling.  They also make really good lunches and dinners and leftovers can be stored in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for much longer. A perfect option for a young person who is trying to meal prep or just needs something cheap and satisfying to make for a meal.

Now that they have a breakfast and lunch option, consider stepping it up and teaching them how to roast chicken and vegetables, for a full and nutritious meal.  I usually use legs quarters or drumsticks for this, although you can use a whole chicken as well.  You want their cooking attempts to be successful, so keep in mind that chicken breast will dry out faster, and use the juicier cuts of chicken.  Sprinkle some basic spices on top and into the oven it goes.  This will give them a super easy way to make a protein-filled, nutritious meal without too much effort. 

Once they have learned these skills, it is time to learn to follow a recipe.  I recommend starting with baking a box cake or brownie mix.  They are easy to follow and will inevitably taste yummy.  It is hard to ruin them and we want their first baking experience to be a good one. 

Now, they are ready to move on to reading full recipes.  Time to teach them to make more adventurous, yet simple dishes.  Pancakes, burgers, milkshakes, and pizza: these are all dishes that kids love and can learn to prepare themselves.  Let them read and follow the recipes, while you observe and give tips.  The more they cook, the better they will get at it, and the more likely they will go on to trying other recipes.  They also tend to be much more excited about tasting new dishes when they are the ones who made them.  And summer is the perfect time for a cooking lesson and adventure. 

Need some good and simple recipes that are perfect for kids?  I wrote my Flipping Houses and Pancakes cookbook for my kids and I explain how to complete each step exactly as I would tell them if they were in the kitchen with me.  It would be a perfect cookbook to help you help your kids learn to cook.  You can order a copy here.  My blog is also full of easy-to-prepare recipes that kids will love including Simple Vanilla Pudding Cookies, Deliciously Simple Italian Herb Chicken, Frozen Hot Chocolate, and No-Boil Lasagna.  And there are even more where those came from, so make sure to check out all of my yummy recipes on my blog!

Summer is the prefect time to teach your kids to cook! Wishing everyone a happy and tasty summer!