Culinary Arts Students make pre-packaged meals

At Compass Academy in Idaho Falls they like to give students real life experience. That’s certainly happening in the culinary arts department. Their latest project combines cooking skills with entrepreneurship.

“We wanted to give them an opportunity to create their own business or entrepreneurial project so that they can give people that don’t normally cook an experience in a box,” culinary arts teacher Brenda Williams said.

It’s patterned after businesses like Blue Apron, where all the raw ingredients are packaged up into a tasty healthy meal in a box with instructions on how to cook it.

“So they’ve created their own recipes. They’re making them original and testing them out,” Williams explained.

This class does other fun projects like “Chopped” competitions like you see on the Food Network. They also actually cater some school meetings and other small events. The students love the experience.

“I enjoy this class immensely because it’s so valuable and the teachings it gives – it gives all sorts of fundamentals,” Cayge Lingo said. “Every day we learn a fundamental that is crucial in the basic learning process of the culinary arts.”

For the students it’s rewarding to show off the final product and then sample it.

If you’d like to buy some of the class’ proportioned fresh ingredient meals with instructions on how to cook them, you can contact Brenda Williams at 525-7549. All the money raised goes back into student organizations that benefit the students.