Cooking With Kids. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly

Listen to Cooking with Kids. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly HERE.

Want to make a big mess and not get a whole lot accomplished? Get your kids in the kitchen to ‘help out.’ Just kidding. Letting your kids help in the kitchen isn’t very helpful at the beginning but so awesome once they get a little older.

Today we discussed the days at the very beginning when all they can do was stir. We got into what we did when we first cooking with our kids. Then we offered a little encouragement to those whose kids are in the making messes stage. If you can stick with it, your kids will eventually be able to make whole meals without your help. This is so helpful for busy moms who just need to put something on the table.

Lastly we talked a bit about our first days of being young wives and adult cooks. Even though we both spent years helping our own mother in the kitchen, we both had much to learn once we started our own homes. We’ve both learned a lot since then.

Want to hear a little about how we keep busy all winter? Check out our teaser episode HERE. We definitely have more time for cooking with the kids in the winter.

Do your kids help in the kitchen? Hop on over to our social account and tell us about it.

If you have a show idea for us send us an email to wifestylehustle@gmail.com

Transcript

Ellyn (01:10.623)

Okay, today's topic is super fun. Have you ever thought, how can I make a huge mess and not really get much done? Well, have we got the episode for you. Today, we're talking about cooking with kids. Just kidding. Cooking with kids is such a fun time. Let's get right into it.

Ellyn (01:49.807)

The first cooking task with little kids, I have to admit, I waited longer than most people probably do with my oldest. He was probably seven before I really let him in the kitchen. And it was a mistake. I really should have done it earlier. I just didn't think about it. He didn't really show a huge interest in being in the kitchen. And I honestly, I just didn’t think about it. And by the time he was seven, I was like, well, he can put his elbows up on the counter. I've got some stuff for him to do. How about you?

Lauren (02:28.578)

I started with mine with baking. So we did a lot of baking together and they've always helped with bread making. But probably the first thing that we cooked together was pizza. Honestly they got to you know roll out their own dough and put on the sauce and the cheese and whatever toppings they wanted. And I started doing that with them before my youngest was born. They were probably three and four maybe when we started that and around the same age as when we started decorating cookies together which that requires…When you're making pizza, you know, all the toppings either end up on the pizza or on the cookie sheet, you know, that you've got the pizza on or your pizza stone or whatever you're putting the pizza on. But when you're making, when you're decorating cookies like Christmas cookies, that's not like you usually take them off the cookie sheet because they're cookies. So you want them to cool.

That leaves a lot of room for some big messes. And the first time that they helped me decorate cookies, we put on the frosting. And I made frosting in different colors. Like I really went all out with the cookie decorating. We had the frosting and then we had sprinkles and frosting in different colors, obviously. Okay, so I guess I didn't go all out because that's all I can think of that we did. But it seemed like a lot at the time. And they got, I remember, I remember actually, like taking a dry paper towel and just wiping all the mist sprinkles, like all the sprinkles that fell on the table.

Ellyn (04:25.381)

Ha ha.

Ellyn (04:29.295)

And three and four years old.

Lauren (04:48.29)

and just saving them. I saved them into some little container that was just mixed sprinkles and we used them the next year because there were so many sprinkles on the table. It was a just crazy amount of sprinkles.

Ellyn (04:58.671)

That's right. And only half as much on the cookies.

Lauren (05:08.71)

Exactly. Yep. But they loved it and I'm sure the neighbors loved our really messy cookie situation because we gave them all some. They weren't like show cookies like those little videos that you see on the internet with the cookies that look like a pie or whatever. No, it was nothing like that. Just get that out of your head.

Ellyn (05:17.411)

Hahaha.

Ellyn (05:37.215)

As I recall, the cookies were delicious. I got to eat some of those first cookies and they were very good. Lots of frosting, which is how I like them. So they did good.

Lauren (05:46.834)

Yeah, it wasn't tasteful. It was good.

Ellyn (05:51.515)

delicious. And so for me, my oldest was a little bit older. So he didn't really do a lot of those beginning tasks and making cookies. We did, but those weren't the first things that he did. He was old enough to hold a knife. So he was my sous chef for a while, he chopped a lot of vegetables and he was enthusiastic. He loved it. And it was just, it was fun to have him in the kitchen and messy, very, very messy. But that's just how it is when you're cooking with kids, it's going to be a messy business. My girls were both younger because I learned, you know how you fail on your first kid? Well, that's kind of what it was with my oldest, you know, I was like, Oh, I could have done better there. And so with the girls,

Lauren (06:35.406)

Mm.

Ellyn (06:49.955)

they were much younger when they started. Four and five, I think. And while my middle daughter, well, while my son was seven, my middle daughter was five. So she started it right about the same time he did. And obviously my youngest, we didn't have our youngest yet. And she, but she's four now and she's in the kitchen. And just delights in getting to help. So they can do things like, I'm trying to think of something. Braised beans, snap beans, they're good at that. Just get them a stool. Yes, yep, that's a good one. Some stirring, I'm a little weird about the stove. We have a gas stove, so I'm a little weird about letting my youngest buy the stove, but by seven, I was definitely letting my son buy the stove. In fact, he...

Lauren (07:25.902)

Mm-hmm. Tear up lettuce with their hands.

Ellyn (07:46.347)

Sometimes like made himself some breakfast and stuff like that by that age. He could handle the stove so long as he had some supervision. Uh, but.

Lauren (07:57.206)

I mean, that's what we've done too. I taught them how to make macaroni and cheese, you know, the kind that comes in a box, and I taught them how to make eggs, and I taught them how to make grilled cheese sandwiches. These are the cornerstones of children cooking. Eggs, boxed macaroni and cheese.

Ellyn (08:22.159)

Mm-hmm.

Lauren (08:25.142)

grilled cheese. Mm-hmm. And they are not quite there with the box macaroni and cheese because of the draining of the noodles. That still kind of terrifies me even at their age now of eight and nine. I don't know. I just I'm not ready to just let them drain out boiling hot water into the sink. Not there yet.

Ellyn (08:29.307)

Yep.

Ellyn (08:51.899)

Come on, Mom. I get that.

Lauren (08:54.558)

I will be soon, but they can do all the rest and they can make eggs completely independent of me at all. And the same with the grilled cheese. They can make grilled cheese all by themselves. So I, you know, I feel good about their level of education.

Ellyn (09:07.662)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (09:13.655)

Yeah. And I feel like when you're starting with kids and getting them in the kitchen, it's more about the fun and making it so that they're enjoying the process over what they're actually making.

Lauren (09:31.662)

Absolutely. 

They they should learn to regulate the heat on the stove and learn how to hold a knife and learn, you know, the

Ellyn (09:42.691)

those simple fundamentals in a way that's fun and not stressful.

Lauren (09:50.45)

And I feel like too, like I mentioned three things that my kids learned how to cook, but maybe you don't feel comfortable with your kids learning how to make macaroni and cheese at age seven. And that's fine. Just think up something else. Some other thing that you guys eat a lot, you know, and is pretty simple.

Ellyn (10:07.791)

Mm-hmm.

Lauren (10:14.146)

just as long as they're getting in there and doing something. And you know what? They don't even have to do anything independent. You could just have them in there helping you with making dinner. But it is, I definitely think it's really important for kids to learn how to cook. Everyone should. And the earlier you start, probably the better. All right, I'm done with my sermon.

Ellyn (10:24.923)

Yep, definitely.

Ellyn (10:33.558)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (10:38.723)

Yep, definitely. If you get them in the kitchen, when they are little and you create good experiences for them in the kitchen, by the time they're teenagers, you get a kid who can cook it and it may be simple food, but that's okay. They they can be in the kitchen and do things on their own. They can follow a recipe. They can

Ellyn (11:11.372)

um, not make a huge mess or if they make a huge mess, they can clean it up after themselves. For us, our teens were fairly young teenagers right when COVID hit and we were, we know we went from being incredibly busy four or five nights a week where we were out of the house to being home every single night and that was the time where I just decided, you know,

Lauren (11:16.522)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (11:39.147)

They knew how to cook a little bit. Like Lauren just said, a lot of the same things Lauren's kids can make now, they can make a simple lunch with a grilled cheese sandwich and one or two other items. And they were making their own breakfast and stuff. But they hadn't really graduated into, here's what we're having for dinner, you make it. And so I decided that once a week, my cheese.

Lauren (12:03.638)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (12:07.275)

At the same time, our youngest had come to us and she was still an infant. So it was like, it wasn't completely, you know, for their benefit that I had them start cooking. It was for mine too, because I had an infant and I didn't want to do it anymore as much. So it's like, oh, you go cook some food. And so I got them so that they were in the kitchen once a week making our dinner. And...

Lauren (12:23.426)

Mm-hmm. Ha ha ha.

Ellyn (12:36.875)

they've really both of them really blossomed. I had them follow, pick out and follow a recipe, make sure all we add all the stuff on hand. And one of the rules was, we don't make a special trip to the store for your recipe. So you have to find a recipe of foods that we already have in the house. Or if you want to make something special, you have to let me know what you want to make before I go to the store. And

Lauren (12:51.24)

Mm-hmm.

Lauren (13:03.558)

I remember when you first started allocating a few nights a week to them that they went on the internet and picked out recipes that had a lot of seafood.

Ellyn (13:16.859)

That wasn't this time. This was, that was earlier. That was another time when I had them cook a night a week. And I let, at that time I said, you can cook anything you want. But this time I changed my tune a little bit because it had gotten kind of expensive and they were cooking with things that I don't cook with very often. You know, we don't eat shrimp twice a week here. It's just not what we do.

Lauren (13:22.056)

Oh, it was.

Lauren (13:39.93)

yeah.

Ellyn (13:44.751)

This time I made them use meats and vegetables and stuff that we already had in the house. So that made them stretch themselves to be able to cook with things we already had. And so they, and after they had followed a recipe for a few weeks, I let them revisit recipes in and make them their own and they had the liberty to do that. So if they wanted to make a dish slightly differently than the recipe called for, that was okay. And so I feel like they really grew as cooks during that time. And now we're back to being every bit as busy as we ever were. So I kind of feel like we're flat out again, that they don't really cook as much as they used to. They make...

Lauren (14:27.116)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (14:41.051)

all their breakfasts and all their lunches but I'm back making dinner again because it's just where we this is the season we're in and I feel like they learned a lot during that time that they will be able to take into adulthood with them so I feel good about it.

Lauren (14:57.666)

Well, how was it when you first moved out? I know that we were talking about this the other day when we were talking to each other. Did you, did you make things from recipes or did you just think back on how mom made it?

Ellyn (15:07.063)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (15:18.283)

I really didn't. I think probably maybe more than I do now. I would consult a recipe or two or mom. But. But I, the first year my husband and I were married, we ate a lot of overcooked food that I made.

Lauren (15:27.814)

Yeah, or mom. Yeah.

Ellyn (15:47.103)

and a lot of burnt food that he made on the grill. We just, I think a lot of young couples are like that. They're trying to figure it out. You know, they're, and neither of us were moving out of our parents' house, but we were both coming from the military where we had chow halls. So we didn't really cook a whole lot for ourselves before we got married. And we ate a lot of bad food. How about you? Did you guys?

How's your early cooking days? How were your early cooking days?

Lauren (16:22.034)

It was a lot the same. Now we, even when we lived in the barracks before we got married, we didn't eat at the chow hall because we had longer hours than it was an infantry base and we had longer hours than they did. So we were still at work during breakfast and dinner and lunch.

We actually got an extra little bit of money to eat something else. They didn't care what, but we weren't going to be eating at home or at the chow hall. So, um, we did cook a little bit in the barracks, although it was strictly prohibited. Uh, yeah, everyone did just saying.

Ellyn (17:08.251)

So did we. Shh. We had a hot flight.

Lauren (17:16.502)

But when we moved out, you know, after as a married couple and had like a real stove and a regular size microwave, it was actually kind of exciting. But we, we worked, we did work really long hours. So we ate a lot of, please don't tell our mother, but we ate a lot of stovetop. Oh, what's it called?

Ellyn (17:29.312)

Mm-hmm.

Lauren (17:46.678)

And what else? We ate, I know we ate a lot of food from cans. I mean, I'm not going to deny it. And we ate boxed macaroni and cheese and you know, anything else that was really quick and easy to make. And the, but we also, we lived in an exotic area and had access to more exotic food, just going out to eat.

Ellyn (17:48.887)

You do what you have to.

Ellyn (18:02.531)

Yeah.

Lauren (18:16.066)

to. So that, yeah, I didn't, I don't know. I don't think I really learned how to cook until we moved. Until after we moved, because then I didn't have such long hours anymore. And yeah, we just had, we had more time. Like we were both out of the military and had regular jobs. And well, we were

Ellyn (18:27.855)

Yeah.

Lauren (18:45.526)

of out of the military. I was in the reserves but that doesn't that doesn't really count. Sorry other reservists, I had more time, so that is when I really learned how to cook and I stopped buying box foods and started making real food but there were still a few slip-ups which we will be talking about in another episode in hilarious fashion.

Lauren (19:14.69)

But the results of our childhood and, you know, mom always letting us be in the kitchen and help with the food was that I had an idea, you know, of how to do it and what to do, even after my years of making hamburger helper. And that's what that's when I hope.

Ellyn (19:33.238)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (19:36.763)

I'm going to go to bed.

Lauren (19:40.15)

to send my kids out into the world with a little bit of confidence, you know, and we definitely would love to encourage you guys to do the same. Let your kids get in the kitchen. You don't even actually have to let them do anything, although it's kind of hard to have them there without them doing anything because that's what they're going to want to do if they're there. But oh, go ahead.

Ellyn (19:44.695)

Yes.

Ellyn (19:51.837)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn (20:01.343)

Right. Mm-hmm. And sorry to interrupt. Um, it does pay off. I... It starts out super messy and you wonder if you'll ever get any payback out of the messes that you have to clean up in the kitchen, but I promise it pays off. My teens can cook unassisted now. They can cook a whole dinner unassisted. Like I said, they don't do it very often these days. But actually, I just had my older daughter the other day, I asked her to make dinner and she made a fabulous dinner. She probably hasn't made dinner in, I would say six months at least. And she said, well, I want to have tacos. I said, okay, well then you should make tacos. And so she did. And she did a great job. And so

They both have kind of a limited repertoire of what they make and it's limited to what they really like. She really likes tacos.

Lauren (21:05.616)

Who doesn't?

Ellyn,

And both of them can follow a recipe and if the recipe doesn't quite meet their desires of the way they'd like to see the meal go, they can both ad-lib as desired. So it...

Ellyn (21:22.943)

It eventually does pay off having your kids stand beside you and chop up cucumbers for your salad. And it pays off. And even better than that, they start to clean up after themselves. You kind of have to make them, but they can do it. I promise they can do it. They, you know, the night I had my older daughter cook the, when she was done, the kitchen was clean. And so it...

It can be done and it is so much better. Send your kids off into the world with having some idea how to feed themselves. Uh, I feel like so many kids leave home without that base knowledge and end up eating. Hamburger helper. Not that you didn't have that base knowledge. You did have that base knowledge. There's no excuse for that, Lauren.

Lauren (22:12.474)

Yeah, but hey, I worked 16 hour days.

Ellyn (22:23.963)

Fine, throw that in my face.

Lauren (22:27.934)

All right, so we hope that you have, I'm going to start over. We hope that you haven't, we hope that if you haven't already, you'll get your kids in the kitchen. It is so much fun to watch them grow and develop into cooks. Eventually you get to step back and let them take over.

Ellyn (22:39.217)

again.

Lauren (22:51.01)

See you soon.