How To Teach Kids To Cook Healthy Plant Based Recipes (2024)

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Cooking is the most important life skill

Most kids today don’t know how to cook. With our busy schedules, we don’t always take the time to show our kids how to make meals or learn simple kitchen skills. And kids are busier nowadays than we ever were!

Teaching kids to cook healthy plant-based recipes can be a fun and educational experience for the whole family. Here are some tips to help get started:

1. Involve them in the process: Get your kids involved in the planning, shopping, and cooking of plant-based meals. Take them to the grocery store or farmers market and let them pick out ingredients they are interested in trying. Let them help with food prep tasks, such as washing vegetables or mixing ingredients.

2. Make it fun: Cooking should be a fun and enjoyable activity. Encourage your kids to experiment with different flavors and spices, and let them get creative with their recipes.

3. Start simple: Begin with simple recipes that are easy for kids to follow. Choose recipes that require few ingredients and minimal preparation time. Some great examples of simple plant-based recipes include veggie burgers, tofu stir-fry, and pasta with marinara sauce.

4. Be patient: Cooking can be a messy process, especially with kids. Be patient and allow them to learn at their own pace. Use this as an opportunity to teach them about kitchen safety and proper food handling techniques.

5. Get them excited about healthy eating: Talk to your kids about the benefits of eating a plant-based diet, such as improved health and environmental sustainability. Show them how to make healthy substitutions, such as using tofu instead of meat or swapping out refined grains for whole grains.

6. Make it a regular activity: Cooking together can be a great way to spend quality time as a family. Make it a regular activity and encourage your kids to take an active role in meal planning and preparation.

Overall, teaching kids to cook healthy plant-based recipes can be a fun and rewarding experience. By involving them in the process and making it a regular activity, you can help them develop healthy eating habits and a love of cooking.

Teaching your kids how to cook

• Learning to cook is a fun activity.
• It will make mealtimes easier!
• In the long run when everyone can pitch in and help.
• Create independent self-reliant children.

The best thing about teaching kids to cook vegan is that there is no meat or eggs to worry about, so you have no contamination issues to worry about. You will have less mess to deal with and cleaning up is so much easier!

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Teach Kids To Cook By Age and Ability

Meet your kids’ skill set where they are at. Give them age-appropriate tasks, but get them involved where you see fit. Help them along by showing first, then watching as they do it, and finally they will progress to doing it on their own. Our final goal should be to empower them to learn and feel proud of what they accomplish. This will encourage them to learn and desire to help out more often.

Things to teach your kids about cooking vegan

The following list requires your discernment for age and skill level. Always show them first, and watch them do it a few times before allowing them to do anything unsupervised.

How to help with food preparations

There is so much to learn, and here are some ideas of things you can choose from. You may already have some of these things mastered, so you can check them off your list.

• How to read a recipe, measure things out (show them measuring spoons and cups and ask for their help to measure ingredients.)
• What do all these kitchen words mean? (introduce them to the proper kitchen vocabulary)
• How to peel, core, chop and cut fruit and vegetables. (safe knife skills)
• Frying, sauteing, boiling, baking, broiling.
• Sifting, measuring, mixing, mashing.
• How to make pasta, rice or potatoes. (when to boil water beforehand, and when to have items in the pot before putting the element on).
• Easy recipes to make with pantry items (you may not always have access to fresh veggies) that’s ok – you can make great meals from frozen, canned, and dry pantry items.
• How to prepare your own healthy snack, (cut up fruit, nuts/seeds, popcorn, veggies/crackers and hummus, silken tofu yogurt dip, tacos and salsa, guacamole, cheese sauce…)
• Get your kids to help with flipping quesadillas, pancakes, stirring pasta, mashing potatoes, etc.

Important non-cooking kitchen skills

Boxes, cans, jars, and bottles! How to maneuver around the kitchen, and what goes where?

• How to use a can opener
• Rinsing beans by putting in a sieve and running under the water.
• How to do dishes, bring dishes to sink and rinse them off. How to load the dishwasher and turn it on (if you have one). Give them the rules of what doesn’t go in the dishwasher, and how to wash those items by hand.
• Show them where everything goes in the kitchen (dishes and pantry foods) – help put food away from the grocery store
• How to store and refrigerate foods
• Which foods to put in pantry/fridge
• How to recycle leftovers
• How to pick out fruit and vegetables at the grocery stores

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Kitchen Safety

Obviously, this is the first thing that should be discussed before letting your child do anything independently in the kitchen. And, as always, these appliances should only be operated when your child is at the proper age and skill level, and always with supervision.

• Stovetop safety (ie: make sure the pot handle is not sticking out from the stove)
• microwave safety (do not put anything metallic in)
• How to use blenders, toaster ovens, toasters, instant pots, ovens, stand-alone mixers, griddles, etc.

Kids have little hands and may need some smaller tools to work in the kitchen.

Here is a list of tools to make learning in the kitchen fun for kids!

THE ROCK by Starfrit Electric Griddle

I swear by this griddle – it heats up quickly and cooks evenly. We regularly use if for pancakes, quesadillas, and hashbrowns!

Kids Learning Progression for cooking on their own

We should always show our children and guide them through when we are teaching them something new. It looks like this:

1. Mom showed me
2. We did it together
3. I made it with mom watching
4. I made it myself!

Get a spreadsheet system in a booklet for your kids and once they make a dish by themselves, they will earn a sticker/star or something special for their booklet. Also, every time they learn to do 5 new things on their own, you can celebrate with a special meal, or cake, etc…

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Easy vegan meals for your kids to learn

• Vegan pancakes
• Tofu scramble
• Spaghetti and marinara
• Garlic toast
• Chopped salad
• Grill cheese
• Tacos
• Steamed veggies
• Macaroni and the best vegan cheese sauce

Easy Vegan Desserts to teach your kids

• Muffins
• Cupcakes
• Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cakes
• Icing
• Brownies
• Aquafaba whipped cream (also fun science experiment!)
• Granola bars
• Bread