Cooking with Children: Can Kids Cook Hello Chef?

By May 13, 2020 Children

Let’s just quickly address that question and get it over with. The answer is: Yes! Absolutely!

Now is the best time ever to let the offspring help you with your Hello Chef cooking. Kitchen chores keep the kiddos occupied and entertained (and off the gadgets, at least for a moment!) You might even find that they are happier to help now than they were before, because they’re just so bored. Our suggestion: exploit it!

We’ve put together a few ideas about how to get the kids to work for their food. Read the tried and tested tips to teach kids to cook below.

Almost all Hello Chef food prep work starts with vegetables. Even the small children can help with the first chore: washing the veggies.

Give them all the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, lettuce… any vegetables that need to be washed before chopping.

Next, it’s time to peel and chop the vegetables. A peeler can be a tricky tool for the juniors, so you might want to do the peeling yourself. However, don’t be too worried about letting the kids try some chopping. Give them a small knife that fits nicely in their hand, and monitor the work closely. It’s really quite safe!

Tender vegetables such as cucumbers and bell peppers are great chopping material for beginners. Got toddlers running around? Place them onto a kitchen ladder and have them shred lettuce into a salad bowl with their little hands.

Is there any sauce included in the recipe you’re cooking? Salad dressing, dipping sauce, stir-fry sauce? If so, it’s the perfect chore for any wanna-be junior sous-chef.

Let your little apprentices add all the sauce ingredients to a bowl or soup pot (if it’s a warm sauce) and stir to combine. It will make them feel like kitchen pros in an instant!

Once the prep work is done and you’re cooking the hot components on the stove or in the oven, have the children set the table in the meanwhile.

Don’t approve a regular set! Ask them to add small plates for side salad or bread. Let them choose the napkins and add small decorations for extra colour and finesse. The fancier the better! (Whatever keeps them occupied for longer, right?)

Hello Chef often adds some finishing touches to the recipes. That is to say, a garnish is usually included. Let the kids do that rewarding part! Have them perfect the dish with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, a sprinkling of Parmesan or toasted nuts, or a handful of fresh herbs or spring onion.

Playing with food can be encouraged during this step! If you can spare two minutes so that the kids can organize the garnishes into a heart shape or whatever they fancy, go for it.

After all this, there’s a very fair chance your children actually want to try everything, even if it’s new to them. Yes! It’s possible! We’ve seen it happen!

If they still need some encouraging, a sticker might help. One sticker in their chore chart for trying a new food item, another for finishing a serving of vegetables… You know the drill.

After all the fun and games, it’s time for a reality check. Cooking is 50% cleaning, isn’t that right?

Even the smallest ones can participate. Have them at least bring their own plates to the kitchen or even place the plates into the dish washer. Keep in mind that many children oddly enjoy washing dishes manually, so go ahead and take advantage of that as long as you can! Large soup pots and bowls are the easiest and most rewarding to wash.

What comes to emptying the dishwasher, you could dedicate an area for each child. Is it cups, plates or utensils that’s their specialty?

And how to implement all this… Check out the final tip from below!

Ready for a small (we promise, small) DIY project? Search the internet for a “Printable Chore Chart”, then print the best one you found and add the tasks below. Sticker or a star for every chore, as usual! Collect 10, and you’ll be the one to choose a weekend baking project, a take-out dinner or a special treat!

  1. Veggies Washed
  2. Veggies Chopped
  3. Sauce Made
  4. Table Made
  5. Food Garnished
  6. New Food Item Tried
  7. Two Handfuls of Veggies Eaten
  8. Table Cleared
  9. Dishes Done
  10. Dishwasher Emptied

Stay safe, healthy and happy, everyone!