Need help in the kitchen but not sure where to start? Read about how to teach your kids to cook without costing any extra time (just 5% supervision needed)!
Wouldn’t it be great if your mornings didn’t start with rushing down the stairs in the morning, staring helplessly in the fridge, glancing at the clock (late!)…and forlornly grabbing your kids some cereal…again?
If you’d JUST be getting into a groove for the project you’ve been attempting all morning when you look up…and have to stop to get lunch ready?
If you no longer had to see your youngest’s shoulders droop when you tell them you can’t play because you have to make supper?
The truth?
It IS possible when you’re not the sole family member doing all the cooking.
I’ve gone from cooking at least 21 meals a week to 5 because of teaching my kids to cook.
And I did it the quick & easy way so that my kids were pitching in with meal prep and simple salads the very first week.
…Even with a chronic illness, 5 busy kids – some with special needs, others “too little” to help out (she debunked that myth pretty quickly on), and working around allergies.
Wondering how?
Let me introduce you to the best gift I ever gave my family that turned our day around – Kids Cook Real Food.
What is Kids cook real food?
Kids Cook Real Food is a Wallstreet Journal recommended online cooking course made specifically for kids ages 3 to teenagers to grow connection, confidence and creativity in the kitchen.
They have 3 levels of learning to fit your family’s needs: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Only have one child?
You can choose to buy their Kids Cook Solo course for individual kids ready to learn knife, oven, and stovetop safety skills.
Or, if you have a motley crew like mine, you can purchase the complete course for multiple children and work your way through it together.
At each level of curriculum, you’ll receive
- pre-recorded foundational skills videos (such as measuring, pouring, learning spices)
- flashcards and easy-to-remember catchy phrases to learn skills efficiently
- printable grocery lists
- as well as video lessons teaching age-specific skills within a practice recipe
All this allows your kids to cook healthy snacks and meals for your family from day 1.
Some other features you can’t miss?
- 30 basic kitchen skills, which they can immediately start using to cook real meals
- Kid-friendly recipes, 100% real food – we regularly use these in our family cooking system
- Instruction directly to children with 5% adult supervision
- Over 45 videos, including bonus “Foundations 101” videos and PDFs in addition to the 8 classes with 5 videos each
- Over 250 pages of material
- Recipe eBooklet with kid-friendly recipes, written just for kids
Who is kids cook real food for?
The biggest reason I rave about this course is that it has worked successfully with ALL of our exciting family dynamics.
This course is for your family if you are…
A busy family:
This course has saved me so much time in the kitchen.
And it didn’t cost me a lot of time in the beginning either because the videos directly teach your kids.
Even if kids are still at the beginner level, mine were BEGGING me to soak beans, wash produce and safely cut fruit and veggies for snacks – all in the very first week! A few weeks later, they completely mutinied and declared they could now make their own snacks!
In fact, I’ve completely developed a family cooking system – all thanks to KCRF’s teaching the right skills – where my kids are in charge of weekday breakfasts and lunches, as well as a few suppers a week.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I”ve had to make breakfast during the week – what used to be my most frantic time of the day is now smooth sailing because of the teamwork we now have for cooking.
Allergies:
This course also saved my cooking life. Years ago, my naturopath declared I was allergic to everything and I hadn’t learned how to adapt ingredients yet.
But KCRF saved the day by being very allergy-friendly and listing substitution ideas for every recipe.
And can I tell you something? Cooking for special diets is exhausting!
This course taught my kids (and I’ll be honest, me) how to make and adapt an easy recipe so it’s perfect for our family’s needs. Additionally, it brought back my joy of cooking and eating again because I didn’t have to do it all.
Homeschooling:
Equipping kids with valuable life skills is a cornerstone of the SURO blog. As such, our homeschooling family delighted in incorporating home economics/cooking (beyond baking cookies) into our weekly schedule.
Kids Cook Real Food even has a sales page dedicated to homeschooling families, as well as a group discount for coops!
Picky eaters:
The transformation in my one child was magical – and making her own food made all the difference.
Case in point, my foster daughter came to our home “allergic” to everything I made until she started helping me make meals. Something as simple as choosing the spices…then cutting up veggies…now making full meals in the Instant Pot…has transformed family mealtime for us. I call it her meal and she beams as she gobbles it up proudly…even when it’s food that’s “not her favourite”.
A big family:
We’re a family of 7. Usually, we have to pay over and above the “normal” family pricing for outings or programs. Not with KCRF. This course is the best investment for big families.
I bought the full VIP course 3 years ago and we’re still using it – my beginners are now learning the intermediate lessons, and so on! How often can you say you re-use a course more than once, let alone years later?!
Mom with a chronic illness:
I’m just coming out of 4 years with all-consuming chronic fatigue. It felt like I was wading through quicksand just to get down the stairs in the morning – then I had to stand and work in the kitchen 3-5 times a day?!
I purchased KCRF at a turning point in my health where I realized I couldn’t take care of my family on my own anymore. We needed to be a team in the kitchen to survive this.
And I didn’t imagine how much of a blessing that mind shift would be to my children as well. In a way, it set them free to see all they could do and know they were a meaningful part of the family.
Special needs:
My oldest is 14 and developmentally 3. Because of his medical condition, we have a lot of struggles teaching healthy eating habits at the dinner table but many of them are now managed painlessly (read: much fewer meltdowns about food) because of this cooking class.
Because the beginner videos emphasize independence with any ability, my son is still able to make his own snacks and help with simple meals. And he is so darn proud of himself!
This cooking and healthy eating skill will follow him into adulthood and his life skills teachers are blown away at how much he can do.
This independence and ownership in his cooking are an even greater gift than the skills themselves and worth every penny to see him smile as he makes us a salad for lunch.
how will this cooking class help your family?
Kids Cook Real Food will be one of the best tools to give your family. With it, you can:
- GET (REAL) HELP IN THE KITCHEN FAST: One little video class a week has fast-tracked our cooking system to a well-oiled machine.
- ENJOY COOKING AGAIN: I dreaded my kitchen because of the energy drain it would cost me. It seemed like I was always cooking or cleaning the aftermath. Now I cook for fun! I cook most weekday suppers and on the weekend – because I want to, not because I have to!
- PICKY EATING IS A THING OF THE PAST: My kids, who used to refuse or complain about unfavourite foods, now love to explore new tastes and ingredients.
- TEACHES CREATIVITY, NOT JUST A RECIPE: They’ve learned a growth mindset in the kitchen and how to adapt recipes with ease.
- PLENTY OF MOMENTS OF CONNECTION: We take genuine pleasure gathering together at the table to eat healthy homecooked meals.
- INSPIRES GRATEFULNESS: A spontaneous surprise to this course is my kids started thanking the cook for each meal. This simple practice has continued years later and warms my heart each time. They now appreciate the time and effort it takes to feed the family.
Want some good news?
There’s no need to wait until your kids are “old or capable enough.” This course grows with your kids – even the beginners made a significant difference in helping out with family cooking.
The truth is that I couldn’t afford not to get this course. Our family needed a significant change but one that wouldn’t cost me any spare time or energy.
KCRF was the perfect solution.
Katie taught my kids HOW to cook: knife and oven safety, cooking techniques, easy recipes to try…
…while all I had to do was drink coffee and click a button.
sign up for a free knife skills video (or jump in and start cooking right away!)
Before the course, I knew my kids *should* learn how to cook…but I didn’t feel confident in teaching the skills properly: What if they cut off a finger or burnt themselves on the stove?!
Katie, in her videos, has the calmest manner and was able to strongly emphasize the need for safety as well as the know-how of cooking.
For example, she recommends older kids first practice with a cold oven! That helped soothe any anxieties and boost confidence for the next practice.
Her knife safety video is spectacular, teaching safe holding as well as safe cutting techniques.
You can even catch a free mini knife video here!
But if you feel you’re ready to dive in, you can get all the info and FAQs at Kids Cook Real Food.
So what do you think? Can you see how KCRF would be a gift to you and your kids? What part of your day could be better because of a teamwork approach to cooking?
Tell me – if your kids could take ONE MEAL off your hands even once a week, which one would it be? I’d love to hear in the comments!