What is this Project About?
If you enjoy cooking or just like good food, this project could be for you. You will have fun learning the basics of cooking and then advance to gourmet meals. This project focuses not only on food and cooking, but also nutrition and using MyPlate to guide eating and meal preparation and planning.
Grow in Your Project
Starting Out
- Learn how MyPlate can help guide your eating choices
- Understand how to keep your food safe
- Know basic kitchen safety
- Learn measuring basics
- Understand how to follow a recipe
- Develop basic cooking “how to” skills
- Use your skills to make simple recipes
Learning More
- Learn the science behind food safety
- Learn fire safety in the kitchen
- Develop knife skills
- Learn different mixing techniques
- Identify different cooking techniques
- Understand nutrition labels
- Use your knowledge of food groups to create different recipes
Going Further
- Know the conditions that bacteria need to grow
- Explore outdoor cooking
- Plan a party
- Learn about cooking with a slow cooker
- Experiment with kneading
- Learn troubleshooting techniques when experiencing unexpected results
- Cook with spices and herbs
- Prepare celebration meals
Take Your Project Further!
- Track eating habits and physical activity in a journal. Review entries and set a goal that will help make a small improvement in how youth eat or exercise
- Experiment with different recipes, modify recipes to reduce the fat, sugar or sodium content
- Visit several grocery stores and compare the cost of similar foods
- Learn how to make a weekly meal plan and grocery list
- Volunteer at a food pantry, research recipes to share based on high volume foods
- Bake with elderly at a care center or with children at a daycare
- Volunteer to prepare a family meal each week
- Organize a food drive in your community
Resources
- *Additional resources available at the Shawano County Extension Office
