F is for Fun with Food #AtoZChallenge

Posted April 7, 2020 in A-Z Challenge / 12 Comments

The Blogging from A-Z Challenge continues today. Every day throughout April (except Sundays) I’ll be posting a range of ideas and tips for keeping your family entertained at home. It will include arts and crafts, games, learning ideas and imaginative activities for all ages. I thought it would be particularly useful while we’re all self-isolating or socially distancing, though it can be used for any time of year.

Letter “F” is for Fun with Food. If you never normally have time to cook from scratch, this lockdown could be a good opportunity to experiment with family recipes and brush up on your skills in the kitchen.

Below are some fun ideas for activities that involve food and drink.

  • Tune in to some cooking and baking classes on Youtube, such as Sal’s Cakes n Bake’s, Jamie Oliver, Cbeebies My World Kitchen.
  • Try a recipe subscription box such as Gousto and learn to rustle up some quick and tasy new meals.
  • Make a creative breakfast collage by arranging pieces of fruit to make a picture and cutting up toast or pancakes with cookie cutters.
  • Practise your cake decorating and piping skills.
  • For tiny tots, add some food colouring to milk and use it as an edible paint to paint bread. You can then pop it in the toaster and eat your colourful creation!
  • Put together a family recipe book or folder of your favourite creations.
  • Is someone in your family fussy about brands? Try a blindfold test taste with branded and supermarket-own products and see if they can really tell the difference.
  • If your little ones are pestering you for snacks all day, set up a “Tuck shop” where you give them 50p or £1 a day and they can spend it by choosing from a menu of treats. This will teach them budgeting and numeracy skills and you can also make the least healthy options more expensive.
  • Treat your family to a “Fakeaway” by cooking up some chicken nuggets and fries or classic fish and chips. You can even make your own happy meal boxes from coloured card and involve the kids with the decorating and making little “toys” to go inside. Repeat Crafter Me has some templates and instructions.
  • Have a pizza decorating party by following this easy pizza recipe and making your own cheese and tomato masterpieces.
  • Set a “Ready, Steady, Cook” style challenge with family and friends (via video) by making the most amazing dish you can with whatever random ingedients you have in the fridge or cupboard. You could also try selecting a page at random from a cookery book and try to replicate the recipe with the closest ingredients you have!
  • Are you missing visiting your favourite restaurant? Take turns with your partner to create a restaurant experience at home by getting out the fancy tableware and candles and making your own menu. I really enjoyed this “Mum and Dad’s Restaurant” that one couple did for their kids.
  • Have your own family “bake off” and see who can bake and decorate the best cake or biscuit sculpture.
  • Have a teddy bear’s picnic or barbecue in the garden if the weather is nice, or a fancy tea part indoors.
  • Pinterest has a wealth of wonderful recipes to try.
Image description: a woman rolling out dough and cutting out some heart-shaped biscuits. Image from Pixabay.

Over to you!

What’s your favourite dish to cook or bake at home? Let me know in the comments.

Tags: , , , ,

Divider

12 responses to “F is for Fun with Food #AtoZChallenge

  1. Hi, nice to connect at the A-Z 🙂 a wealth of ideas here. Not much of a cook myself though. Probably end up burning everything.

    All the very best for the all of the April challenges!

    • I made a leek and stilton soup from one once and it was heavenly. Yeah, it’s a shame they tend to be quite expensive for the amount of ingredients you get.

  2. So many great ideas! My son loves food and watching cooking shows on YouTube. As it gets to actually working in the kitchen hands-on, he usually finds something else to do 😉

    My F is for Fondue, the ultimate 🇨🇭 Swiss 🧀 dish. What is it, how is it prepared, and what happens if you lose your piece of bread 🥖 in the cheese? What is Raclette? How do the holes get into the Emmentaler?

    https://thethreegerbers.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-z-2020-switzerland-fondue.html

    • That sounds a bit like me. I like coming up with recipe ideas but I don’t have the patience to spend too long in the kitchen. I always claim I don’t have time but now I can’t use that excuse!

  3. Practicing cake decorating skills sounds like a fun thing to do while staying home. I haven’t decorated cakes in a few years. When my girls were younger, I use to enjoy decorating cakes to match their birthday themes. My favorites were the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo and a Guitar Cake.Weekends In Maine

    • Those sound great! My mum used to make really creative cakes for us on our birthdays. I haven’t quite perfected the skill yet but I’m learning.

  4. Haven’t baked in years. My fave dish to cook at home is a thick steak which I have perfected under the broiler; less trouble than the BBQ given my current circumstances, with garlic mashed potatoes (usually I substitute black beans for health reasons), onions, shrooms and steamed broccoli served with a shameful volume of red wine. I do this ridiculously often and I live alone so no one can stop me.

    • I don’t blame you! I’m veggie so I would love all of that apart from the steak. Garlic mashed potatoes are my idea of heaven.

  5. I’ve been baking a lot more (no unnecessary trips to the shop) and have found it hilarious to watch everyone’s expressions when it’s time to eat (I like substituting ingredients with whatever is in the fridge or pantry).

    An A-Z of Faerie: Furies

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.