Cooking for kids with Carrot Kitchen

Advertisement feature in association with Carrot Kitchen

Today I want to introduce you to Carrot Kitchen, the world’s first mobile cooking buddy for kids, and show you how your kids can use Carrot Kitchen to improve confidence in the kitchen, learn new skills AND make chocolate bat brownies.

One of my proudest moments as a parent was when Bee went off to university eight years ago (gah!) and was the only person in her flat of eight who knew how to cook or use a washing machine. I think that to get to be a full grown adult and not be able to wash your own clothes and at least chuck together a spaghetti bolognese is pretty shocking to be honest. What are all these parents doing packing off their kids without basic food skills? More importantly, (for us as parents), how have they been pulling their weight at home if they can’t even cook dinner?

I’ve always tried to encourage my kids to cook and Belle, who is now 19 and my only child left at home, is a lovely cook and always has been, as evidenced by the easy tomato soup video she made when she was 13. It might be the most adorable thing you’ll ever watch. (Unless you’ve seen her singing Small Pleasures in her primary school production of Oliver Twist.) She does a fantastic lasagne and her baking is immense. Remember when she made these steamed bunny bao buns? They were SO good.

I know, I know, I’ve done well, thank you. 10/10 for parenting when it comes to cooking at least.

The point I’m trying to make is that empowering kids in the kitchen is important – it equips them with essential life skills, it means they can contribute to the cooking and take the pressure off you AND it’s fun. Cooking is a brilliant creative outlet, it helps your maths skills and coordination and it encourages healthy eating – it’s really got an awful lot to offer.

I do get though that sometimes it’s hard as a parent to find the time or the motivation to cook with kids, which is where Carrot Kitchen comes in.

Carrot kitchen – a cooking buddy for kids

Carrot Kitchen is aimed at kids from aged 6-13, but you could use Carrot Kitchen with younger children too if you were supervising. With a Carrot Kitchen subscription kids have access to loads of tasty and healthy recipes and skill videos, all designed by food education experts. There are step-by-step recipe videos, featuring real children, so kids can cook independently or with friends and family.

Kids earn points from every recipe they create and points increase their chef level. The more they cook, the more points they get! They can also join fun cooking challenges to unlock bonus recipes. The gaming element makes the whole Carrot Kitchen experience really fun for children, and encourages them to cook as much as possible.

To test out the Carrot Kitchen app, I asked Belle to take herself back to her 13 year old self making easy tomato soup, and to have a go at a couple of the Carrot Kitchen recipes. Because it’s Halloween and Belle has always loved Halloween, (see below for evidence), she settled on bat brownies and Jack-o-lantern quesadillas. If you’re a Halloween fan you might also like these spooky spider cookies.

We’ve got the bat brownies to show you here today and you’ll need to head to Instagram for a cute video of Belle making the quesadillas.

Bat Brownies on the Carrot Kitchen app

One of the things you’ll notice first about the Carrot Kitchen app is just how easy it is to navigate. The main screen scrolls up and down through different sections and themes – breakfasts, snacks, mains, challenges and more – and then scroll right to left through any category for a wide choice of recipes. Each recipe thumbnail tells you how long it takes, how many stars it earns you and gives you a difficulty rating.

When you find a recipe you like the look of, (I can recommend bat brownies), simply click on the image. You’ll then get an ingredient list and links to skill builder videos if you need them. Once you’ve got everything you need just hit START and you’ll be guided step by step through the recipe. Each step is in words, audio and video, so really accessible. This is such a valuable feature as different children do take on instructions in different ways. Belle for example finds it very difficult to follow written instructions but finds audio much easier, so even though Carrot Kitchen is designed for kids aged 6-13 and she’s 19 now, she found the audio instructions useful.

One of the things Belle always seemed to like about cooking as a child was the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with creating something from scratch. Carrot Kitchen empowers kids to feel more confident in the kitchen and learn new skills, and YOU get to enjoy the fruits of their labour!

What’s not to love about that?

Why not download the Carrot Kitchen app now via App store or Google Play and give it a go? You don’t need to subscribe straightaway, just have a play testing some of the free recipes and skill videos and see how fun and tasty Carrot Kitchen really is.

Regular subscriptions start from less than £3 a month and include a 14 day free trial, which gives full access to over 100 recipes and all the challenges, plus FIVE new recipes and a new challenge every month. Go and get your free Carrot Kitchen trial now.

You can also head to Instagram for the chance to win one of four six-month Carrot Kitchen subscriptions.