My son's cooking challenge
By Sissy15
@sissy15 (13599)
United States
September 28, 2026 8:43pm CST
I told everyone I would update when my son did his cooking challenge. He did his challenge yesterday. We took him to Aldi so he had a decent chance at being able to stay in budget. We gave him a 20 dollar budget to feed the three of us, and my husband is diabetic, so he had to be careful what he chose to make. My son managed to stay well within budget and kept it under 15 dollars. I have a picture of the receipt, but I forgot to put it in the little collage I'll be posting. I don't like posting a ton of pictures of my son anymore for his privacy, so I also don't have any of him cooking it or shopping. He made patty melts using 100 percent whole wheat bread so it wouldn't instantly spike my husband's sugar. He used a smaller portion of Thousand Island dressing to keep carbs low and a smaller portion of sautéed onions. He has seen me make it for my husband before, so he knew my husband could eat it. He also made a side of broccoli with lemon pepper and lemon juice. Something else he has seen me make.
I still had to help him more than I planned with the cooking, but he's also still really new to cooking. I didn't actually step in and do anything; I just told him how to do things. The goal is to eventually do this challenge again with him having more experience and doing it completely by himself. We had a few rules: he could use things from the house, like the seasonings and lemon juice, and I let him use one of our onions since he doesn't like onions on his, and it was just for my husband and me, but he had to buy any meat, bread, cheese, or main ingredient himself. He also had to buy any side he chose. He did really well. He was originally going to buy a pound of regular ground beef, but it was a couple of dollars cheaper to buy hamburger patties. He chose to just add seasoning to the outside of them, and once again I let him use the seasonings we already had at home.
I often make our hamburgers in the oven because it makes them juicier, and my son has learned this method of making them and really enjoys the outcome. Once the hamburgers came out, he essentially made a grilled cheese with a burger patty, Thousand Island dressing, and onions for my husband and me. He was incredibly smart about his shopping and looked at the meat first so he would know what he would have left to work with. He used his phone to add everything up and was excited to learn he stayed under budget. Next time, I'd like to see him do this completely on his own with no help from me. He also checked out by himself. He used my card, but he scanned and bagged everything himself.
3 people like this
3 responses
@celticeagle (195938)
• Boise, Idaho
29 Sep
How cool is that? I bet he will be thankful to you later in life as he is able to take care of himself. He'll get better with experience.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (195938)
• Boise, Idaho
4 Oct
@sissy15 ........Life skills are so important to ones independence.
@AmbiePam (132952)
• United States
29 Sep
That’s wonderful! He did such a great job. I’d love to see more parents do this with their teenagers. Especially the parents with teenagers that have no clue how to do anything by themselves; they are plentiful.
Good for you for encouraging him to try this. I’m so glad you did. And even better that we got pictures!
Good for you for encouraging him to try this. I’m so glad you did. And even better that we got pictures!1 person likes this
@sissy15 (13599)
• United States
29 Sep
Thank you. I think he found it exciting, which helped. I really want to prepare him to be an adult. I feel like so many grown adults don't know how to cook, and I don't want my son to be one of them. Learning how to shop and make the most of your money is a skill a lot of people don't have. When you have a tight grocery budget, you have to really think about your purchases. My husband and I keep a week's worth of groceries at around 150 dollars on average, sometimes it's under, and sometimes it's over, but I budget everything before I go. I've taken my son to the store with me to show him how to pick produce and look at expiration dates. I have explained how I often make meals based on expiration dates so I don't have to freeze and then thaw meat. I originally tried teaching my son to cook when he was smaller, but his coordination wasn't developed enough, and he really struggled, so we revisited it now that he's older and he's really getting it down.
1 person likes this





