Children who get involved with cooking meals at home are less likely to be fussy eaters, according to a new study.
Appliances manufacturer Samsung has found that children's cooking skills are actually in decline – by as much as a third in the past 25 years, although more than half of UK parents think that cooking helps with fussy eating, since a child is more likely to eat a balanced meal if they've helped to cook it themselves.
This said, it seems that around 37% of parents currently cook less than once a week with their children, while families bin as much as one-fifth of the food they buy, probably because they end up eating ready meals more often than making recipes from scratch, the study adds.
The researchers also asked 2,000 British parents to nominate the dishes they thought children should be able to cook by the age of 11 – and it's a pretty long menu!
Spaghetti bolognese tops the list, followed by scrambled egg on toast, and sausage and mash. For pudding, parents expect children to be able to whip up a chocolate cornflake crisp, or a fairy cake, the study reports.
Top 25 dishes children should be able to cook by the age of 11
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Spaghetti Bolognese
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Scrambled egg on toast
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Omelette
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Jacket potato with beans
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Cheese on toast
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Cottage pie
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Sausage and mash
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Pasta bake
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Stir Fry
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Porridge
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Boiled egg and soldiers
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Casserole
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Pancakes
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Pizza (from scratch)
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Lasagne
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Macaroni cheese
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Fairy cakes
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Roast chicken
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Chill con Carne
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Beefburgers
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Meatballs
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Victoria Sponge
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Chocolate cornflake cakes
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Apple Crumble
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Scones
Simple recipes for these top 25 dishes have been put together in a book by Masterchef finalist and mum-of-four Emma Spitzer, which will be released in 2017.
She said: "The food wastage issue is something which affects us all and I firmly believe that getting kids involved in cooking and preparing food at a young age can help. By the age of 11, children can all enjoy learning how to cook simple dishes such as a simple omelette, stir fry or pasta with sauce.
"These dishes are also great for using up those foods that might be languishing at the back of the fridge, as they’re dishes that you can add a whole range of different ingredients into, depending on what you need to use up."
Perhaps the way ahead is ditching the ready meals and encouraging your children to get involved in the kitchen – but do your children like to cook? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter
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