Cooking is often a challenge after brain injury. Courtney Larson said in her book that she had forgotten how to cook. If you have read our book, Brain Injury Survivor's Guide, you know that Beth had the same problem.
Step 1: Organize Your Kitchen
Use the Kitchen Layout List from your Planner Pages. Prepare some small pieces of paper, about 1 or 2 inches square. Number the pieces of paper. If you prefer, you can use 1- or 2-inch pieces of masking tape. These will be your kitchen tags.
We recommend that you begin on the LEFT side of your kitchen and "tag" cabinets and drawers as you move around to the right. You may even want to add a note to your Kitchen Layout List that you numbered from left to right.
Some of you (like Beth) will not want to put the tags on the outside of the cabinet or drawer for all the world to see. If you place your tags out of sight, your Kitchen Layout List will give you an idea which is Tag 1, Tag 2, and so forth.
Put tag 1 on a cabinet or drawer, and write on your Kitchen Layout List the basic items in that cabinet or drawer. It might be Big Pots or it might be Corningware or skillets.
Go around the kitchen until you have "tagged" all cabinets and drawers and completed your Kitchen Layout List. Now you should be able to find all the cooking utensils as well as the plates, glasses and silverware you'll use later.
Step 2: Let's Cook
There are three items you should have: your Meal Planning List and your Meal Preparation List from the Planner Pages and a recipe. (We will be adding many recipes to this site that you can use.)
The Meal Planning List provides a way for you to organize the entire meal and to know what ingredients, utensils and cookware you will need for each food item. The Kitchen Layout List should tell you where those items are located.
The Meal Preparation List should contain all the food items from your Meal Planning List. It will also tell you where to prepare each food items. Does it go in the oven? Do you cook it on the stove? Or, microwave? Or, are you using an outdoor grill?
The Meal Preparation List also has the amount of time you should cook the item as well as a column for you to write it the time you began cooking each item. You should not leave the kitchen while cooking unless you set a timer to sound an alarm.
You certainly do not want to go outside the house. You also do not want to go anywhere you cannot hear your alarm.
Using the lists and a few simple tips should have you cooking to your heart's content. The more you do it, the better you will get at it.
Click here for meal ideas.
We will soon be featuring a recipe section. If you would like to send us a simple, easy-to-fix recipe, click here.
Welcome to Our World ...
and our Website
