Kitchen Lifestyle Revision…

As my disability increases my attempts to remain independent are looking increasingly expensive.

My cooker – out of warranty – sucks. The solid electric hotplates are more random hotspots than anything else, although they still suck up as much juice as ever. That’s what sent me back to my induction hob a few days ago, because if I can’t cook – even at my current minimal level of once a week or so – then life is going to get difficult. I’ve been in the position where I’m utterly dependent on ready meals and, for someone who enjoys their food as much as I do, that’s purgatorial.

Like many chronically sick and disabled people, my life is basically crap, and one of the few high spots is good food. Deprive me of that, and there’s sod all left to look forward to…

A Spoonie in the kitchen…

For those of us of the disabled persuasion, cooking can be – and all too often is – a major challenge, and frequently, like yesterday, a challenge too far. No matter how good we might be, it’s the lack of physical resources that’s the problem.

My first batch of meds, including morphine, Hydro,** and antibiotics, among much else, was taken at 06.00, second batch at

Spoonie kitchen tip – foil roasters…

Not one I can lay claim to, but watching Christmas with Nigella, or whatever it was called, last night, she made the point that while she likes roasting, she hates scrubbing roasting tins, so uses disposable foil ones instead, and I thought, what a great idea for spoonies. Probably too late for this Christmas though.

So, where do we get them?

Making cooking preparation easier for this Spoonie…

I tweeted, yesterday, that I need a wheelie-friendly flat, and I also need to be able to cook when I can, because being able to do so, even if only occasionally,** means a hell of a hell of a lot to me, and I can’t reconcile the two.  Bugger!***

**Because the ability to do almost everything else in my life that I enjoyed has been taken from me by illness.

***Though, it being Twitter, I was rather more succinct.

But, having given the matter some thought, I might have a solution to the cooking problem,. especially the prep. What I need is a small, but robust

On the mend, and back in the Spoonie kitchen…

Well, boys and girls, at the risk of tempting providence, after 3 absolutely appalling months during which, some days, I didn’t eat as even the minimal effort of opening a can of soup was beyond me, I seem to be on the mend.

I know I’ve said this a couple of times before, and have very quickly been proven wrong, usually with 24 hours, but this time I think it’s for real. How so? Well, I had a good day Tuesday, and another, exceptionally busy, one yesterday,** and getting two functional days in succession – DWP snoops please note

Spoonless in the Kitchen – Update…

It was, as it turned out, remarkably foolish, yesterday, to do what I did just to demonstrate a point – that despite all the scrounger rhetoric, for chronically sick and disabled people, often the simplest of tasks is an uphill, frequently unwinnable, battle.

I knew I’d pay for it today – I’m not an idiot – I just hadn’t realised how

Spoonless in the Kitchen – Making Vegetable Soup, the Hard Way…

This, by the way, is not an extended whinge. My intention is to demonstrate to the doubters, of whom there are far too many, just how difficult, for those of us who are chronically sick and disabled, something they take for granted as quick and simple, can be – like making soup.

And for cynics who say, and some who really should know me better have done so “If you’re as sick and exhausted as you claim, how can you write?” the answer is simple

The Spoonie Kitchen – and how to survive in it…

Apologies, in advance, for the length, a tad over 5,000 words – you could always copy and paste it into your word processor, and either print it and/or read it at your leisure. Or not 😉

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I hope what follows is some help to those who find themselves spoonless all too frequently, but who can, on probably rare occasions, muster sufficient spoons, even with a disability, to cook properly.

The following lists represent what I have in stock as I write. The absence of something you think should be here means little except that I don’t have any right now.

Having been a fully-paid up spoonie for some years now, at the top of my personal what-the-hell? list is what to eat when I’m too buggered to even make cheese on toast.

Emergency food:-

Induction Hob Update – Important…

As I said yesterday, I made a chilli. 14 hours later, it was finally cooked. That’s absurd.

The thing is, I put root veg in chilli, to bulk it up and reduce my meat intake, in this instance carrot and swede, both of which cook only

Induction Hob – Cooking perfection for spoonies…

See also this post https://ronsrants.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/induction-hob-update-important/

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Today I’m using my new induction hob for the first time, to make a chilli  – look, DWP snoops, can we take my usual disclaimer as read? Thank you so much! – so a few tips:-

For sweating off onions and other veggies, use the Power control, on No. 1. Put the pan on the hob, add oil or whatever, and the chopped onions plus anything else you have – THEN turn it on and set the heat level. Not before. This works perfectly, but possibly goes a lot faster than you might be used to – sure as hell faster than my cooker! Does a good job, though – just don’t forget to stir.

I need to spend the minimum amount of time on my feet, and by this stage I’ve