When you have MS, the kitchen is a nightmare and a dream combined.
- You can keep healthy foods in the house to fix, but you may be too fatigued to prepare them.
- You may have weakness in your hands that makes simple tasks challenging, if not downright dangerous.
- Moving between the pantry, the refrigerator, the stove, etc. isn’t the easiest if you have balance issues.
- Heat sensitivity bad. Stove hot.
- Cleaning up takes energy and focus that you might not have at that time of night.
- If you have a family, you have more people to cook for and need to use more energy.
We’re told to ask for help when we need it, but who’s there to help around dinnertime. Spouse is probably battling the traffic on the way home from work. Kids have after-school activities and homework or are too young to help out.
You can save time and energy by grocery shopping online, but you still have to make the food once you’ve taken it home.
I’m always on the lookout for kitchen tools that will get the family fed without exhausting me or starting global thermonuclear war trying to get the kids involved. They’ve even taken over some kitchen tasks because of the tools we’ve found.
Note: There are some affiliate links in this post. My family uses every product mentioned. In some cases, my kids even enjoy using them. I can’t think of a better endorsement.
Do you have more energy in the morning? The crock pot is a BFF for those of us who wear out before dinner’s on the table. Set it up while you’re fresh in the morning, turn it on, and go.
When it’s time for dinner, you’re greeted with the delightful smell of success. You can collapse on the couch if you want to without feeling guilty. No more negative self-talk about letting down your family, wasting food, or wasting money.
You can’t eat all of the food in one meal? Jackpot! You’ve got leftovers that you can refrigerate or freeze for later. Easy cooking for today, easy meals for later.
There are different sized crock pots, so you can pick the one that’s the right size for you. Since my boys are 13 and 11, we had to graduate from the 5-quart to the 8-quart.
The downside to crock pot cooking is the baked-on gunk that is so hard to clean. These liners make clean-up easy. Putting the liner in and then adding the ingredients means nothing gets cooked onto the sides of the crock pot.
On those rare leftover occasions, just pick up the liner and tuck the leftovers into a storage container. Cleaning is so much easier. Worst case scenario – the bag gets punctured by a fork and some juices go into the crock pot. It’s still so much easier to clean since it’s not baked on.
An iced tea maker is a cheap and easy way to make your own. Fill the pot to the water line and pour into the machine. Add ice and sugar/Splenda/other sweeteners/nothing at all into the pitcher. Put tea bags in the basket and turn it on. It turns off automatically when it’s done. Steep as long as you want, then there’s your tea.
If you’re a big iced tea fan, you’ll probably want the 3-quart version. I promised myself that I’d get a 3-quart when I have to replace mine – we’re Southerners and love our sweet tea. I’m still using my 2-quart relic I bought before my kids were born.
Brewing your own iced tea is more than 10 times cheaper than buying 12-packs of cans.
Good rice and other grains require babysitting. You have to figure out just how long to cook it and how often to stir it. If you miscalculate, you’ve either got a pot full of gum or a burnt crust in your pan.
You could go the boil-in-bag route to make yourself white or brown rice. The big downside? The bagged rice tastes just like the cardboard box it came in.
Not now. Put rice, grains, or blends into the cooker, then add water and/or broth. Many rice cookers have a steamer basket that you can load up with food to steam while the rice cooks. Hit the button and wait for the beep. Fluff the rice, and you’re done.
Now we have rice every week. It’s so easy, my boys are willing to make it.
Chopping takes a lot more time and energy than you might think. If you’re standing while you do it, you have to keep your balance while trying not to hurt your back or shoulders. And if your hands are weak, good luck with those knives.
I stopped making some of my recipes that require a lot of chopping, such as my antipasto bread. A food processor means those high chopping recipes can come out of retirement. Just load the machine and let it do the work.
Trying to finely dice onions or chop up small herbs can lead to the ER instead of to a yummy home-cooked meal. Or you can just put them in a mini chopper, push a button, and you’ll have cut up food and intact fingers.
This tool is great for working out aggression. Just put the food under the chopper and slam down on the top until your food is chopped (or you’ve gotten out your anger). You can chop onions without crying. And it’s easy to take it apart for cleaning.
It’s a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen. My boys saw me use it and immediately wanted to take over. Now they fight over who gets to do the pounding.
This small tool is a powerhouse, especially if you’re like me and have hand weakness. Have you noticed that water bottle caps are getting smaller and smaller? Need to pop a soda can top? Open ring tops on cans? Just use the opener. The handle has pictures of how to use it, so you don’t have to remember it or find an instruction manual anytime you want to use it.
I have 3 – one in my drawer at home, one in my walker bag, and one in my purse so I can use it at home or away.
So the little caps are under control with the opener. Aren’t there times you’d like to open up a jar of salsa or some spaghetti sauce when no once else is at home? The Oxo jar opener has a thick, easy to grip handle that takes away the frustration and the problem lids.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients but can also come with dirt and chemicals that you don’t want to eat. Slip this brush onto your finger, and it’s quick and easy to clean them.
I’m always on the lookout for kitchen hacks. Do you have any that have made your cooking easier? Let me know in the comments.
