Platinum Challenges (14 - 16 years old)
Pupils must complete one of the following:
Salt and health, 5 A DAY, Skills for all, Saturates or Miracle minerals
Salt and health
Develop a dish that is lower in salt than traditional counterparts; promotes vegetables consumption; is aimed at children aged 7-10 years and supports the recommendations made by the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).
Getting started
Find how much salt is recommended for a healthy diet. Find out what the FSA guidelines are for a low salt product.How much salt is in some foods that you know this age group likes to eat such as pizza and burgers?
Ideas for running the activity in your school
Design a simple questionnaire to test your parents/teachers knowledge of salt in the diet
Invite some children from your target age group to sample some of your low salt dishes
Links
Consensus Action on Salt and Health – information, recipe tips and ideas for reducing salt in the diet
FSA shopping card – a quick glance guide to healthy levels of salt, sugar and fat in food
5 A DAY
Develop and make a main meal recipe which takes its inspiration from ‘Food around the world’ and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. In addition, it should cost no more than £2.50; weigh a maximum of 450g; provide less that 3% fat and incorporate at least one portion of fruit and/or vegetable (80g).
Getting started
Links
Skills for all
Demonstrate your skill in making a range of dishes using a basic recipe, e.g. choux pastry, basic bread dough, all-in-one cake mixture, roux sauce. Show how your knowledge of healthy eating can be used to develop healthier alternatives, e.g. fruit filled choux buns, wholemeal carrot and date cake.
Getting started
Choose one of the methods given in the brief and make it using a traditional recipe. Look at all the ingredients and using your knowledge of how they behave in the structure of the recipe choose healthier alternatives where possible.
- Research healthy versions of these classic recipes. What ingredients have been changed?
- Use this information to help you decide how to tackle this challenge.
Resources on this website
Links
BBC Video making choux pastry
Guide to making bread with helpful information on recipe ratio’s
BBC Video – Making a white sauce
Saturates
The FSA work on Saturated fat and energy says "Current population average intakes of saturated fat exceed public health recommendations and the rising levels of obesity indicate that energy intakes currently exceed energy requirements. Both these conditions raise serious health concerns, particularly in relation to cardiovascular disease, some cancers and type 2 diabetes."
With this in mind, develop a range of healthier options of snacks and main meals, particularly focusing on saturated fat and total energy levels. In addition, explore the impact of different portion sizes on total energy and saturate levels. The focus of this work should be on foods which often come pre-packed, e.g. snacks, ready-meals.
Getting started
- Research what popular snacks fat and saturated fat content are and compare these to the FSA guidelines for fat in the diet.
- Check out the fat content of some high street brands by looking at their websites how do they fare against the FSA rating for saturated fat in food.
Resources on this website
Links
Food Standards Agency guidelines on saturated fat
Food Standards Agency advice on saturated fat in the diet
Nutrition labelling and using the traffic light system
Miracle minerals
Teenagers in the UK are generally deficient in micronutrient intakes. Focusing on either iron or calcium, look at realistic, attractive and tasty dishes that could form parts of healthy school lunch options that provide 30% of a teenagers RNI. In addition, look at ways in which other nutrients can play a role in helping absorption
Getting started
- Find out what foods contain good levels of iron or calcium. Match these ingredients to dishes you know teenagers will eat.
- Come up with some creative ideas using this knowledge that will also fit into a healthy school lunch menu.
Resources on this website
Practical planner sheets (pdf) (word)
Links
Food Standards Agency guide to minerals and diet plus what foods contain them
School Food Trust Nutrient based standard for Iron
Ideas for running these activities in your school:
- Ask students to interview a family member or friend about food in their culture – what types of ingredients are used, flavours and cooking methods.
- Use the findings to develop and make a main meal recipe taking its influence from ‘Food around the world’.
- Invite family members to come into school to try the foods.
- Start a ‘Cook and Eat’ club where students can make and taste new recipes.
- Invite parents to classes to taste what students have been making for their Award.
- Combine the Platinum Award with GCSE coursework
Active Kids Get Cooking June 2009