A One Semester Home Economics Recipe Project

Do your pre-teens know how to cook? Do they enjoy it? Do they know how to plan a meal or a party menu? At the end of this Home Economics Recipe Project they will have a complete recipe file of family recipes that will set them up for successful cooking and meal planning as adults.

Using the following guidelines you can create a course of study that combines cooking with handwriting or typing and will only cost about $20. Deciding on handwriting vs typing may be based on student preference or on parental decision. Likewise the format of box vs book for keeping the recipes is subject to your preference.

Materials Needed:

• Your Family Recipe Box/Book
• The internet
• Cooking magazines or books from the library
• Recipe Cards – (or find free printable ones online) – not needed if typing

• Recipe Box – for recipe cards, written by hand

• Photo Album – works to store 4×6 recipe cards under plastic, so they don’t get soiled when used
• 3-Ring Binder and 3-hole punch – preferred if typing the recipes and printing on paper that can be hole punched and added to the right section.

Home Economics Recipe Project 

This is a project based course, so the first lessons should be spent on investigating online:

• The parts of a balanced meal
• The parts of a formal dinner party
• Formal place setting diagrams 
• Names of types of serving dishes
• Mathematical equivalents of measurements
• Recipe substitutions for ingredients
• How to organize a pantry and grocery list
• The science of food storage

There is an in-depth cooking FREE home economics course here.

Next, the student should begin collecting and transcribing favorite recipes in the following categories. Once they exhaust the family favorites they can find one that they’d like to include from the other sources.

1. Appetizers
   Breads
2. Breakfast
3. Cakes
4. Cookies
5. Deserts
6. Dips and Salsas
7. Drinks
8. Meats
9. Pasta Dishes
10. Salads
11. Vegetables
12. Optional – cultural, traditional, or holiday special dishes

Each recipe should include:

• Title
• From (where they found the recipe)
• Number of Servings
• Prep or Cook Time
• Cooking Temperature
• Allergy concerns
• Ingredients
• Directions

Grading the project

If you do 2 recipes per day or 10 per week during an 18 week semester, you could easily earn an A for this project. Grading the final project can take into account the neatness and completeness of the work.

A suggested grading scale is as follows:

• 8 recipes in each category for a C
• 11 for a B
• 14+ for an A

Whether your student is male or female, this is a Home Economics project they can be proud of, and will serve them well as they move out into the world on their own.

Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living – Cook it, Clean it, Fix it, Wash it
Home Economics Household Skills: Becoming a daughter of purpose
Home Economics Curriculum Activities Kit
Home Economics: Household and Personal Management Skills
Home Economics Kitchen Skills: Becoming a daughter with purpose (Training our daughters series) (Volume 1)
Home Economics for Home Schoolers, from Pearables: Once-a-Week Curriculum
Smoothie Time – Health, Nutrition & Home Economics: Homeschooling Curriculum and Cookbook
Home Economics for Homeschoolers Units 1-6
Training Your Children in Home Economics