4 Tips for Cooking as a Family
Cooking as a family can be a very enriching experience for everyone. It’s important to involve children in these tasks so that they acquire the knowledge that they’ll put into practice later. In addition, preparing food is part of food education, which can be carried out from an early age.
However, cooking as a family may not be so easy at times. For this reason, it’s essential that you propose these activities when there’s enough time, as rushing can cause all sorts of problems.
Next, we’re going to give you a series of tips so that you can enjoy this unique moment to the fullest. Let’s do it!
Cooking with the family, an unforgettable experience
Have your children taken a liking to cooking after watching some television program? If that’s the case, don’t miss the opportunity and take the initiative to introduce them into the culinary world. Follow these recommendations to make the most of the experience.
1. Prepare simple dishes
When the objective is to cook as a family, make sure that everyone can participate in the preparation of the food. With this in mind, it’s essential that you choose simple recipes, without overly complex techniques, and that are suitable for all audiences.
A good way to start is to delegate the tasks so that each person takes charge of a part of the process and makes sure to do it the right way. This way, you’ll achieve a good final result and everyone is happy.
You may be interested in: 4 Dessert Recipes With Vegetables for Your Whole Family
2. Always use fresh food
It’s very important to educate children about how to handle and consume fresh foods, which have a much higher quality than ultra-processed foods. The latter contain large amounts of sugars and additives, which have proven to be quite harmful to health.
Another recommendation is the inclusion of culinary spices in recipes, especially turmeric or curry. According to a study published in the journal Molecules, these elements contain numerous antioxidant phytonutrients that contribute to the prevention of certain complex pathologies.
3. Don’t forget to incorporate vegetables into the recipe
One of the main problems of infant feeding is the insufficient consumption of vegetables. For this reason, you must incorporate them into recipes when cooking as a family. This way, children get used to their textures, become familiar with them, and thus avoid rejection later.
Keep in mind that the best option to start them in the consumption of vegetables is usually to camouflage in the different preparations. If their flavor or textures are disguised, it’s easier to introduce these foods into the diet. Vegetable creams, for example, tend to be well accepted during the early stages of life, when there’s a dislike for certain foods.
4. Make a healthy dessert
Children’s favorite dishes are usually desserts, but these types of preparations aren’t suitable for daily consumption. However, you can make them at specific times, such as when celebrating a special occasion.
When it comes to preparing desserts, the enthusiasm of children to participate is usually maximum. So, you can take advantage of this initiative to awaken their interest in cooking. In addition, you can show them different ways to prepare rich and slightly healthier dishes.
The countless benefits of cooking as a family
Maintaining the habit of cooking as a family will be very positive for the health of your little ones. In addition, you’ll get them to actively participate in daily housework and produce greater awareness and solidarity with the rest of their cohabitants.
Of course, you should have some precautions when you carry it out, as the kitchen is an unsafe place for children. Don’t allow them to handle raw food, or use dangerous elements, such as blades and cleaning products.
Keep in mind that if you get them used to cooking from a young age, it’ll be much easier to get them used to eating a good diet when they’re older. In addition, they’ll be less likely to reject foods and, likewise, they’ll have a more varied diet.
In the long run, this will translate into better health and a lower incidence of complex and chronic diseases.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Kotha, R. R., & Luthria, D. L. (2019). Curcumin: Biological, Pharmaceutical, Nutraceutical, and Analytical Aspects. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 24(16), 2930. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24162930
- Jensen, T., Abdelmalek, M. F., Sullivan, S., Nadeau, K. J., Green, M., Roncal, C., Nakagawa, T., Kuwabara, M., Sato, Y., Kang, D. H., Tolan, D. R., Sanchez-Lozada, L. G., Rosen, H. R., Lanaspa, M. A., Diehl, A. M., & Johnson, R. J. (2018). Fructose and sugar: A major mediator of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Journal of hepatology, 68(5), 1063–1075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2018.01.019