Here is a link to my video describing and showing more of my project. https://www.loom.com/share/bb525fd144304e18b186b4535d4e4b97
Project purpose or objectives
The purpose of my project was to compile all of the recipes that my family loves and to be able to share with others some of our favorites. I wanted to also work on expanding my home making skills as well as develop the ability to manage a budget, plan, and help my family eat better with the recipes made. The recipes I chose are our favorite, but they also have a variety of nutrients in it and are kid friendly. A big thing that I also wanted to do was not only be able to quickly find family recipes, but to also write down the recipes that are meaningful to us. Our family finds food as a way to come together and build memories together. By having original recipes written down, we can always be able to recreate those memories and make new ones.
The project (samples of the work produced or the final product)
The final product can be seen here at this link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAE6Jf4IgXE/KEXN9QNWVrRqBg8OnfwvdQ/view?utm_content=DAE6Jf4IgXE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
Challenges encountered in completing the project
Since a lot of the recipes were original or scattered, I practiced making them and tried to also perfect them. Getting the amounts and flavors right and balanced took time. I haven’t made most of these recipes very often and I specifically chose recipes that I wanted to get better at like making bread and other items from scratch. This turned into a few burned or too salty recipes at times. Another challenge that I experienced was planning for meals.
Project processes
My husband and I decided the best way to go about it was to incorporate this project into our monthly grocery budget and work on eating and being resourceful about only one larger or two smaller grocery trips. We usually haven’t done this in our marriage and just shop when we run out of food. By working on this project and being purposeful about meals and planning we were able to get a lot out of our grocery trip and money. Starting out when choosing recipes to include in the book my husband and I wrote down all of our favorite foods we liked to eat and either tried to find a healthy version of that like Taco Bell and make our own version. After practicing, calling my mom for advice, and taking polls on social media, we were able to narrow down and find the recipes we were interested in remembering and having as a family.
An overview of the experiences you had
I had a lot of fun doing this project since we got to eat everything that we made and it made me develop really useful skills. It was more work than I anticipated, especially trying to figure out the best way to write down and explain what I was making.
What insights or takeaways you have gained from the project.
My biggest takeaway is that learning skills of cooking, budgeting, and practice are important and extremely fulfilling. I really enjoyed the project and it taught me a lot about my talents and also making sure we had time as a family to enjoy a meal. I have a young family and have been married for three years, so doing something like this is a great way to build a fun foundation together and memories through food. What inspired me to originally do this was that I was having a hard time coming up with what to feed my son, who is a bit of a picky eater, and I had groceries but none of it made sense to me on how to use it if it was going to be more than a 3-4 ingredient meal. My mother-in -law said that an easy solution is just learn to cook and get creative. Learn the principles of cooking and ratios and you can make a lot of different things. I took this to heart especially since she is a professional chef and restaurant owner and operator. It has really helped me grow, feed my family nutritious foods, and create fun memories by even sometimes eating burnt cookies.