Lt. Courtney Foster of the Lockport Township Fire Protection District can’t visit schools now to promote fire safety, so she’s turning to social media — and a few favorite recipes — to get her message across.
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Foster and some of her colleagues are sharing some of their favorite kid-friendly recipes on Facebook as a way to promote fire safety in the kitchen. The recipes are easy enough for children ages 8 or older to prepare, with some adult supervision, Foster said.
The first episode of “Firefighters Cooking with Kids,” is scheduled to be posted this weekend on the Lockport Township Fire Protection District Facebook page. In that episode, Foster will share one of her favorite childhood recipes for sloppy joes.
She said she also was able to squeeze in a few safety tips as she prepared the meal.
“We’re using this opportunity, while we have to stay at home, to teach cooking safety,” Foster said.
She plans to feature a different recipe each week through at least the rest of May. The governor’s stay-at-home order was recently extended until May 30.
Each week, a photo montage of the ingredients needed for that week’s recipe will be posted to the department’s Facebook page. A few days later, a video including the recipe and preparation of the featured item will be posted.
Foster said she was trying to come up with something for children to do at home that is interactive and still promoted some aspect of fire safety.
Those tips include keeping towels or anything flammable away from open flame, turning pan handles away from you so you don’t knock over a pan on the stove and how to properly use a knife.
Foster said the first recipe was for a dish she learned to make when she was 8 years old. She still makes her sloppy joes recipe to this day.
“I still make it for lunch,” she said. “Though I make it more spicy.”
She’s still working on which recipes to feature in the future but noted an upcoming episode will feature a fellow firefighter sharing a recipe for strawberry shortcake.
Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.