Creating a Cooking Co-op for Home School, Public School or Anyone Who Wants to Learn to Cook

Wow, where has the time gone? It is back-to-school time and time to get the kids ready to go back to the grind. For most kids that means public school, others private and charter schools. For a choice few it means home school schedules and time spent desperately trying to give our children the worldliest education possible. One of the best ideas in home schooling has been to form cooperative opportunities. In these groups kids get together to "socialize" and finish studies and do experiments that otherwise are too expensive or difficult to do alone. Most co-ops meet once a week to do group activities - from field trips to massive science experiments, rocket building to cooking classes.

Cooking classes? Don't kids in public schools learn that in home economics? Not really, at least not any cooking I would encourage them to "brag" about. What about cooking by their selves at home? That is actually a great way to learn, but honestly they probably "learn" the same lesson over and over. Really, if you think about it, how many new recipes do you expose yourself and your family to each month? Well, look no further. Add cooking classes to your co-op, or start a cooking club and watch the magic unfold. The following article is full of tips and tricks that will make any parent an expert cooking instructor in no time! Don't know how to cook...trust me, this is made for you too.

First step is to answer the 5 classic questions every project manager needs to know (see, you already have a title: Project Manager): Who, What, When, Where, and How. I know, I know, these are questions you learned back in elementary school and somehow they have become so complicated you are terrified to plan and manage. So let us go back to kindergarten.

Who: who do you want to host this cooking club for? A group of Church children, your child's best friends, open it to the neighborhood public children? Once you know what people you will invite think of age groups. If you only have 1 or 2 children this might be easy...keep kids at about the same age level and ability for classes to be successful. If you have more than one age group consider hosting several classes throughout the month and even having the older ones teach the younger ones (do the older kids at the first of the month and they'll be ready to teach the younger at the last of the month!). Once you decide who to setup the club for you need to make a reminder card so they always know when and where. Oh, yeah, haven't gotten to that yet. Well, at least you can start putting names on the back as we continue our planning.

What: well this is definitely a cooking class but what kind of cooking class? Do you want to teach only basics to beginners and just cooking; or go all out and teach kids about economics (picking the best price for ingredients), shopping for groceries (picking the best fruits and veggies), and weekly menu planning. Do you want to teach all kinds of cooking (as in 3 course meals) or just simple cooking and baking for younger kids? This will mostly be influenced by the age of the kids and their cooking level. You don't want to have 7 year-olds trying to fry chicken, but teens will be bored just making cookies all year!

When and Where: this is crucial, crucial, crucial. If you already have a co-op it may be easier because you already have planned days and times to get together, just make one of those days your cooking day! If you don't already have a set day/time then you need to have a brainstorming session with the other parents that will be involved. The most important is to be safe. If you can host at a community area (church, community center, etc) then you only need 1 or 2 adults that can cover up to 12 kids. If you host at your home I suggest you encourage parents to stay and participate...you can teach the parents to cook along with the kids. Where you choose to do your classes will have to have a stove and oven, a microwave is always good but not required, and a sink with running water. Everything else you can generally put together and bring with you, though the less you have to drag around the better. When and where work together because often you have to plan the when around the availability of the where. Just be aware that not everyone will be able to attend every meeting, though if you plan well ahead and stick to a schedule you will find your attendance pretty steady.

How: why and how generally go together, in this case the hows is planning how the meetings will go. First understand WHY you want to have this cooking club. Is your child home schooled and often you find you don't have time to really teach them a lot of cooking on a regular basis? Does your child constantly ask to cook items but you don't have time or ingredients for them to explore? Do you have a group of kids that always seem to be coming around and snagging goodies from your home and you want to encourage them to make those goodies on their own? How about making it a full lesson which includes teaching how to purchase fresh fruits and veggies, how to find the best price in the store, how to plan meals and menus? Answering these questions will give you insight to how to conduct the club.

If you are planning on teaching kids to make goodies then you know you need to plan some kind of activity to do while trading cookies in the oven. Can everyone bring one ingredient and a cookie sheet or cake/muffin pan? Can you ensure you can get hold of any ingredients for kids who forget or don't attend? Don't forget to take into consideration any allergies (peanuts, chocolate?) and how serious they are.

If you are planning to make full lessons out of every meeting (which I suggest) make sure to do the menu planning at the meeting before so everyone knows what they need to bring. I would suggest putting all recipes on a 3x5 card and sending them home, help parents to get all the needed ingredients if you want kids to take the meal home as an actual meal. If you want to plan it as a party divide up the ingredients and have kids bring only part of the requirements. Help them to plan an appetizer, main course, and dessert and how best to make use of the same ingredients over and over. For example, almonds, chocolate, artichokes, tortillas, etc. Teach the kids that it is always cheaper to buy the "big bag" (economics) and find different ways to stretch that into meals (meal planning) and to be delicious, creative and artistic.

My best recommendation for anyone teaching actual cooking is to take a Pampered Chef cooking demonstration. As Individual Consultants it is up to us to learn how to plan for the demonstration, have everything available, and plan the best way to make these recipes. We teach new cooks how to properly use and care for the tools...and for younger learners I also teach how to care for and store food. I also recommend that you purchase "The Season's Best Recipe Collection" from The Pampered Chef. They are $1 each and a new one comes out every 6 months (September & March). Most of the recipes are very simple and designed for ease and simplicity as well as geared for the seasonal foods available. Generally each copy of The Season's Best Recipe Collection is filled with 20-30 recipes spread over appetizers, entrees, and desserts and all are simple and basic allowing for very beginners to easily get started. Make sure that each family in your group (or even each person depending on your budget) gets a copy so that it can be taken home and studied and tried out.

If your group is ready to "take it up a step" simply make the ingredients from scratch instead of buying canned or prepared products. The simplest of these is when it calls for croissant or pizza dough or cake mixes. This is simple to make and will teach kids how to prepare and knead dough (and is much less expensive) rather than just opening a can or jar or box. Also try to teach kids to cook without a microwave (I know, scary) but I don't even own a microwave so if it cannot be cooked on the stovetop or oven it doesn't get bought. Most recipes can be easily done without using Pampered Chef products, just be sure to adapt the recipe for what you want it to do and make it an adventure!

Whatever you plan for your cooking co-op don't let the kids "burn out" on the classes, plan ahead but don't overwhelm. Even make it a monthly "party" teaching them etiquette and how to set a formal table, behave properly in a formal setting, and creating invitations and thank you notes. I would find it fun to make a "finale" to the class in the spring to have the kids make up invitations, put on a "formal" dinner for friends and families, make and serve the dishes, and send out thank you notes at the end. Whatever you choose plan it well at the first, stick to the plan and all will be wonderful!