What's for Dinner?
Cooking with a disability can be made easier with some simple prep
If you have a disability, you may think that delicious meals are too difficult and time-consuming for you to prepare. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Delicious meals are not always difficult to prepare and do not have to be as time-consuming as you may think. With just a few simple steps taken before you begin the actual preparation and cooking of the meal, a wonderful meal can be on your dinner table every night of the week.
First, survey your kitchen. Look around your kitchen and ask yourself a few questions. Is everything I need within my reach (ingredients, spices, cookware, utensils)? If the answer is no, you may need to start planning the menu in advance of the nights you cook. That way, you can ask your PCA to get out everything you will need before she/he leaves for the day.
Is your preparation area sufficient? In other words, is there enough room for you to work and is everything, i.e. sink, stove, convenient to the prep area? If not, try doing some rearranging in a way that makes sense for you. We’d all love to have the custom-made kitchen of our dreams in our home, but sometimes, that just isn’t possible. So be creative and set up your kitchen in a way that works for you.
Next comes the actual food preparation. If the recipe you are using calls for chopping, slicing, dicing or mincing and you can’t do it, ask your PCA to help you out. You can also buy pre-chopped vegetables for stir-fry or bagged lettuce for a salad.
Gather all your wet and dry ingredients before you begin prepping the meal to cook. Measure out all dry ingredients and put them in a bowl so that you can add them all at once. This will save you from having to take the time to measure out an ingredient in the midst of cooking and it is perfectly acceptable, unless the recipe indicates that the ingredients should be added in a certain order. The same applies to liquid ingredients. Measure and pour all liquids into a large (32 or 64 oz.) cup. This way, you only have to pour the liquids once.
On to the actual cooking. There aren’t many tips for cooking, because cooking is basically all done the same way. Invest in a set of cast iron cookware. Not only is cast iron better for cooking in, it is heavy enough to stay in place on the stove when you stir the contents. It is also durable enough to withstand any scrapes from spoons.
And never forget the wonders of the Crock Pot. Almost anything can be made in the slow cooker with little effort and easy clean up. Simply prepare the ingredients the night before, then throw them together in the slow cooker the next morning, set the timer and go about your day. When the timer goes off, dinner is done.
Cooking when you have a disability can be as easy as that.
