The one thing I have found about cooking with a physical handicap is that everybody will need to do things differently and with different modifications. I have chosen recipes that I can make and modified them to work for my physical challenges. Some handicapped cooking tips that I would like to share are:
Plan a menu:
This may sound silly but with no way for me to run out to the grocery store at the last minute, I need to plan ahead. I plan out dinners for a few weeks. Having a list of entrees and whatever side dishes goes with them is the only way I can manage. I pick the dinners I want to make based on my mood and the weather. Choosing dinners off of the list for a specific night with the fresh ingredients that could spoil first is part of the decision making process. It takes me many hours a week to come up with a menu, make a list of ingredients and get them on a shopping list. If I didn’t do this, we would be eating ramen every night.
Read your recipe through a few times before beginning to cook:
If you can’t move quickly it is best if there are not any surprise cooking maneuvers. Know how much time you need for different steps or different dishes. I often count backwards from the time I want to serve to find my start time.
Gather your ingredients at the beginning:
Get everything out of the refrigerator at once or everything from the same cupboard at once. Having extra measuring cups or small bowls is extremely helpful to measure out ingredients. I put ingredients that go into the dish at the same time together in the same bowl. I do a modified version of mise en place which is just a French term for “everything in its place”. They make small glass bowls specifically for this but any inexpensive dishwasher safe set of glass or metal bowls will help get all your ingredients prepared, measured and laid out before cooking.
Use whatever kitchen tools you need:
My cooking has changed a lot due to my MS. Because I am cooking from a wheelchair and my hands have less strength and coordination, I have had to throw out some of the old cooking wisdom of only using tools that multitask. For example, minced garlic and pressed garlic have slightly different flavors in food. I used to be more particular about mincing garlic with a knife in certain recipes. Now, I don’t want to risk slipping and cutting myself with a chopping knife and just use the garlic press or my food processor all of the time for garlic.
I use my food processor to chop or slice things when I can and use kitchen shears on things like fresh herbs and to cut pita bread. Making cooking compromises has been a challenge for me but I’m finally getting there! Use or buy whatever kitchen gadgets make cooking easier and safer for yourself. It took me a while to get rid of that mentality of not wasting money on single task tools. Get what you need!
Think outside of the box:
If one way of doing things is too difficult, maybe there is another way to do it. Instead of melting chocolate in a double boiler, I do it in the microwave. I make homemade macaroni and cheese in my Instant Pot because I don’t have to drain the macaroni. Sometimes simplifying a recipe is often the only way I can make that thing. I streamline recipes by grouping ingredients or combining steps. It helps that I have enough knowledge of cooking techniques that I can change things.The more you do it, the more confidence you will feel.
The reason I started this site is to share the modifications that I have figured out and recipes that will work with them. I had trouble finding a site that had recipes all in one place that would work for me so I created this one to share with you!
Get help when you can:
This is a tough one. For me, asking for help when cooking is hard. Cooking has always been my area of expertise. I don’t want to bother anyone and when I ask and I don’t want to say to say too much when I see they are doing the task ALL WRONG.
Not everyone has someone else around when they are cooking. Right now there are things I can’t reach. I often have someone get those things down before they leave the house in the morning. I haven’t yet figured out how to safely get a big pot of boiling water off of the stove by myself. If I decide that there is no other way to make a recipe and I really want to make it in this way, I have to ask someone to do this step for me.
Don’t be afraid of prepared ingredients:
I was the person that even I laughed at who made everything from scratch. This included among many other things, making my own instant oatmeal, granola and marinara sauce. There is no way I can do that anymore. I have figured out which jarred marinara sauces taste closest to my homemade and unabashedly use prepared. There are plenty of good prepared products on the market and I have learned to read ingredients labels with less care. I’ve let go of some of my concerns about the ingredients added to products. Other times I read an ingredient list, draw the line and just move on.
Conserve your energy:
I only have the energy to do so much for small blocks of time. Muscle fatigue gets worse for me as the day goes on. I deal with this by doing different parts of my dinner preparation earlier in the day. as well as by spreading preparation out into short periods of time throughout the day. For example, I might slice chicken in the morning and then chop my vegetables in the early afternoon. This only uses about 15 minutes at a time on each task. Resting in between working is a must for me. Know your body and capabilities.
It’s OK to give up or postpone!:
There is no shame in throwing in the towel! I have started many recipes early in the day and then realized that my body was not cooperating with what I had planned by mid afternoon. Whatever needs to get put away goes back into the freezer or fridge and the meal gets postponed to another day. I keep “emergency” dinners around that can just be microwaved for that all too common situation. Of course, there is always pizza delivery.