some kitchen & cooking tips that helped me a lot lately!
I've always had the hardest heckin time with cooking and kitchen management. From deciding what to have as a meal to grocery shopping to actually cooking, every step of it was a source of stress, guilt and many other bad feelings. I was confused and disheartened and I felt so alone because I seemed to have the hardest time with something other people did so easily and casually.
After I came to terms with my neurospicyness, my wife introduced me to a facebook group called Executive Dysfunction Meals and it quite literally changed my life. Learning that I was not alone in this very specific struggles was so darn validating, and from there on I started learning and coming up with strategies to make my life in the kitchen bearable, and even fun (shocking, I know!).
I'm very passionate about paying forward and spreading help and information, so I'm gonna start typing down the strategies and tips that have helped me the most so far. I hope it may be of help to someone out there!
(Please note I am not a professional and I'm not claiming to know the best way to do anything, these are all just my personal experience.~)
Optimize your space (specifically for you): You know how fridges usually have a big drawer type of space specially for veggies? I used to put my veggies and greens there, but then my brain would magically Out-Of-Sight-Out-Of-Mind them away. Countless times I'd open the drawer up, weeks later, just to find rotten veggies and liquified greens. Then punish myself with guilt and anger... Until at some point we decided that enough was enough, that simply wasn't working out to our advantage, and we changed things up entirely: We started putting things that don't go bad in the big drawer, such as beverage cans, unopened juice boxes, pickled greens etc, and the veggies now go on the area just above, out in the open, so I can see them everytime I open up the fridge. I also have a little magnet whiteboard on the fridge's door, and whenever we do groceries I make a list of the stuff we have to consume quickly before it goes bad - visual cues help me quite a bit. I'm happy to say it's been quite a while since we've let greens go to waste!!!
Optimize your space (specifically for you) II: In the same logic as the item above, you can (and should) adapt your space to you, and not the other way around. I have a little stepladder that I use as a stool whenever I'm cooking or washing dishes, because it's hard for me to stand up for too long. Whenever I start using a utensil more often and it was initially stored behind doors or someplace hard to reach, I change things up to bring it closer and have it easily accessible. If I don't use something for more than a year, I put it away a little further away to free up space for something I use often. I'm always optimizing my space and keeping the things I use the most very easily accessible; it's not an easy process to change things up like this, but I promise the positive effects of this strategy are long lasting in my daily routine!
Learn the best way to freeze and use leftovers, vegetables and fruit, and adapt them to your routine: I freeze chopped bananas and avocados that would go bad otherwise, because I like turning them into smoothies. Leftover rice is saved to make fried rice which we love! Learning the best way to freeze broccoli was a game changer and it gave me a week of really nice quick meals! Google is your friend and there's so much handy info out there, being curious and adventurous really pays back in the kitchen.
Batch make and freeze sandwiches for a quick snack: I picked this tip up from the Exec Dysfunction Meals group! I've been doing it for a few weeks and it really helps. Whenever I feel like I have the extra spell slots, I make a couple more sandwiches than I would normally, put them in little freezer baggies and freeze them. Whenever my wife and I want a quick bite and don't feel like making anything, grabbing a sammich and popping it on our sandwich toaster is so easy and it makes a warm and crunchy meal. I've done it with ham, cheese and oregano, I have friends who do this with plain toast too.
Batch make garlic paste and chopped onions to freeze, for quick cooking starters: Yes I'm aware a lot of people speak against this, but hear me out. As a brazilian, a lot of my cooking starts with crushed garlic and chopped onions. Whenever possible, I do prefer these ingredients to be prepared and used as fresh as I can, but whenever the executive dysfunction or the joint pains hit, having these starters ready to go help a lot. For the garlic, I either crush or process a head of garlic or a handful of cloves finely with salt, then use silicon ice trays to freeze it into little cubes. For the onions, I chop them finely on the food processor, get rid of the excess water, put them into a freezer bag and use the dull side of a knife - or a spoon - to shape them into flat little squares (the flatter it is, the easier it will be to defrost and sauteé them). When it comes the time to get some rice or some stir fry started, I grab one little cube of garlic and one little square of onion and sauteé them; it's quick, easy, and effortless.
Process anything you can: This one is kind of specific, but for some reason I was raised to think that everything is better if it has a lot of effort involved, specially in the kitchen. That's the reason why I've hesitated so much to really put our food processor to use, and kept insisting to do a lot of things the "traditional" way. In the last few years I finally stopped pushing myself and now I use it to grate, slice, chop and blend everything I can. Being adventurous and figuring out in which ways can I put the processor to use instead of doing things by hand is a fun puzzle, too. Besides, a masterfully crafted meal with things finely chopped by my own hands won't help me at all if it never becomes a reality due to how tired or sore I feel to cook.
[I might either come back and add more to this post in the future, or reblog it to add more tips!]
