January 17, 2017

Cooking With Children: We’re Providing Free Recipe Bags

Cooking is a great way to develop children’s independence and fine motor skills, as well as their understanding of where healthy meals come from. It’s also a fun activity for the whole family, with the added benefit of a tasty meal at the end.

Cooking with children with Just Childcare
One of our lovely Nursery Chefs using the recipe bag at home with her grandson

Preparing a meal with a young helper can sometimes take a little longer than cooking alone, so we wanted to make it as simple as possible for our families. To lend a helping hand, we’re giving out free recipe bags at our nurseries, so our little ones can cook up a storm at home.

A Delicious Carrot and Lentil Soup From our Seasonal Menu

This season’s recipe bag is filled with ingredients and directions for preparing Carrot and Lentil Soup. The vegetarian soup, created by our Catering Manager Mark Webster, is from our healthy seasonal menu.

As official supporters of Meat Free Monday our nurseries serve vegetarian food on Mondays. One of the meals we serve as part of this initiative is this tasty carrot soup flavoured with a hint of fresh orange zest.

Recipe for Cooking with Children
The recipe bags have everything you need to make a delicious meal with your child

Mark says, “The recipe bags make it super easy for busy families to prepare and eat a delicious meal with their children.

“Everything you need is right there; fresh ingredients all weighed out for you, a recipe card for grown-ups, a visual recipe card for children, and clear allergen advice.

“The recipe has been designed to be easy, nutritious and fun to make with children. It’s been great seeing photos of the children getting busy in the kitchen with their families and enjoying the meal together.”

Our families have been taking the bags home so they can cook our Carrot and Lentil Soup

Cooking with children made easy

The recipe bags have been given out at a number of Just Childcare nurseries this week and will continue to go out at more nurseries throughout the rest of winter. One of the nurseries that has been taking part this week is Little Manor Private Day Nursery in Runcorn.

Children cooking at home
A little chef in the making

Nursery Manager at Little Manor, Carla says, “We often cook with the children at our nursery because it helps them to understand how fresh and healthy ingredients can be transformed into something really tasty.

“By letting children experience and enjoy the cooking process, we’re helping them to understand where nutritious meals come from. This not only encourages a love of cooking, but helps children to make healthy decisions in the future.

“Cooking with children has many more benefits. It helps develop their fine motor skills, teaches them about good food hygiene and gives them experience in handling kitchen tools safely.

“We find that fussy eaters tend to be much more open to trying new food when they have helped to make it themselves too!”

Cooking delicious soup with children
What a delicious looking soup this family has created!
A great example of our Carrot and Lentil soup, freshly prepared by one of our children

We’ve loved hearing about the fun our families are having in the kitchen and can’t wait to see more photos of their culinary creations.

If you’ve received your bag and would like to share a photo of you and your child making the soup, send them in to news@justchildcare.co.uk. Or share them on Facebook and Twitter #soupselfie.

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