The Accessible Kitchen: Healthy Eating and Vision Loss Part Three
by Polly Abbott, CVRT Tags: Cooking, cooking with vision loss, recipes
PART THREE: Healthy Eating Usually Means Cooking from Scratch
Cooking from scratch usually means following recipes. How are you going to save and access them? Do you need computer skills? Recipes on tape? A large print cookbook? An iPad with zoom or voice over? There are many options to explore. In the end a personally compiled selection of favorite recipes will be your go-to for years to come.
If you read print:
- Rewrite you favorite recipes carefully into large print and then kept in a binder might be the easiest solution.
- Type recipe into a Word document and save it on your computer. Print it up in any size font your wish. If your vision changes, you can keep printing in larger font as needed.
- If you are reading regular print with a magnifier, you might like to photocopy your recipes and use the enlarging feature to create larger text. This is a particularly helpful strategy if you are getting a recipe from a magazine with small font and too many colors. The photocopier can make the print bigger and everything black and white.
- If you use an iPad, you can view recipes in larger font as needed by using the Zoom features or simply by “pinching up” the view on screen to make the text larger.
Other ideas:
Saving the recipes as electronic files on your computer is never a waste of time spent typing. Once you have it on the computer, you could also transfer it to a more portable device such as a Victor Reader Stream and cook by listening to it.
- Use a digital voice recorder to record someone reading your recipe to you. When you eat something you like, a recorder is handy to have when you ask the chef to tell you how to make it yourself.
- If you use a screen reader or wish to have just text, try www.recipesource.com. This is a solely text-based searchable database. You can search by country, ingredient, or type of dish.
- Many foods we buy have a recipe on the package. Access all package information by using www.directionsforme.org. It’s a searchable database with all of the print information there for you to read. Just type in the name of what you bought. If you can’t remember what brand, a drop-down list of options will be there for you to choose from.
- Cooking apps such as “Yes Chef”. This app from Conversant Labs is available for both iPhone and iPad. You can search for recipes with voice commands. The app will read the ingredients and directions back to you.
You may find you end up using a variety of strategies. You might go on-line and find something new to try and then realize after you have made it several time that it has become a favorite that needs to be typed up and saved in your personal collection. Finding new ways to prepare vegetables and other healthy foods is a great way to avoid boredom at the dinner table. Keep your attention on eating for health while enjoying the flavor!
Read Part One: You Can Learn All the Skills You Need to Cook Healthy Meals
Read Part Two: Identifying Items in the Pantry and Reading Package Information
Polly is a Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist and Director of Rehabilitation Services at Second Sense
