Wave 11 - marvellous meals

Wave 11 - marvellous meals

Below you'll find 36 activities/resources to support remote learning at home. The focus is on Marvellous meals. Select the activities that best suit your needs! They are divided into two: those that take less time and/or are less complex, and those that take more time and/or are more complex.

Here's a range of activities, each divided into less/more time and complexity: breakfast, lunch, evening meal, healthier snacks, celebrations and occasions, and religious festivals and celebrations. There are also recipe links to make over 60 marvellous meals and healthier snacks.

 

Breakfast

Less time / Less complex

1. Food, literacy and art: We eat different food and drinks at different times of day. Make a list of eight food and drinks that you eat at breakfast and explain why you like each one. Why not draw a picture of your favourite breakfast?

2. Cooking and health and wellbeing: Create a breakfast item that can be eaten ‘on-the-go’. Include a starchy food, such as oats or wholegrain cereals, and plenty of fruit and/or vegetables. Ideas for breakfast items include Awesome overnight oats, Breakfast muffins and Breakfast muesli loaf.

3. Cooking and health and wellbeing: The Eatwell Guide recommends that we should have a starchy food with every meal. Toast is a great way to have a starchy food at breakfast time.  Make Tasty toast  and try lots of different toppings including reduced-fat cream cheese or a nut butter topped with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, banana, apple, peaches, apricots or a vegetable such as cherry tomatoes.

More time / More complex

4. Where food comes from and literacy: Plant or animal breakfast? List ten different types of food typically eaten for breakfast. State whether they are from a plant or from an animal. Put the food into two columns labelled plant and animal. For instance, you could list cereal, bread, bacon, eggs, black pudding and beans.

5. Cooking, health and wellbeing and literacy: Have a healthier breakfast! Record what you have for breakfast each morning for five days and, using the tips provided in the My breakfast swapper worksheet, suggest how you could make your breakfast healthier.

6. Food and literacy: Why do we have different breakfasts? Research the different breakfast people have around the world and list 10 reasons why people might make these choices (e.g. social, economic or cultural). State your favourite breakfast and list five reasons why you have made this choice.

 

Lunch

Less time / Less complex

1. Food, literacy and art: Build a healthy packed lunch for when you are back at school with our lunchbox builder. Write or draw the food and drink that you are going to include in the lunchbox, and make sure to include everything suggested in the worksheet!

2. Food, literacy and health and wellbeing: You are meeting a friend for a picnic at the weekend. Your friend doesn’t eat meat. Plan a menu for your picnic that takes your friend’s dietary requirements into account. Remember that the dishes should be based on the recommendations in the The Eatwell Guide.

3. Cooking: Want something quick, but tasty for lunch? Why not make Cous cous salad, Stripy salad pots, or a Crunchy chickpea sandwich? Perhaps something hot, such as Great green soup, Tomato, bean and pasta soup, or Croque monsieur?

More time / More complex

4. Food, literacy, art and health and wellbeing: Create a menu of dishes that could be served at your school for lunch during BNF Healthy Eating Week 2020. The Week challenges you to Eat more wholegrains and Vary your veg, so include plenty of wholegrains and vegetables in your menu. Draw a poster to promote the dishes that can be displayed around the school.

5. Food, where food comes from and literacy: Plan a seasonal lunch! Research the food that is currently is season in the UK and create a menu that is made up of these seasonal foods. Write three reasons why choosing seasonal food might be beneficial (e.g. it can be cheaper). To check which food is seasonal, you can use this BBC resource or read our Eat the seasons presentation. Want a challenge? Why not repeat for the three other seasons?

6. Food, literacy and numeracy: How much does your lunch cost? List the ingredients for your favourite lunch and calculate the cost using the costing a recipe worksheet. List the three ingredients that cost the most and name some cheaper alternatives you could include. Calculate the difference this makes to the price.

 

Evening meal

Less time / Less complex

1. Food, literacy and art: How has dinner changed over time? Using the Social and technological changes presentation, list the changes that have affected what people eat over time. Create a poster that shows how this has changed across time, including lots of pictures and colour.

2. Food, health and wellbeing, IT and literacy: What are you having for dinner? Make a note of what you have had for dinner, including the amount of each food. Enter this information into Explore Food and export the information for how much of different nutrients are in the meal. Explain how you could increase the fibre and decrease the sugar in the meal.

3. Cooking: An evening meal is a great opportunity to demonstrate your food skills and prepare a meal to share with your family. With supervision, if needed, make a favourite family dish that you can all enjoy or why not try something new? Watch these videos to get inspired and cook-a-long with Alex, Frances and Roy: Tuna and spinach wholewheat pasta bake, Spicy chickpea burgers, Kofta lollypops, Fish fingers and bro chips, Veggie coconut curry, or Mini crustless quiches. More recipe videos can be found here.

More time / More complex

4. Health and wellbeing and IT: In July 2020, the government announced that all food businesses in England with over 250 plus employees will be required to calorie label food that is prepared and sold for immediate consumption by the consumer. Using Explore food, create a food label to show the energy (calories) for three dishes that could be served by a local food business as an eat-in or take-away evening meal. If you haven’t used Explore food before, the Explore food worksheet will help.

5. Where food comes from and literacy: Create a recipe for dinner! Develop an exciting new recipe that promotes the use of ingredients produced following a quality assurance scheme for United Kingdom foods. You can create your own worksheet, or use the QA recipe challenge worksheet. Not sure about food assurance schemes? Check out the Food assurance schemes presentation for support.

6. Cooking and health and wellbeing: Nutritional requirements change through pregnancy and conception, infancy, childhood, teenage years, adulthood and older years.  Complete the Challenge and create a mince based dish that would meet the nutritional needs of someone at a particular stage of their life. Use the Nutritional needs through life presentation to support. Search the Food – a fact of life recipes for inspiration for your dish.

 

Healthier snacks

Less time / Less complex

1. Food, art and health and wellbeing: Create a poster showing lots of different snacks that you enjoy. Write down the reasons you enjoy these snacks. Include healthier alternative snacks, that you could fit into your diet, to your poster. Use the Healthy snacks information to support.

2. Where food comes from and literacy: Snacks from different places. Make a list of eight places that you can get snacks from (e.g. home-grown, supermarket, farm shop).List three snacks you could get from each place.

3. Health and wellbeing and art: Children aged 1-4 years need to eat a variety of food from the four main food groups. This food can be offered as main meals or snacks. Use the 5532 information to find out more about healthier snacking for young children and create your own poster or infographic to help parents and carers make healthier choices for their children. 

More time / More complex

4. Health and wellbeing, literacy and art: Snacking at home during the day can be very tempting. However, snacking can help form part of a healthy and balanced diet if you make healthier choices and consider portion size. Be portion wise and find out more about healthier snacks and portion size. Create a leaflet to encourage people to make healthier snacking choices at home, include plenty of examples for suitable snacks.

5. Health and wellbeing, art and numeracy: Cheaper snacking! Create an infographic showing some cheaper, healthy snacks that you can have whilst you are at school. You can use the QC on a budget resource for inspiration.

6. Cooking: Make fruit or vegetable crisps at home. Thinly slice fruit (such as apple or pear) or vegetables (such as sweet potato, beetroot, parsnip or carrot) using a knife or a peeler. Arrange the slices on a baking tray, sprinkle with herbs or spices, and pour over a small amount of oil (for vegetables). Bake in the oven at 160°C for 45 min, turning halfway through.

 

Celebrations and occasions

Less time / Less complex

1. Food and numeracy: Ask your family and friends what food they like to have on their birthday. Make a tally chart of each of the meals and create a bar chart to show which is the favourite birthday food! Which food comes out on top? Which is the least favourite?

2. Food, literacy and numeracy: What’s on your vegetarian BBQ? Plan for a vegetarian summer BBQ by listing the food you are going to buy. Name the meat alternatives or other options that you can have. Use a supermarket website to work out the cost of your BBQ.

3. Cooking: Have you got a birthday, anniversary or another special occasion coming up? Why not make and decorate a Honey cake, Lemon cake with elderflower curd, Victoria sponge cake , Peach gateau or Swiss roll to celebrate? Remember to be portion wise, and serve a small slice.

More time / More complex

4. Food, PHSE and literacy: Religious and special occasions are celebrated differently across Europe, with different traditional foods eaten. Research some of the food traditions and occasions that are celebrated around Europe. Use the Religion and food traditions around Europe presentation to support. Create a calendar of occasions and identify a traditional food or special recipe for each one.

5. Food, PHSE, literacy and art: Food traditions around the world. Research ten celebrations/traditions from around the world and note the customs, cultures and food eaten at each. Create a poster showing the different traditions and include all the information you learnt about each one. You can use the International food culture and tradition presentation for some ideas.

6. Literacy, numeracy, food hygiene and cooking: You work for a catering company that is planning the menu for a music festival to take place during 2021. Identify the main factors that would need to be considered when planning, preparing, cooking and serving food at the festival.  These could include:

  • food preparation and cooking facilities at the festival;
  • number and age profile of expected visitors;
  • special focus, e.g. local specialities, religious considerations;
  • popular dishes, which may be influenced by festival type, theme or cuisine;
  • cost;
  • food hygiene and health and safety.

Based on these factors, create a menu of at least five mainly savoury dishes. Make one of the dishes and conduct a sensory evaluation with people from your target market.

 

Religious festivals and celebrations

Less time / less complex

1. RE and literacy: Bread is eaten at home as part of many religious festivals. Read the Bread stories and then find out more about the different types of bread eaten at special occasions. An example of a special bread is Challah, which is eaten by people who follow the Jewish faith as part of their Shabbat or Sabbath. Complete the Special breads worksheet.

2. Food, RE and literacy: Plan a healthy celebration meal for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Research the types of food that are eaten at the festival and remember to check the food that Hindus eat and do not eat. You can use the Religion and food choice table to support.

3. Where food comes from, RE, art and literacy: Where does your Eid meal come from? Research the types of food that is typically eaten at Eid al-Fitr, the ‘Festival of Breaking the Fast’, a festival celebrated by Muslims that marks the end of Ramadan. Create an infographic showing the food eaten and the ingredients that make up the food. Explain where you can get these ingredients.

More time / more complex

4. Food and literacy: Plan a vegan Christmas dinner! Your friend is coming for Christmas dinner, but they are a vegan, meaning that they do not eat any food derived from an animal. Plan a three course meal (starter, main, dessert) that is suitable for a vegan.

5. RE, food and literacy: Research the food choices that some people may make due to their religion. Use the Religion and food choices fact sheet to record your research. Use the Religion and food choice presentation to support.

6. RE, literacy and cooking: Food plays an important part in many religious festivals and celebrations. Rosca de reyes (Mexican Christmas bread) is a lovely example. Research food made and eaten at religious festivals and celebrations around the world and make a dish to share with your family.

 

Making marvellous meals

Food – a fact of life recipes

There is a wide variety of recipes on the Food – a fact of life website to suit every meal occasion. Here are just a few:

More recipes for marvellous meals and healthier snacks can be found here: foodafactoflife.org.uk 

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