Organise your kitchen
- Keep the kitchen items that you use most often together and within easy reach. For example keep tea, coffee and sugar next to kettle where you will use them.
- Organise your kitchen cupboards so you don’t need to bend down or reach up for the items you use regularly.
- Leave dishes to drain on a rack instead of towel drying.
© Nottingham Rehab
© Nottingham Rehab
Tips to save your energy when cooking
- Sit down to cook, or take regular rests while preparing your meals. This helps you to manage more easily and to pace yourself.
- Slide heavy items such as pans of food along worktops rather than lifting them.
- If preparing food while standing keep your body close to the worktop for support.
- Kitchen trolleys are useful to carry items around the kitchen or to other rooms in the house.
- Use recipes which can be made in one pan.
- Try using a metal basket inside your saucepan. Placing whatever you are cooking in the basket inside the pan means you do not need to lift a heavy hot saucepan; easier when draining cooked vegetables, potatoes, pasta.
- Have some pre made meals as options for days when you really don’t feel like cooking. This could be small portions of foods you can re heat in a microwave straight from your fridge or freezer or quick cook foods like scrambled eggs on toast, tins of soup, fruit or milkshakes.
- Some companies specialise in ready meal deliveries for your freezer.
- Most local council social work departments will have arrangements for delivery of meals for housebound people. Contact your local council. You could ask your local council if there is a lunch club near you.
