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Bake or boil?

How do you like to cook your food? Learn about cooking methods, and match them with the foods you like to eat.

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You’ll need

  • Pens or pencils
  • Cooking methods sheet
Cooking methods
PDF – 101.7KB
Download Cooking methods

Chat about food

  1. The person leading the game should ask if anyone can think of a way of cooking something. Everyone should try and name as many methods as they can, to get everyone thinking.
  1. Split into pairs or small groups.
  1. Everyone should think about the cooked meals they’ve eaten this week, and chat with their partner about how they were cooked.
  2. Everyone should imagine their favourite food or meal. They should tell their partner why it’s their favourite, and they should chat about how it’s cooked.
  3. The whole group should gather back together. Pairs should take it in turns to tell everyone else about the foods they talked about – they might choose to say their favourite meal, or something they’ve eaten recently.
  4. Once everyone’s had a chance to share, the person leading the game should help everyone think about the different ways of cooking. Which methods do people like? Why might we choose each method? What kinds of things do we think about when we choose a method (for example, taste, texture, health)?

Play fry, bake, boil, grill

  1. The person leading the game should tell everyone that each side of the meeting place represents a way of cooking food: frying, baking, boiling, or grilling.
  2. Everyone should stand in the middle, and the person leading the game should call out a food.
  3. Everyone should run to the way of cooking that they think best matches the food. For example, if the person leading the game calls ‘cake’, most people will probably run to ‘bake’.
  4. Some foods might have more than one common answer, for example, broccoli could be boiled or stir fried – that’s OK!
  5. The person leading the game should keep calling out foods, and everyone should keep running to methods of cooking, until everyone is confident talking about ways of cooking.

Reflection

This game helped you to think about skills. Is it a skill to know how you might cook different foods? Do different methods of cooking use different skills? Which methods have you tried before? Which methods would you like to try? Which methods do you think would be easiest or trickiest to use?

This game also helped you to be able to live healthily. Why is it important to eat a variety of foods? Do you think a balanced diet includes lots of different ways of cooking? What sorts of things do you need to think about to choose a healthy way of cooking (for example, making sure food is cooked thoroughly, keeping nutrients in food where you can, making sure the food still tastes good so you enjoy eating it)?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You could add more methods of cooking to the game – how about roasting or steaming?

Choose a mixture of foods to call – you could use ones that clearly match one method of cooking (for example, a cake) or ones that match more than one method (for example, a carrot).

People could choose a way of cooking by pointing their arms, legs, or head (instead of walking or running), if that works better for them.

Be mindful of people’s situations when talking about cooking and eating at home. Use inclusive language, for example, talk about ‘whoever you live with’ rather than ‘your mum and dad’. Be aware that not everyone will have equal access to food, cooking equipment, and kitchen space.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

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