[Fleecewife]

I remember podding peas  on the front doorstep when I was three too.  I remember it clearly because a tiny kitten crawled into my lap and had violent diarrhoea there, all over my skirt.  Mum said it was my fault for playing with the kitten when I should have been podding peas     If I know myself, then I can assume that most of the peas went into my mouth anyway, but it kept me from under my Mum's feet 
 
I grew up on a farm so we had an endless area to play in, and endless mischief to get up to 

[happygolucky]

Me too, not the cat poo bit though but loved peas...we had an allotment at the back of our garden, dad grew all sorts, I still prefer vegetables to eat.  Nothing quite like the smell of a Sunday roast, not had one for ages and ages. It must be horrid to loose parents at a young age, you miss so much!!
My ex's mum was not a very good cook at all, neither was his aunt who he grew up with, when we were married he never ever cooked but soon as we divorced, he became Delia Smith, although my girls laugh at some of his efforts, he made a curry and chucked all sorts in it, including a pork pie!!!
I forgot to ask, my mum and I used to make toffee apples, fudge and toffee, never ever do that now, it must have been a trend at that time?....I even made Turkish delight and dipped in in melted Cadbury chocolate, that was lovely.
I did run and own a café with my mum when I left school, we did lots of home cooked stuff and tons of chips........I was in charge of the front of house and the till mum did the cooking and it was a greasy dirty job but we made a great income, that was in the greasy spoon days!!!!   

[mowhaugh]

Teaching cooking in a primary school is tricky because of health and safety, child to adult ratios etc, and also money for ingredients. I have been doing a topic on the theme of Harvest with the Primary 3/4/5 class I teach one day a week, and we cooked every week, using things we/I/parents had grown where possible, but it was still a nightmare to organise - any more than 6 in a group and they lost interest, 4 was preferable, but I still had 24 to teach.  It was worth all the effort, though, we made cheese scones, baked bread, baked and stuffed jacket potatoes, cooked vegetable stew with cous cous, baked Apple and plum pie, and made pancakes.  I sent copies of the recipes home each week, and I have had quite a few parents come in and say they are not confident at cooking, but have used the recipes at home and didn't realise how much fun cooking with their child would be.  I guess many primary teachers might feel the same, and be doubly put off by the logistics of organising to cook.
The value of the exercise was highlighted to me when I got a 'world's best teacher' card that said 'because you teach me to peel carrots and that is good and useful' inside - although there were quite a few shocked faces at me giving them real sharp knives - they were SO careful, bless them.

[happygolucky]

The value of the exercise was highlighted to me when I got a 'world's best teacher' card that said 'because you teach me to peel carrots and that is good and useful' inside - although there were quite a few shocked faces at me giving them real sharp knives - they were SO careful, bless them.

That's priceless, I remember working in learning support with disruptive pupils, we made crisps and they dried each one individually, they were thrilled to bits when they all came out better than ones you buy!! I understand the need for extra staff, little fingers etc, its a shame as parents should be able to come in to help, or grandparents....that would prove to be a very interesting combination, some one coming in to show young people how to cook and lots of others helping out in the lesson...but the cost is going to be another issue!!

[Marches Farmer]

When I was doing Cookery at school - no fancy names then - the school provided basic ingredients like flour and margarine and we were given a note the week before to bring in special items.  If you're making a Victoria Sponge by hand (oh, the muscles we had from blending the butter and sugar) there's not much that's sharp anyway. 

[happygolucky]

After all I wrote yesterday, I embarrassingly cooked the worse ever ever tea and pudding, it was a completely dry yet soggy pasta with some bits of ropey chicken, the garlic bread was OKish but I bought a packet of pudding mix with instructions in another language and it was horrid beyond eating......my husband laughed his socks off as he had 6 packs of crisps back at work......tonight I am trying a little harder....honest

[doganjo]

I have never been good at making soup, despite my Mum, Aunt, and Grandma trying to teach me - just didn't have the patience/too lazy.   But suddenly because of my illness I have to eat more vegetables, so my cousin suggested a quick and easy method. 

A pack of soup or casserole ready prepared vegetables, 2 vegetable stock pots, 2 pints of water.  Cook veggies in microwave per instructions(8 minutes), add to pan with water and stock, bring to boil, zap with the hand blender - instant and delicious soup - all for under £1 because I bought the veg and stock pots on special offer at Morrisons.  Some to eat and some to freeze, dead easy, didn't get bored doing it, and it is really yummy.

[Lesley Silvester]

I remember my daughter learning to make lentil and vegetable soup at school. She decided to make some for her father and me as it was our wedding anniversary. I didn't have any lentils so she used chick peas, not realising they need soaking over night, and missed out onion as she couldn't find one. It was disgusting but we had to eat it to encourage her. 


Her soup making skills did improve.

[happygolucky]

  , I often like my girls cook, one day my eldest and her friend made ginger bread men, they looked lovely, apart from green bits that turned out to be dried parsley...her cookery skills have not improved

[Herdygirl]

My youngest daughter once made a what should have been a savoury mince crumble...only she used a pre mixed sweet crumble topping.... we sat and ate it anyway... it was interesting

[happygolucky]

  , what we suffer for our children...I used to make salt dough for my children to play with and of course got the salt dough mixed up with my pastry when I made mince pies, they were hard as rocks and salty......

[Lesley Silvester]

 

[Brijjy]

It's all gone a bit Great British Bake Off in my house. My two oldest kids had an argument about who would make my birthday cake on saturday. Oldest boy won that and made a very nice choccy cake. Oldest daughter then made me another cake yesterday! I'm surrounded by feeders and I'm going to end up about 40 stone soon!

[Ina]

I dimly remember reading (on BBC, no doubt) about a school - can't remember if it was primary - where the kids took turn helping in the school kitchen cooking their own lunch; so they worked in "real" conditions, and all ended up with a basic food hygiene certificate in the end, too! Thought that was a brilliant idea. If one school can do it, why not more? Might be difficult in the larger ones, perhaps.

[sabrina]

I did do cooking at school but just basic stuff. I did not even know how to fry an egg when I got married. Now I class myself as an every day cook like stews, roast, soups , pies etc. On the other hand my OH loves cooking and takes over the kitchen every weekend which for me is great. he enjoys fancy cooking and will often have a go at something he has seen on the TV. I taught my sons to cook simple meals so they could look after themselves when they went to university. I also made sure they knew how to sew on a button, work a washing machine and iron. My idea was that my boys would not need to depend on a wife to look after them.