How to cook & keep house with one arm?!

Dave_liverpool

Having been in a 1 armed situation I sympathise

I found most things difficult to do to be honest

Unless its preprepared stir fry are out! I found ready meals easiest, bung in the micro or oven and wait. It took as long as the cooking time to sort out a plate cutlery and a drink!
Chopping, slicing and serving were impossible, I could do cold drinks!

What I did do was get OH to leave me stuff! then reheat or eat!

eta
I also found eating a pain as I couldn't cut up!

newlywed

Risotto? You can buy frozen chopped onions and fresh chopped mushrooms I believe.
Then it's just stir, add rice, stir, add stock, stir etc.

Any

Also depends which arm... the mainly used hand? (if you are right handed then right hand?) If so, just get ready made meals.

Good points about the slicing - you need something soft that is easy to slice... though my OH has been known cutting bacon etc with clean scissers...

You can buy ready made anything... ready made mash and fish fingers?
Chips and burger (ready made burger)? Mash and chicken kyev?

I know there are not OS foods, but desperate situation requires desperate measures.

anguk

My OH only has use of his right hand and he manages most things. It does take a bit of time to adapt though and we do have a few things that help out like a hands-free tin opener & jar/bottle opener. One of the things he does struggle with is cutting, he can't hold with one hand & cut with the other so most things get sliced or chopped in the food processor or I do it. You do have to be very careful especially with hot food and sharp knives! My OH can't lift heavy baking sheets or casserole dishes out of the oven but it's okay for us as I'm always with him so I do everything he can't.

If you're only going to be one-handed for a short time I'd stick to easy things that don't really need 2 hands but if it's long-term or permanent it's worth buying a few one-handed aids. I can recommend a "knork" for cutting food on your plate, Tesco sell a set for £14.99.
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-0390.aspx

My OH finds dressing with one hand harder than cooking, hence the fact that he now has very few clothes with buttons and his footwear is either slip-on or velcro fastened.

Pink.

Hi MrsCrafty,

I would think that most things that can be oven baked should be ok, also soups, stews, casseroles etc that can be thrown into one pot. Do you (or the person concerned) have anyone who could help with chopping etc in advance and leave the ingredients in the fridge, ready to be assembled and cooked?

This thread isn't particularly about cooking, but might help:

How to cook & keep house with one arm?!

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

poppy-glos

how about using a basket (like an old fashioned chip pan basket) for putting food on the hob to boil, so the basket can be put in with the food in and lifted out with the food in, ie veg and stuff?

Pitlanepiglet

You have my sympathy, a friend of mine had shoulder surgery last year and was one handed for ages.

Lifting things in and out of the oven isn't a great idea unless they are very small light items, most casserole dishes are heavy to use one handed.

An electric tin opener comes highly recommended by my friend.

Even strirring things in a frying pan is dangerous as you really need to be able to hang onto the pan as well to ensure that it doesn't fly off the hob.

She had prepared quite a lot of home made ready meals before her surgery and also got her husband to leave things out for her each day.

I suspect that there would be social services assistance for people who are unable to manage on their own.

heretolearn_2

Been there myself so you have my sympathies.

One of the hardest things is cutting. So buy the ready chopped frozen veg (I didn't know you could get chopped onion, for example, until I found it in desperation) and stick to portions of meat/fish that don't need to be carved up, so chops rather than a joint.

I managed ok getting trays in and out of the oven, as long as not too heavy, and of course I avoided anything like roast potatoes in hot oil.

You can't do anything that needs mixing or stirring vigourously as it'll 'travel' and if its a hot pan like a wok/stir-fry, it's dangerous. Likewise I could do small saucepans only, to pour anything bigger than a milk pan one-handed is hard and could be dangerous. Especially draining off boiling water into colander etc for veg, I nearly had a very nasty accident with a medium sized saucepan.

So firstly, be careful, don't push yourself into doing more than is safe!

The packs of microwave veg/microwave rice are great, easy to do, safe, and let you keep a healthy diet. Add some meat you can grill, chicken legs/port chops or simple fish, and you are there.

sp1987

Jacket potato? No cutting involved until right at the end. You could even put just cheese/non tinned goods on it to avoid the dreaded tin opening which is bad enough with two arms. Unless you have a nice someone who can open your tins for you in advance to stick in the fridge? You could then have tuna/beans/etc.

[Deleted User]

I know the feeling I have lymphodema and often my right arm won't work as well as it should and I cannot lift anything heavier than a half filled kettle.I am lucky that my Dds do the bits of housework that I can't manage but it is suprising how inventive you become when faced with being a bit 'lop-sided' As I'm right -handed as well it can be a bit of a nuisance as well.But over the past 3/4 years I have accepted that i will never be able to mix up cakes as well as I used to so either do without or buy them or use my mixer a bit more .(even more of a pain as it means quite a bit of lifting again for washing it up ect.)But I seem to manage as well as I can and I too use a chip basket for lifting stuff in and out of saucepans when boiling them up.I am lucky in a way as I live alone that I haven't a big family to feed so I adapt what i can that I find easier to cook.lots of SC recipes which are basically one-dish things that I can eat a portion of and freeze the rest.You soon learn what you can manage and what you can't its just working out whats the easiest for you personally