cooking whilst dyspraxic!

Here I’ll share my tips for easier cooking and baking if you have dyspraxia, or other organisation and coordination/ motor differences. It’s taken me some time to find things that work for me, so I hope you’ll find this helpful too!

  1. Getting organised: When I remember (!), I put all my ingredients on a tray at the start of making something, as it is so easy to forget to put something in. I also get the equipment out, then have everything to hand and feel calmer.

  2. Equipment: There is a lot of equipment out there which can really help. This is what I recommend (I’m not plugging anything; I’m just sharing what I use and like):

  • Scissors: I use Fiskars Easy Action Softgrip scissors (16cm) - they are the best I’ve ever used (and I have tried lots of scissors)

  • Good Grips: They do a whole range of stuff (and it can sometimes be bought more cheaply at TKMaxx)

  • Electric whisk: I use a Braun whisk, as I tried other brands and they broke pretty quickly. Hard to find a whisk that isn’t noisy, though

  • Food processor: I got one of these from Bosch for my birthday, to help with chopping etc

  • Frying pan: I’ve finally found a pan I like, called the Green Pan (there are different models and mine is called Cambridge). The food doesn’t stick as much so it makes it a lot easier to cook

  • Silicon oven gloves: easier to get things out of the oven with these

  • I’ve read that some people use protective gloves for when cutting (I haven’t tried that yet)

  • I use ready-made (baking paper) cake tin liners, so I don’t have to cut baking paper precisely. I buy them at Sainsbury’s or Morrisons

    3. Ingredients: I don’t like chopping things (too accident prone!) so I try to get around this when I can. For example, I have bought frozen herbs and spices such as frozen garlic cubes and ginger, to avoid chopping fresh ingredients. I also use Garlic or Chilli Infused Olive Oil (Lidl do good versions) and use Asafoetida powder and (scissor) chopped fresh chives instead of onions. Places like Marks and Spencer also do chilled and frozen chopped onions and shallots.

PS I’ve broken all my recipes down into smaller steps than you see in recipe books, as I think that makes it easier to follow the recipe.

I hope this is useful! Do send in your tips - I’d love to hear them!