There are so many different skills that children can learn while spending time in the kitchen. Make learning to cook fun for kids with these fun cooking challenges printables, while developing their culinary skills.

Cooking Challenge Fun

Kids of all ages can help in the kitchen, from washing food, setting the table to cutting and preparing the meals. The amount of input an adult will have depends on the age of the children. Younger ones will need a lot more help from an adult.

Having children involved in cooking will not only help them with math skills, but with planning, following directions and about safety in the kitchen. It is also a great time for bonding and making wonderful family memories!

Cooking challenges aren’t meant to happen on a daily basis, unless this is what they want and you have the time (and patience) to spend the time together. Adjustments will need to be made to accomodate your child’s ability in the kitchen. A great place to start when teaching your child to cook is by teaching them to make their favorite foods. This is a great way to get your child excited to learn to cook and once they master making their favourite foods you will have less work to do each day. 

There is lots of room for creativity with these cooking challenges. And, they can be easily adapted to your family’s dietary needs as well. Children can start with creating a simple fruit salad or cheeseboard, before moving onto a cake or a noodle stirfry. Simple pancakes or omelette could be made for a delicious brunch. 

Cooking Challenge Printables

To help with your cooking challenges, I have created this fun printable pack. In this pack you will receive:

• A cooking challenge report in which you can write the chef’s name, the dish they prepared, the date they prepared it, any special instructions that were needed to create this recipe, the skills they mastered while completing this challenge and any comments you have. This is a great way to record the challenges each child completes. These pages can then created into a book for them.
• A recipe card which includes the name of the recipe, how many servings, where the recipe is from, the ingredients and the directions on how to make the recipe.
• A grocery list which can be used for shopping for the food they need to create their recipes.
• A page of 4 rating cards, which can be cut out, giving one card to each member of the family to rate how they thought the chef went. They will circle a number from 1 through 5 for presentation, originality, taste and then add these scores together to give an overall score. There is a place where they could write any comments or notes if they wish.
• A list of 30 different cooking challenge ideas (and a blank page for you to add your own ideas on).

Other Printables

To get your copy of these Cooking Challenge Printables, sign up below:

 

 

 

I scheduled my first box to arrive on a Wednesday… but it wasn’t delivered as planned. New York City was experiencing a heat wave, and I was experiencing some mild disappointment. There was no way my chicken and steak would be safe to eat after spending extra time in transit during such sweltering conditions, I thought. But when the box arrived the next day, the ice packs were still 90% frozen and the raw protein was cold to the touch. The packaging was fully intact, and I felt comfortable using all the ingredients. (Phew!)

At a glance, the amount of food seemed like it should be enough for the three meals I had selected, and with the exception of one mushy tomato, the fresh produce was top quality. Even the bagged scallions looked as good as what I’d have picked up at my local grocery. The abundance of tiny packages of specialty ingredients like seasoned rice wine vinegar and mushroom stock concentrate reminded me why I like meal kits—you can experiment with new flavors without stocking your pantry with full-size versions of ingredients you might not use all of.

What I like about EveryPlate

All recipes have six steps, which were clearly laid out on recipe cards that include a handy picture. The well-designed recipe cards made the prep steps easy to understand; I appreciated that the cards walked you through the ways the cooking process changes if you’re preparing your meal for two or four people. And if you had chosen to swap or add an ingredient when you ordered your box, the instructions for those ingredients are in orange.

The recipes themselves were involved—some steps include multiple mini steps, which aren’t always immediately apparent—but not very difficult to follow. As long as you feel comfortable with basic kitchen skills, like chopping and sautéing, you should be able to prepare these meals.

The first two out of the three recipes I cooked went off without a hitch, so I was riding high when I encountered my first problem. While making Sweet and Saucy Soy Garlic Chicken with Savory Honey Glaze, I couldn’t get my glaze to glaze. Even after leaving the glaze ingredients in the pan for five minutes (the recipe calls for two to three), it wasn’t thickening. Eventually I gave up, instead scooping the sauce onto the chicken after plating. All’s well that ends well—the chicken was delicious.

Overall, the meals were filling and, according to the recipe cards, ranged from around 650 calories (Tex-Mex steak and zucchini pasta) to 910 calories (chicken with carrots). Plus, true to its marketing, the meals were more affordable than other meal services I’ve tried, like HelloFresh and HomeChef. Three meals for two people came out to be around $36. (Note: Bon Appétit was gifted a week of meals for this review.)

What I didn’t like about EveryPlate

Looking at the recipe cards, I immediately noticed that unlike other meal kits I’ve tried in the past, EveryPlate expects my kitchen to be stocked with more than just the basics. Between my three meals, I needed butter, white sugar and brown sugar, and flour. I don’t bake, and I never cook with sugar. And while I do have butter, I did wonder about the full range of ingredients needed to cook EveryPlate meals every week. This could be something to consider for people who don’t have fully stocked pantries and would like the meal kit to provide everything necessary to cook a meal.