Rasita

Results

Well it has been one week (and a day, cause I was busy yesterday) since I posted up the questions.

Before I can take too much from the answers there is still a lot of research to be done on the topic which the questions were in relation to, but the answers did give me a good idea of things.

One of the main areas brought up was the area of hygiene and teaching the children that, followed by safety in the kitchen and basic cooking.

Hygiene and safety are the two biggest issues in a kitchen and should be the basis of all cooking. If you can't adhere to these two items then all sorts of things could happen, eg. Loose hairs in food, cut fingers, people getting sick etc etc. This was one of the first things I was taught when I commenced my studies 10 years ago. They taught us this before we even touched a food item.

The types of foods that could be taught would best be simple foods, to start with. Of course the simplicity would depend on their age and concentration level.

For the preschoolers, things that enable them to have fun and only take a few minutes to prepare would be best taught to them, incorporating safety throughout the lesson.

For ages 6-8, the tasks would become harder, teaching them proper knife handling, stove top cooking (basics), but still make it fun with which they can get their hands dirty or lick the bowl afterwards.

For those over the age of 8, what they would be taught would highly depend on their skill level. I do think that at this age they are becoming more responsible but I would still not leave them to a task in the kitchen until I was confident enough in their skill on a certain project.

Pricing

This is a difficult one to work out as I have not looked at what other factors would influence the costs apart from the teaching, and cost of ingredients. I got into a conversation with hubby the other day, and things like insurance and other things (sleep deprived mind at work here). The pricing would actually depend on where the student would be taught, in a commercial kitchen, parents home or my own home. I think it would be best to lean away from my own home as it is not set up for this purpose and then there would also be no risk of being interrupted by the people here or having to chase the kids as they got distracted by my own or other things here.

It is hard to say which price would be ideal as I have had various prices, ranging from $5 (for an hour) - $50 (for a morning session).

I think the pricing would have to vary according to the age group that was being taught; as the younger age groups would be doing simpler stuff that I do not think would be as time consuming or costly.

There could be special costs associated with certain meals, eg. Thai duck curry, exotic dishes.

Also there could be a change of fees if there was to be an excursion to different places, such as food manufacturers, etc.

It has been decided that if lessons were to be in a commercial kitchen, then ingredients would be supplied and if the lessons were in the parent's home then supply would not be necessary. This could, of course, be tailored to the parent's requests. It would not be a case of doing the grocery shopping for the household but just supplying the ingredients for a recipe.

Well I think that is enough to digest for the moment.

If anyone has suggestions of recipes they think suitable, please feel free to post them to the comments (recipe ideas, not recipes).

Thanks for your time.