Cook sausage smash

Store food

• Always keep raw food separate from cooked food.
• Keep frozen food frozen, and don’t refreeze it if it defrosts. Keep food in the fridge or freezer until you need to take it out to cook it – don’t leave it out on the side.
• Keep food covered.

Get ready to cook

• If you’re unwell, tell an adult – you might not be able to cook if you could make others poorly.
• If you have long hair, tie your hair up.
• Take off any jewellery – especially rings (a plain gold ring is OK).
• Wash your hands properly. Cover any cuts, spots, or boils with a waterproof plaster or dressing – if you can, use brightly coloured plasters.
• Check all your equipment – is it clean, and free from damage?
• Clean your work surfaces – use an antibacterial spray.

Time to cook

• Wash fruit and vegetables before you prepare them.
• Wash your hands after handling raw meat, fish, or eggs. Wash your hands again if you sneeze, cough, eat anything, touch your hair, use the toilet, or touch rubbish.
• Always carry knives pointing towards the floor, and cut or chop on a chopping board – never in your hand.
• Use tongs or other equipment to touch food – avoid using your hands if you can.
• Remember that you still need to keep raw food separate from cooked food, including using different utensils like chopping boards and knives (if you can’t, always wash and sterilise them).
• Make sure food gets hot enough – it should be at least 70°C for two minutes.
• Don’t leave metal spoons in hot liquids, and don’t leave pan handles over a hot hob.
• Clean up any spills immediately.

Grub’s up

• Don’t leave leftovers to cool on the side – if you’re going to eat them later, they need to be cooled and put in the fridge as soon as possible.
• Clean the surfaces you’ll eat from – use an antibacterial spray.
• Wash your hands before you eat.

Tidy up

• Use hot water (and detergent) when washing up. Ideally, use a second bowl with hot water to rinse.
• Never use a tea towel that’s fallen on the floor.

For vegetarians and vegans (people who avoid foods which come from animals, usually meat, fish, milk, eggs, and honey):

• Replace the sausages with vegetarian or vegan sausages – remember, vegans don’t eat milk or eggs so make sure sausage substitutes don’t contain these.
• Use vegetable stock cubes which are marked as vegetarian – remember, vegans don’t eat milk or eggs so make sure the vegetable stock cubes don’t contain these.

For people who eat halal or kosher food:

• Make sure the sausages are labelled as halal or kosher, or use vegetarian sausages (labelled as halal or kosher). Make sure the stock cubes are halal or kosher.
• Check with individuals (or their guardians) to see if you need to adapt anything else in the recipe or process.

For people who don’t eat cereals containing wheat or gluten:

• Make the stock cubes are free from wheat and gluten – you may need to buy special gluten free ones.
• Make sure the sausages or sausage substitutes are free from wheat and gluten.

For people who don’t eat soy:

• Make sure the sausages or sausage substitutes are free from soy.

For people who don’t eat milk and/or eggs:

• Make sure the sausages or sausage substitutes are free from milk and/or eggs.
• Make sure the stock cubes are free from milk and/or eggs.

Other common things watch out for:

• Other common allergens include fish, lupin, sulphites, celery, mustard, nuts, sesame seeds, crustaceans, and molluscs. If anyone is allergic to any of these, check all of the ingredients to make sure they don’t contain allergens (or traces of allergens).
• If anyone’s allergic to carrots, it’s easy to substitute them for another vegetable.