Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: meals

This topic has 3 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by RobinP.

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

Author
Posts
April 26, 2015 at 1:41 am
anniepeter
Participant
Tristan has inspired me to think about having my younger children learn to make a few meals on their own. So, I thought maybe I could entice her 😉 … and possible a few others… To share some more ideas on that. The one already mentioned was green beans and potatoes in the crock pot, if I remember correctly. My strong preference would be to stick with whole unprocessed foods. Anyone?
April 26, 2015 at 6:20 am
Tristan
Participant
LOL! Yes, and ham was over the green beans. So here are other ideas:
Salad – this works even for younger children if you take the time to cut up and store in the fridge other veggies like peppers, carrots, and cucumber. We just had a chop salad this week and added in a can of corn and a can of black beans, cut tomato, peppers, etc.
Crock pot soups – have them add all the meats/veggies/beans first then pour on water/stock/broth so there isn’t a ton of splashing.
If you have a nice mixer with a cover (I have a Bosch) then kids can also make bread dough, pancake batter, muffin batter easily and safely. For us that means 1. Leave the machine unplugged and add all ingredients. 2. Put on the plastic guard/lid. 3. Plug in the machine. 4. Turn it on to mix everything up. 5. Unplug the machine. Then they can pour pancakes, scoop muffin batter, or shape bread loaves.
What about a pasta dish like the many ‘one pot’ recipes floating around Pinterest? Basically you put the pasta, veggies, optional meats and some broth into a pot. Then you cook it all at once, takes about 20-25 minutes with stirring every 5-10 minutes. If they are old enough to stir safely in a deep pot this can work well using a stool or chair.
I look forward to seeing other people’s ideas!
April 26, 2015 at 6:29 am
RobinP
Participant
Take a Boston pork butt (or shoulder roast if you raise your own pigs like we do), place in the crock pot (we do at night) with nothing else at all. Let it cook for several hours. When cool enough to handle, pull the pork apart and have a pulled pork plate or sandwiches with whatever BBQ sauce you like. Serve with easy sides like salad or baked potato.
April 26, 2015 at 6:36 am
RobinP
Participant
Also if you have a way to make “hamburger gravel” you can have hamburger ready to go instantly. I brown a few pounds of hamburger at a time, drain all the fat and rinse well (this is important) then lay it all out on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate until very dry and store in jars. I’ve found that a cup-ish equals about a pound of hamburger. This is easy to throw into soups and chili or any liquid which will rehydrate the meat. The kids can just add all the ingredients into the crock pot without having to brown hamburger on the stove. This is also a great way to store meat without a freezer.