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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2017 - 05 - 13 - ID#6b0nf8
6
Looking for tips on cooking: Appliances to try, media to check out, etc. (self.Blind)
submitted by Prefect316
I know there are a few talking thermometers and stuff like that on the market. I also hear there are braille measuring cups. Does anyone here use them or are you able to just adapt what you buy at the store according to your own workflow?

I'm totally blind by the way. I'm pretty good at making ramen but would like to expand my horizons. So any recommendations are super appreciated. Pretend I don't know anything as assistive tech for the kitchen isn't a pulse I have my finger on.
tymme 3 points 6y ago
My mom was almost totally blind and she did a majority of the cooking in the house. Few things I remember:

* Puff paint and adhesive dots from a craft store were her friend (and way cheaper than the stuff in accessibility catalogs). For ingredients like spice containers, she'd puff-paint right on the container- IS for Italian seasoning, Cay for cayenne pepper, RP for red pepper, etc. For measuring these spices, she had a measuring spoon that would expand/collapse to each setting in the spoon (for example, push the handle all the way in for 1/8 cup, pull handle out one click for 1/4 cup, etc.) I think this was found in any kitchen retail store.
* Older microwave had dial for timer and other settings, again with touch dots for times. Newer microwave that replaced that, she used a touch dot on the 5 so she knew where that was and each number around it, plus a bigger dot on start.
* Similar for stoves; set a dot for a typical temperature (350) on the dial itself and a line on the stove. When she went to a flat top with an electronic interface, she put puff paint over the temp up/down buttons and the cancel button so if something wasn't responding right, she would know. She'd listen to the beeps to know she'd pushed it from 350 to 355, 360, etc. and just count.
* She had a talking thermometer that was also a kitchen timer; unfortunately, I don't remember the brand/model. Some newer thermometers use Bluetooth and can connect to PC or phone with text-to-speech.

I don't know where you're at and what's available, but when I was starting to deal with more vision loss, I went to a center for the blind and had a vision assessment. It included things like computer use for work, orientation/white cane use, etc. One of the main assessments was just on cooking/daily life stuff; I'm sure a center like that would have lots of suggestions.
fastfinge 2 points 6y ago
Seconding the Instant Pot Smart. It is, by far, my favourite Kitchen device. If I'm not using it to cook my main meal, then I'm almost always using it to do a side dish (rice or potatoes, mostly). I love rice, and before the Instant Pot, I couldn't manage it at all; I had to settle for those pre-packaged rice cups that go in the microwave.
bondolo 2 points 6y ago
I will try to find a post I made a couple of years ago but talking appliances are a good place to start.

Ignore the Panasonic talking microwave. It is years old and crummy. Get a food service ADA 508 compliant microwave instead. Even if you don't really read braille it is easy to memorize. Ours is $1 but there are now lots of options.

The best talking thermometer is the $1 Fast read commercial quality unit and uses triple A batteries rather than a watch battery.

$1 is a very good talking kitchen scale. Has both metric and imperial units as well as a tare function.

Everybody seems to be talking about the $1. The controls are usable by people with low vision and mostly memorizable by the totally blind. You can also pay extra for the bluetooth version which has a fairly accessible smartphone app.

Are there any specific cooking tasks you are looking to accomplish?
blindjo 1 points 6y ago
1. Surprisingly, a lot of things can be made either in the oven or in the microwave. Way safer than stovetop. I'm sure there's lists online so you can find recipes that suit your taste buds. Some of the other folks here mentions some good ideas for labeling microwaves and ovens (puffy paint, bump dots, etc)
2. For measuring cups and spoons (with handles) an alternative to puffy paint or bump dots would be cut-outs. At the braille institute, the had cut out notches on one side to indicate the number in the numerator and notches on the other side to indicate the denominator (e.x. 2 notches on the left side, 3 notches on the right side of the handle indicates two thirds cup).
3. If you use a toaster, plastic tongs will be your friend.
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