Design and technology
Plan a dish: ingredients, safety and timing
Plan a dish from ingredients and equipment through safety checks, method, timing and recipe scaling. Five pupil pages include an invented tomato-and-herb pasta example and spaces for a new plan. The companion provides reading and scaling answers; the teacher must agree the actual practical procedure before any cooking.
Read this invented pasta timeline. The full pupil task includes the teacher-led safety and allergy checks.
Read the complete materialRead the material
Plan a dish from ingredients and equipment through safety checks, method, timing and recipe scaling. Five pupil pages include an invented tomato-and-herb pasta example and spaces for a new plan. The companion provides reading and scaling answers; the teacher must agree the actual practical procedure before any cooking.
Pupil worksheet. Use the preview for diagrams and layout.
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NAME CLASS DATE LEARNING GOAL Plan a dish safely: what I need, what to check and when to do it. SUCCESS CRITERIA I can list ingredients and equipment for a dish. I can spot allergens and follow the safety rules. I can plan my method and time, then scale a recipe. DISH NAME SERVES FOOD AND NUTRITION AGES 11 TO 14 RECIPE PLANNING Plan my dish Ingredients, equipment and checks for a safe dish. My recipe card: what I need AMOUNT UNIT INGREDIENT ALLERGEN? TICK INGREDIENTS Equipment checklist Tick what my dish needs. Write anything else in an empty box and tick it. Chopping board Knife Saucepan Wooden spoon Measuring spoons Scales Colander Oven gloves EQUIPMENT Cooking for: any needs, such as allergies, to check with my teacher Pupil activity | Page 1 of 5
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Hands washed Hair tied back Apron on Allergy check done Label checked FOOD AND NUTRITION AGES 11 TO 14 RECIPE PLANNING Safe and ready Check allergens, then follow the safety rules. Circle every allergen in my dish. This is the list used in the UK; check the list for your country. Celery Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley and oats) Crustaceans Eggs Fish Lupin Milk Molluscs Mustard Peanuts Sesame Soya Sulphur dioxide and sulphites Tree nuts ALLERGENS Tell your teacher about any allergy before cooking. Read the label of every packet every time, because recipes change. Never share spoons, boards or bowls between a food with an allergen and one without. Never taste or share food that has not been checked. If anyone feels unwell, tell the teacher straight away and follow the school’s allergy procedure. 1 Wash your hands with soap and warm water and dry them on a clean towel: before cooking, after touching raw meat or eggs, after touching your face, hair, bin or phone, and after the toilet. 2 Tie long hair back and wear a clean apron. HYGIENE 3 Keep raw meat away from ready-to-eat food. Use different boards and knives, or wash them well in between. 4 Do not wash raw chicken. 5 RAW AND COOKED 6 Fridge: 5°C or below. Freezer: -18°C. 7 Use-by dates are about safety: never use food after its use-by date. Best before dates are about quality. 8 Cool leftovers quickly and put them in the fridge within one to two hours. FRIDGE 5°C or below FREEZER -18°C TEMPERATURES 9 Knives: carry with the blade pointing down beside your leg; cut on a board that does not slip (a damp cloth underneath); use the claw grip (fingertips curled in) and the bridge hold for round foods; never leave a knife in washing-up water. 10 Heat: use dry oven gloves; turn pan handles inwards, not over another hot ring; lift lids away from your face; wipe spills straight away; tell your teacher at once about any burn or cut. 11 Taste only with a clean spoon, and a new clean spoon each time. Never taste raw meat, raw egg or raw dough. TOOLS AND HEAT BEFORE I START Use a clean food probe to check the core using the teacher-approved time and temperature. UK FSA examples: 75°C for 30 seconds or 70°C for 2 minutes. Follow the approved method for this dish. Pupil activity | Page 2 of 5
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FOOD AND NUTRITION AGES 11 TO 14 RECIPE PLANNING Method and timeline Write my steps, then draw the time plan. My method: one clear step in each box 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 METHOD My timeline: 0 to 60 minutes Draw a block for each job, from its start minute to its end minute, and write the job in the block. Jobs that happen together go on different rows. Minutes 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Job 1 Job 2 Job 3 Job 4 Job 5 Job 6 TIMELINE I will serve at Pupil activity | Page 3 of 5
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FOOD AND NUTRITION AGES 11 TO 14 RECIPE PLANNING Worked example A finished recipe card to read and learn from. Tomato and herb pasta, serves 4 AMOUNT UNIT INGREDIENT ALLERGEN 300 g dried pasta Gluten 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion 1 clove garlic 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes (one tin) 1 tsp dried mixed herbs 60 g grated cheese Milk Allergens in this dish: cereals containing gluten (wheat, in the pasta) and milk (in the cheese). INGREDIENTS EXAMPLE, INVENTED Method: eight steps METHOD Wash hands, tie hair back, apron on. 1 Peel and chop the onion on a steady board with the claw grip. 2 Warm the oil in a pan on a medium heat; cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft. 3 Add the crushed garlic for 1 minute. 4 Add the tomatoes and herbs; simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring now and then. 5 Meanwhile boil the pasta in a large pan of water for the time on the packet (our packet says 10 minutes). 6 Drain the pasta carefully with the steam away from your face. 7 Mix pasta and sauce, add the cheese and serve. 8 1. How much dried pasta do you need? 2. For how many minutes does the onion cook? 3. Which ingredient has milk in it? 4. Which step says to use the claw grip? 5. Which three things do you do in step 1? READ THE CARD Pupil activity | Page 4 of 5
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FOOD AND NUTRITION AGES 11 TO 14 RECIPE PLANNING Scale it up and down Read the timeline, then halve and double the recipe. Tomato and herb pasta: the plan Minutes 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Chop Onion Garlic Sauce Pasta 0 to 5 5 to 10 10 to 11 11 to 26 16 to 26 Serve at 28 minutes 6. When does the garlic go in? 7. Which two jobs happen at the same time? TIMELINE Halve it and double it Write the unit too. Serves 2: halve each amount, but keep 1 whole garlic clove. Serves 8: double each amount. INGREDIENT SERVES 4 HALVE IT: SERVES 2 DOUBLE IT: SERVES 8 Dried pasta 300 g Olive oil 1 tbsp Onion 1 Garlic 1 clove Tinned chopped tomatoes 400 g (one tin) Dried mixed herbs 1 tsp Grated cheese 60 g SCALE IT Pupil activity | Page 5 of 5
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Teacher companion Plan a dish: ingredients, safety and timing Recipe and scale key Worked tomato pasta serves 4: pasta 300 g; oil 1 tbsp; onion 1; garlic 1 clove; chopped tomatoes 400 g; herbs 1 tsp; cheese 60 g. Serves 2: 150 g, 0.5 tbsp, 0.5 onion, 1 whole garlic clove as the explicit recipe exception, 200 g, 0.5 tsp, 30 g. Serves 8: 600 g, 2 tbsp, 2 onions, 2 cloves, 800 g, 2 tsp, 120 g. Read-the-card answers 1. 300 g pasta. 2. Cook onion for 5 minutes. 3. Grated cheese contains milk. 4. Step 2 uses the claw grip. 5. Wash hands, tie hair back and put an apron on. 6. Garlic goes in at minute 10. 7. Sauce and pasta jobs overlap from minutes 16 to 26. Timing model Chop 0–5 min; soften onion 5–10; garlic 10–11; sauce simmers 11–26; pasta cooks 16–26 using actual packet instructions; drain and serve around 28. This is an example plan, not a guaranteed safe cooking endpoint. Safety and allergens UK FSA time-temperature examples include a core temperature of 75°C for 30 seconds or 70°C for 2 minutes. Agree the actual dish procedure, use a clean probe and check ingredient labels and cross-contact controls. Typical wheat pasta contains gluten and cheese milk; check exact products and every learner’s requirements. Confirm local requirements and approved equipment practice. Educator review Review ingredients, equipment, cutting access, supervision, recipe, storage and timing before any practical. Five pupil pages have planning, hygiene/safety, method/timing, worked recipe and scaling. No practical approval or classroom test is claimed. Primary source https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/cooking-your-food Teacher companion | Page 1 of 1
A teaching sequence
Pupils should produce a dish plan with quantities and units, required equipment, relevant allergy checks, ordered method steps and a workable timeline. They should halve and double the example amounts while recognising the stated whole-garlic-clove exception for two servings.
Read the recipe and equipment needs
Read the worked ingredients and method. Answer the five recipe questions, then identify which equipment the dish requires and which ingredient labels need checking.
Which actual ingredient labels need checking for this dish?
Review practical readiness with the teacher
Review the safety page under the school’s agreed procedure. Confirm the actual products, learners’ requirements and supervision before completing the readiness checklist; a tick alone does not authorise cooking.
Have the products, learner needs and approved procedure been checked before cooking?
Read this invented pasta timeline. The full pupil task includes the teacher-led safety and allergy checks.
Read the complete materialPlan ordered and overlapping jobs
Map the example jobs onto its timeline, noticing that pasta and sauce overlap. Draft the new dish’s ordered steps and identify where simultaneous jobs need separate rows.
Which jobs need separate timeline rows because they happen together?
Scale quantities and review the plan
Halve and double the recipe quantities with units. Check the specified garlic exception, then review the personal plan’s ingredients, timing and equipment with the teacher before a practical.
Have you kept the units and the printed whole-clove exception for halving?
Before you teach
Look for the thinking behind an answer, choose the support your class needs and leave room for an independent response.
What to look for
Look for 150 g pasta and 30 g cheese for two servings, with one whole garlic clove as instructed. The example garlic step starts at minute 10 and pasta overlaps sauce from 16 to 26. If a pupil treats the 28-minute serving time as a safety guarantee, return to the agreed cooking checks for the actual dish.
Give a little support
Use the worked recipe as a reading task before asking for a complete independent plan. Highlight amounts and units together, and place one job on the timeline at a time. Offer an accessible way to record the plan and agree any practical equipment support with the teacher.
Take the idea further
Compare plans for two and eight servings. Identify which ingredient quantities change and which method, equipment or timing assumptions need teacher review rather than automatic multiplication. Revise one part of the larger plan and explain how it affects the order of jobs.
Things to keep in mind
The example timeline is not a safe cooking endpoint. Use exact ingredient labels, local requirements and the teacher-approved practical procedure.
Keep the idea. Make it yours.
Bring your topic, learning goal and class context to PLAI™, then review what you create.
Ideas to try with your class
Sample teaching perspectives on what to try, what to adapt and what to watch for.
Meet The Creators
Meet a creator whose teaching interests connect with this template.
Planning List
The five-page planner links ingredient amounts and units, equipment, allergen checks, method order, timing and scaling. It asks pupils to check every package label each time and notes that the two-serving garlic example stays one whole clove.
Margin Note
The planning sequence moves from what is needed to safe preparation and a timeline. The allergen page stresses not sharing spoons, boards or bowls between foods with and without an allergen.
Paperclip Perspective
A teacher can review ingredients and labels with the pupil before cooking, then check equipment and ordered steps. The list of UK allergens is explicitly country-specific, so settings elsewhere need their own current list.
Coffee Before Copies
The recipe plan does not confirm that a dish is safe for a particular pupil. Follow current school procedures and each package label, check allergies with the teacher and never taste or share unchecked food.