Green cooking with kids – six tips for teaching eco-skills in the kitchen

One of the easiest places to get kids going green is in the kitchen. Kids like most kinds of cooking fun, especially the really fun stuff like baking, blending, and freezing.

If you want to introduce your kids to both green living and cooking skills, here are some easy tips you can follow…

1. Talk about organics: Kids don’t always get organic vs. conventional foods. I’ve been talking about the term organic with my son forever, and I’m pretty sure that now, at age 7, he’s just really getting it. At the store, he’ll ask for organics over non organic now.

To discuss organic choices with a child, my best advice is to keep it simple. Say something like, “Organic means healthier for your body” – “Organic foods don’t have icky chemicals or pesticides in them that can make you sick” – “Organic foods are a smart choice for the planet, like turning off the lights.” These are things that have worked with my son. To explain terms like chemicals and pesticides I’ll say something like, “They’re like really bad germs” which yeah, they’re not, but my son gets germs, so it works. As he’s gotten older, we talk about pesticides and chemicals in a more real manner.

2. Use green cooking tools: Using items like silicone muffin cups, reusable ice pop molds, and food storage containers over plastic wrap provides you with a conversation topic. My son sometimes fights against homemade ice pops, because he wants those shiny boxes of pre-wrapped store treats (badly). We just talk about why homemade is better; less waste, more flavor choices, etc.  Green is sometimes about making hard choices and with my son, homemade ice pops are a hard choice when he wants the store pops so bad, but it’s a good lesson in green.

3. Make it fun and if possible, nature based: Start with the fun green food choices, such as…

• Make some fun candied flowers
• Organic veggie & fruit shapes made with cookie cutters
• Organic smiley bread faces
• Gather non-toxic leaves and make homemade organic chocolate leaves
• Make adorable organic buggy cakes
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4. Encourage meatless meals: Kids who are given veggies from a young age really do love them and meatless meals are better for the environment. My son was raised vegetarian and he’d rather eat a bowl full of broccoli, a red pepper, or sliced apples than cookies – and I’m seriously not kidding. Tofu is an easy ingredient to work with, and kids like to squish it around. Try some tofu recipes for kids.

5. Grab a good green kid-friendly cookbook

6. Follow basic green cooking practices: Recycle packaging, compost, use the food up, turn the oven off early, and be invested in other basic green kitchen habits. Your child is watching you carefully, make sure he’s seeing you be green.

Have any other great green cooking with kids tips? Tell me in the comments.

[image - Fruitcakes-1 via Flickr]