How To Find The Time To Teach Your Kids To Cook

Children need to learn how to cook, but as a working mom, it can be hard to figure out how to find the time to teach your kids to cook.

Over the years, I’ve learned tips on how to find this much need time to make sure my kids learn how to cook.

I know everyone has different restrictions on their time and different responsibilities.

When I share photos of different recipes my kids have cooked, I get asked how to find the time to teach your kids to cook with my busy schedule.

I’ll be honest, it is a challenge. But you can do it.

The best way to get yourself out of the kitchen is to teach someone else to cook.

What Didn’t Work

As much as you might want to help your kids learn to cook, one thing might be holding you back. TIME!

Every year I put cooking skills on our curriculum list.

Every year at the start of the school year, we rocked out cooking classes for about …a week or two.

Then as life picked up, things begin to slide to the wayside, and before I knew it I was preparing the end-of-year reports and realized we “forgot” to do cooking classes.

Apparently, cooking class during our regular school year doesn’t work for us. Either way, my children have learned to cook.

How To Find The Time To Teach Your Kids To Cook: 7 Tips

Here is how I managed to teach them basic cooking skills in spite of having a busy schedule.

Teach One At A Time

I highly recommend teaching them one at a time.

I relearned this valuable lesson when teaching how to make bread a few weeks ago.

Needless to say, one loaf is bigger than the other and not because of raising issues. It was a “refusal to split it evenly” issue.

Just because you homeschool does not mean your kids will always get along.

Another bonus of teaching your kids separately is that you can teach your child in a way they learn best.

I have one child that is a rule follower and another who is not.

Now I teach them in turns.

Make Sure You Have Lots Of Time

When cooking with your child, remember what takes you 10 minutes will take them 3 times longer.

Chances are you have been doing this a long time, and most of what you are doing may come second nature. But to your brand new sous-chef, it is all new territory.

If you need to have a meal on the table quickly, maybe pick another time instead of rushing them, getting frustrated when they ask a million questions and moving like cold molasses.

When I get them to help me with supper, I start at 3:30 pm if I want it done by 5:30 pm. , yes that is two hours for a 30-minute meal.

I leave lots of time for unexpected failures, spills, and lost utensils.

Life happens. Give yourself and them some grace.

Let Them Cook With You

If you are whipping up your favorite dish, get them to help you. They will watch and learn.

Teach them skills such as knife skills, how to break an egg, keep the stove handles in.

Explain to your child step by step what you are doing and why.

Things you take for granted, they may not know.

For example, they may now know that you need to keep raw meat cutting boards separate from veggie cutting boards, or why you are starting the baked potatoes long before anything else.

I like to get them to read me the recipe, hand me the ingredients, do the mixing, and do other small tasks while we chat about our day.

This is a great way to connect with your kids.

Start Simple

Start them off with simple tasks that are age and skill-appropriate. Check this list of Cooking Skills by Age.

Get them to help make a side dish from start to finish while you work on the main dish. This means you are there to answer any questions and provide needed encouragement, and direction, but they are free to try to problem solve on their own.

Be Patient

They are going to make mistakes.

They are going to ask you the same question over and over again.

They will forget what you just told them two minutes ago. They will try you. They will push your patience.

They are kids! It’s what they do!

If you are having a bad day, exhausted, not feeling well, or already fried…maybe put it off for another day.

You want cooking to be a positive experience. So when things go awry, and they will… take a deep breath and look past the flour spills and smoke for the humor.

Let Them In On The Planning

Let them explore your old cookbooks, family recipes, and favorites to choose something to make.

We have a few older cookbooks and magazines that our kids dig through to help them find recipes they want to try.

I also like to purchase new cookbooks for kids or borrow them from the library so the kids can try all kinds of new foods.

Good Housekeeping Kids Cook!: 100+ Super-Easy, Delicious Recipes (Good Housekeeping Kids Cookbooks Book 1)Kid Chef Junior Every Day: My First Easy Kids’ CookbookFood Network Magazine The Big, Fun Kids Cookbook: 150+ Recipes for Young Chefs (Food Network Magazine’s Kids Cookbooks Book 1)

 

Either way let them explore the books you have, shop for new ones with you, and get cooking!

Take them with you shopping for the ingredients and get them involved in the whole process.

Kids that cook the meal are more likely to eat the meal. Even food you couldn’t beg them to eat before.

Keep Your Eye On The End Goal

When it comes to figuring out how to find the time to teach your kids to cook, it is important to remember why you want them to learn in the first place.

When our children learn to cook, they learn a valuable life skill they will use!

Cooking is also a great skill to have if your child has food restrictions because they will feel less limited by food options available!

If they can’t find their favorite treat gluten-free, they can find a recipe and cook it themselves!

So be sure not to make it a competition between your children or the neighbor’s kids. Keep your eye on the goal.

Finding The Time To Teach My Kids To Cook

I always say do what works for you, your child, and your family.

Start with a solid WHY. You need a reason to teach your kids to cook so that when it gets difficult, you stay on track!

We’ve learned that as great of a cook as my husband is, he is not the one to teach them to cook.

According to him, that is what YouTube is for, and he’s right. There are lots of great resources on YouTube for teaching your kids to cook or learn basic skills.

I love spending time with mine one on one in the kitchen. I pick days I am home. I love hunting around in old cookbooks or letting them decide how to change the recipe to suit our tastes.

We’ve had some interesting things come out of our kitchen, most of them we were able to eat. Some not so much.

Recipes For Kids

We started on breakfast meal ideas moving on to lunch and, lastly, supper meals. It is nice to watch their confidence grow.

Here are some recipes for kids you can get started with:

• 15 Breakfasts Ideas
• 25 Lunch and Snacks
• 10 Easy Dinner Recipes
• Get Kids Cooking On The Barbecue With These “Hot off The Grill” Recipes

Lastly, I learned that even if adding it to our curriculum plans for the year didn’t work, there was still a need, and by being flexible, learning from kitchen mistakes, and taking advantage of the time we did have, I was able to give my kids the gift of time and a well-cooked meal.

How do you find the time to teach your kids how to cook?

Kids Learn To Cook Resources:

What if you don’t have time to teach your kids to cook or the desire? Check out Kids Cook Real Food. 

This is a full curriculum cooking class all online, ages 2-teen, and do it at your own pace.

Read my Kids Cook Real Food Review to find out how this homeschool cooking program worked for us!

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