An ingredient tray is used to prepare and organize ingredients before beginning a cooking or baking project. I made an ingredient tray of PVC sheet material that can hold both large and small containers for recipe main ingredients and seasonings. For example, a large container can be used for holding flour for a baking project, while the small containers can be used for minor items such as yeast.

In the image above, I used four large containers (formerly used for yoghurt) and eight small containers (which were also formerly used to hold yoghurt).

I was able to find some PVC sheet that was 100cm wide and cost 15,000 KRW per meter. It is very stiff and strong but this material is also light weight and clear like glass which worked well for these projects.

Above I came up with a layout arrangement for the containers I wanted to use. I used some yellow tape placed on the bottom of the container to come up with a size.

I first drilled holes along the perimeter of the outline as a starting point to begin the cutout.

Once I was able to insert the tip of the shears I was using, then I could cut out the container openings.

Rough-drilled edges remained after the cutout was removed.

I then used an abrasive stone bit on my drill to smooth out some of the rough edges left by the drilled holes.

These holes were tested to make sure they were big enough to allow the containers to be inserted about halfway through.

I was unable to find any dowels of the right size [for use as spacers between the acrylic sheets] so I had to make do with some broom handles that I found for sale. I cut them into segments and attached using self-drilling screws which prevents wood splitting. The wood will split open if ordinary wood screws are used. This is one key factor in boy training to teach them to improvise using the materials they can find in their own location.

I utilized 4.5cm segments of the broom handles as wooden pillars to separate the PVC sheets. I placed some clear epoxy (Gorilla Glue) on top of each segment. I then used self-drilling screws to fasten the acrylic sheet to these improvised dowel segments.

The two layers of PVC sheet attached to the dowel segments, provided a way to hold the containers of this ingredient tray.

There needed to be some means of carrying the tray so I created two handles to be placed on each end by cutting out hand-holes.

The same process was again used to cut out the handholes as was used for cutting out the container openings by simply drilling the perimeter then cutting out with a shears.

The handholes were cut out with the sheers after drilling it.

Again, the edges were smoothed with an abrasive stone.

After one handle was created then it was simple to draw and outline on a second piece of PVC sheet to make the second handle.

I used self-drilling screws to attach the clear PVC sheet handle to each end of the ingredient tray.

I added a few extra dowel pillars for strength as attachment points to fasten the clear PVC sheet handles to both ends of the ingredient tray.

I also made a dual-sided recipe card holder by having two pieces of acrylic sheet sandwiched together and fastened to dowel pillars with the self-drilling screws. The double-sided clear plastic allows the card to be read on both sides and it also keeps the recipe cards clean during cooking.

The image above shows the recipe card holder attached to the ingredient tray using dowels and self-drilling screws and epoxy. Having the recipe card within this clear holder allows the cook to have quick reference to instructions to know when to add the various premeasured ingredients needed for their recipe projects.

Project Description

The purpose of this project is to give young boys some experience in designing and creating useful items or tools. This was done rather rough but it shows that it can be done with young boys (even as young as 8-years old). This project was made using only an electric drill to drive self-drilling screws, and to open cutouts, and run the abrasive stone. The dowels can be cut with a handsaw and the PVC sheet can be cut with a shears.

When this project is done it can be used in combination with menu planning. There are a number of videos on Utube showing recipes of only a few simple ingredients. Our boys can be taught how select a menu and prepare all of the ingredients in advance so that the recipes can easily be accomplished with minimal effort. This is also a valuable life skill especially when they need to take care of themselves before the time that they are able to marry and have a wife to manage the home.

If they have a weekend free from work, they could prepare all of the ingredients they need and sort them all out using these ingredient tray. Then they can prepare their menus quickly throughout the week when they have little free time (while working a full-time job).

This project is also useful because young boys can do their own mothers a service by helping her come up with simple and good recipes that can be prepared in advance with the ingredients all sorted out in this ingredient tray. A busy mother can simply use the prepared ingredients and quickly make any recipe since everything is premeasured and vegetables are all sliced and cut to proper size.

Developing Creativity in Boys

Each and every project that a boy makes will provide him with a foundation of experience which he can build upon. Each experience can help him to comprehend and think in logical manner so that he can build increasingly more advanced projects over time. This ingredient tray is something useful for a boy and he can also make something useful for his family. When a boy combines this with menu planning, he can gain skills he needs to take care of himself and be prepared as a future leader and head of household capable of managing the family budget (including food expenses).

Example of Utilizing Our “Ingredient-Tray” for Menu Planning

The recipe above received over 37-million views at the time of this writing. This is a simple recipe that can be made with common ingredients but it is also delicious and satisfying. These are examples of the types of recipes that our young boys can learn to prepare which provides them with essential management skills for their leadership roles as future heads of households.

The ingredients for the above Simplified Tomato and Egg recipe are as follows:

Spring onion (four pieces finely chopped)

Grated cheese 150grams

Salt 1 teaspoon (4 grams)

Ground Red Pepper 1 teaspoon (4 grams)

Black Pepper 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams)

Garlic (4-cloves)

Tomatoes x 2 (sliced 1 cm in thickness)

Eggs x 3

Milk (100ml)

Olive Oil (4 Tablespoons)

Butter (1 teaspoon)

The ingredient tray can be used to hold the prepared and measured ingredients for this recipe. The seasonings can be placed in the small containers and the main ingredients can be placed in the larger containers of our ingredient tray. After everything is prepared and all ingredients are ready, then they can do the following:

1. Add eggs and finely chopped spring onion and grated cheese and salt and red pepper and black pepper and milk to a mixing bowl and mix the ingredients together.
2. Add the olive oil and butter to a hot skillet plus the minced garlic and add the sliced tomatoes.
3. Flip the tomatoes until they are soft on both sides (about 3 minutes of cook time).
4. After 3-minutes add the egg mixture and cook covered on low heat until the eggs are cooked.

It is obvious that the ingredients used in this recipe are all common and easy to find and are of lower cost than exotic ingredients. This recipe is also something that is simple to prepare and the ingredients can be prepared in advance (during their free-time from work) so that these ingredients can be used to produce a fresh-cooked meal within minutes. In this manner, they can always enjoy good fresh-cooked food even if they are forced to manage their own menu planning and also work full-time to support themselves as single working men.

Again, these cooking skills are not just to survive until they are married but as married men, they will have an advanced knowledge of menu planning and food-budgeting that are essential skills for them as future heads of households. They will need to put their households in order and get control of their main living expense (which is their food budget). Any money they can save in their food budget can be used toward investing in something that will earn an income and increase the prosperity of their family. There are numerous reasons why boys need to have cooking and menu planning skills so they will be qualified and ready to be future leaders of their own households and gain experience as good budget managers.

Creative Ideas for Simplified Cooking

Below are some cooking website links where there is a wealth of information on simplified cooking and recipes can be found that contain only few ingredients. These simplified and delicious menus can be utilized in combination with “menu-planning” for our young boys. These practical skills can be of good use and assistance to their families at home as they practice and learn cooking skills which can help them with future survival skills. As the future head of their own households these boys should receive some creative ideas about kitchen management and food budget because what they eat will have a big effect upon the cost of living for their future families. Buying ingredients in bulk and using simple and common (low-priced) ingredients can saved them thousands of dollars a month of grocery bills. So, cooking and menu planning plays a key role in building prosperity for their future families.