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We all know too well how hard it is living with chronic illness. It can be hard just to look after ourselves. Before I became ill I enjoyed cooking, now it’s is one of the things that I personally find difficult. Specifically, the preparing of the ingredients. Most of the time we end up opting for ready meals, takeaways, toast or cereal. All things that aren’t the best for us.
Recently I pledged to myself to eat a more healthy and balanced diet. I’m ditching the ready meals in favor of home cooked meals. To do this I’ve had to rethink my whole cooking process. I need to find ways of making healthy recipes and not zapping myself of all my energy. I’ve created these 5 tips that will hopefully help cooking be a little bit easier for us all.
Prepared Ingredients
When looking at recipes I’ve found that the ones I really want to try out are the ones that require a lot of food preparation. Using knives can be extremely painful on the hands and cause arms to become fatigued and making them feel heavy. It makes you feel that you don’t want to continue making the meal. This shouldn’t be the reason that you don’t try out new recipes and become a little adventurous in the kitchen.
To avoid the pain and fatigue from preparing meals, the easiest solution is to buy pre-prepared ingredients. Many supermarkets will sell pre-grated, sliced, diced and chopped vegetables. In store butchers will prepare any meat for you, all you have to do is ask. Having the pre-prepped ingredients will save not only from unwanted pain but also time, which means less time spend standing.
The downside of buying pre-prepared ingredients is that it might be a little bit more expensive than normal, but if its saving us spoons.
Rest Up
Standing in front of kitchen counters and cookers can use a lot of energy that we don’t necessarily have. In the past this has been a reason I personally have chosen not to cook and go for a ready meal instead. One suggestion is to have a stool or seat in the kitchen and other rooms in the home.
Having these seats or stools in strategic places means that whenever you feel that you need to sit and rest they are there. You can have a seat to rest up for a few minutes until you feel ready to continue your task or even sit on the seat while you are doing said task.
I would never have thought of doing this as I live in a small flat but there have been times when I’ve felt like going from one room to another that I need to sit down. I will be getting a folding stool for our kitchen so I can rest when needed. Letting me become a culinary genius.
Slow Cooking and One Pot Dishes
In the last few years I’ve seen an increase in the amount of slow cooker or one pot recipes which are great for Chagies. Pinterest is a great resource for finding these recipes. You can find something for everyone and every dietary requirement.
The best part of using a slow cooker is that you can throw in all the ingredients, set the timer and forget about it until its ready. You have time to rest or get anything else done.
Batch Cook and Freeze
As Chargies no two days are the same. One day we feel like we could take on the world, the next day we may feel like the world has rolled over us. On those days it’s good to have food in the fridge or freezer than can be warmed up and eaten without much effort.
When you do feel like cooking, double the recipe and freeze what isn’t used. That will give the you peace of mind that there is something healthy and nutritious for you and your family to eat.
Do Prep Work in Bed
This is another great suggestion. Take some of the ingredients of the recipes your following into the bedroom and do some of the chopping and mixing of spices while sitting up in bed. This lets you find a comfortable position while you get the ingredients ready for cooking.
If you have other tips to share with readers, please leave a comment below. If you try any of these tips please let us know how you get on with them!
About the Author
Nicola Ogston is a blogger who writes about chronic illness, disability and parenting. She lives in central Scotland and tries to share her chronic illness journey with the world.
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