Cooking Exercise

On the 21st January 2016, we were instructed that we were going to practice cooking each meal that our group were going to cook on the actual hiking expedition in April. The week before this training day we were informed that we had to plan how much the meal was going to cost and the

weight of each item. We thought it would be a good idea if we distribute each item between each member of the group so the overall weight would be lighter. The overall cost was around the £9.00 mark and each member was going to carry 31b each. We decided to cook pasta and bolognaise with peperoni for a hint of spice!

On the actual training day, firstly we designated ourselves a role to ensure each member had a responsibility and cooperated when necessary. We thought it would be a good idea to meaure out every item to make sure we do waist any food.

Before actually starting the cooking process, I calculated the total price and weight, and gave the results to our lecturer. I chopped the peperoni into small chunks to fasten the overall cooking time, whilst my partners weigh the pasta approximately and bolied the water. We mixed the peperoni and pasta into the boiling water and prepared the cutlery and plates. Once the pasta and peperoni had finished cooking, we seperated the food evenly and started eating the meal. We cleaned our area and washed all the equipment we used.

Strengths on the cooking exercise:

Right at the start of the activity, I designated myself roles to ensure we do not waist any time deciding who should do what job. This means we could fully concentrate on the important jobs within the task. My accuracy of calculating the price and weight was accurate which means I was able to give my lecturer the correct information. I offered assistance and guidance when any of the members were wanting help. I also offered to do certain tasks when I was free with nothing to do. This means our team cohesion was at a high level which increased our overall performance. The actual food tasted absolutely delisious with the limited of ingriedients we were working with.

Areas of improvements on the cooking exercise:

However, because all of us had a limited amount of room when cooking our food, it was really difficult to prepare our selves. For example, I had the responsibility of chopping certain foods into smaller chunks, but unfortunetely there were moments when we were tripping over each other. This was dangerous because some of us had sharp knives and objects in our hands. We didnt think about bring any safety equipment or clothing, such as an apron. We had boing hot water surrounding us, but if any of it boiled or got knocked over then concequences may have occured. However, this may be difficult on the actual expedition as we have a limited amount of space in our rucksacks.