The easiest meals for me are slow cooker meals. Maybe start with some of those? The advantages are that you don't have to worry about timing multiple things, so you can take all the time you want prepairing ingredients. And there's no hot oven to worry about, because once everything's prepaired, it's closed in the slow cooker. And it's easier to tell when something is done, because a good slow cooker tends to cook evenly and regularly, so it's just a matter of time. And a simple slow cooker is easy to use; low, medium, high. That's all you really need. And there is a good variety of things that can be made in the slow cooker, so it would be an easy to learn tool, that would quickly widen his meal choices without much effort.

A lot of organizations for/of the blind like the braille institute offer cooking classes. I'm personally terrible at cooking, but that's less of a blind thing and more of a me thing haha.

Tactile labeling does make everything a lot easier. If he hasn't already put bumpdots all over his kitchen, those can be fairly helpful. You can order an assortment of them online frlm places like maxiaids

All of these ideas are awesome! I’d also look into getting him some accessories for the kitchen made for the visually impaired. Getting Braille labels for measuring cups and spoons (or you can buy cups and spoons that come pre labeled). Long oven mitts that come up to the elbow to prevent burns when using the oven. Knife guards.

I work as a teacher for the blind and visually impaired and have ordered supplies like these from braillebookstore.com

I am going to suggest one more thing and provide an example. Sometimes it is better to start small. Some meal prep can be done without cooking and can be made ahead. How about something like no cook oatmeal? It is great every morning and can be made a couple of days ahead and stored in fridge. There is measuring but it is pretty forgiving. I have been eating it every morning.

In a 2 cup container add:
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup cashew milk (or soy milk etc)
Mix well
Add two thirds cup or a little more uncooked large flake oatmeal
Mix well again
Leave in fridge at least overnight.
Eat.
Healthy. No cooking and I make three days worth at a time. Change it up with nuts, raisins, etc.
Only special item I need is a level warning indicator for the one cup liquid measure.

Hi. All of the responses are really great. I will even implement some of recommendations myself. There is a great book called, “When Cook Can’t Look” that might be helpful for teaching him some cooking skills if he does not live near a training center for the blind. I would also recommend pulling some recipes from a another book called, “The College Cookbook”. It has several easy to make and budget friendly recipes. Your boyfriend can find both books on www.bookshare.org if he has an account. I would also recommend encouraging him to invest in an air-fryer. You can cook a multitude of foods in it from cookies and chicken nuggets to seasoned veggies and salmon. Just be sure to research the several different types and look for one that cooks the food on a sides so that he doesn’t need to keep turning the food to cook it evenly. I hope that this helps.

I'm just a curious outsider, but is the microwave easy to use? If so I've found there's some really easy recipes that can be made in the microwave, with the benefit of being very quick. It's a good stepping stone from no cooking to "being a chef".

One recipe I use in the microwave a lot is scrambled eggs. Just break eggs, scramble it, add some milk and anything else you want and cook on low, like 20-30%, for 3 minutes at a time. The great part is you can easily add more stuff like cheese, green onions, tomatoes. It was a big part of what got me to actually cooking meals that weren't from boxes.

There's some good books on "gourmet microwave cooking" which will provide a wide variety of things that are surprisingly good in a microwave.

As a bonus most microwave recipes tend to not worry about things like perfect presentation etc so the steps are only the things that matter. You'll more often just throw everything all in at once.

Buy him an instant pot or slow cooker. Also consider a George Foreman grill for meat, it's hard to burn stuff in that. Make liberal use of the oven, when making veggies just chop them, cover in oil and salt, and stick it in the oven. Don't expect him to chop things tidily or to do things perfectly, it's discouraging and it doesn't really matter for the taste of the food.

Try to find something he likes to eat that's really, really easy, no cooking in a pan. Offer to make it with him. One thing at a time.

I cook a lot of things in my crockpot (slow cooker). I make practically everything this way. It is way easier than any other cooking. He could also make cold salads, deli sandwiches, veggies/dip, etc.

The slow cooker and oven is my best friend. I’ve developed a system of laying out all my ingredients on the counter in the order I use them then working through stuff one by one.

I don’t cook anything that needs to be visually checked and rely on asbestos fingers and smell to check if it’s done.

Start with simple stews and one pot meals then add extra stuff in. Almost everything can be adapted to do in one pot at one temperature.

Steaks and meat cuts can be checked using digital talking thermometers and everything is better with a salsa which is always easy to prepare.

All of the replies on this post are great and I really don't have a lot to add. My wife uses our smart pot all of the time for lots of things. I tend to use the stove top and George Foreman Grill for most things. I will just say, by all means help your boyfriend learn to cook more stuff; cooking is a basic skill that everyone should have and a surprising amount of people, sighted and blind alike, do not have. However, there is a difference between having the ability to cook lots of things and actually exercising that ability on a regular basis. In other words, your boy friend’s lack of variety might also be a dude thing. I have cooked a wide variety of things, and I am comfortable in my culinary abilities as a blind person; however, in college when I lived like a bachelor I had a small rotation of dishes I would cycle through. Now my wife and I have a lot of cooking adventures, but most of the time she is the one who comes up with the new things to try; when I’m cooking for myself I tend to still prioritize things that are quick and easy to make.

Cooking is a really great way to be creative and to try new things and I hope your boy friend can grow more adept with the skill. I’m really glad my wife gets me to make and try new things, but sometimes us guys are just boring and utilitarian.

Happy cooking.

All the ideas on this thread are great, I'd recommend showing him the basics of how to cut veg, even if he doesn't cut it straight and how to use the stove top or hob (stove top is american english, hhob is british english.) Something as simple as making a boiled egg in a pan would help him I think. if he has an IPhone or Android, he can time it. For example with siri, all you have to do is hold down the home button and say set timer for 5 minutes and it will do so. I'm learning to cook on and off, for when I get a place of my own. i'm good with tech so these ideas may work for me but not for him. Perhaps asking him what he wants to make might help. I find working on an eletric cooker a lot easier and safer than a gass cooker. Yes gass is faster, but eletric is safer, at least for me.

Depending on income, I'd also recommend getting a smart grill and marking it.

I have the Teefal Optigrill and it literally just requires a few button presses, wait for it to chime, open, put meat on with tongs, close, wait for it to chime again, it beeps as it cooks, and then pull the meat off, turn off grill, and you're done.

I've made pork chops, steak, chicken, hot dogs, burgers, paninis, etc. on it.

I'd also teach him to make stuff in the microwave. I steam veggies and make baked potatoes fairly often, and there's a lot of stuff, like pastaroni or pierogies, that are fine when microwaved, but less healthy.

An easy meal would be grilled chicken and some microwaved pasta of some variety, or some of the Uncle Ben's Ready Rice or something.

I also agree with the crockpot suggestions. I make clam chowder and chili probably every other month, and that's usually enough for 6-10 bowls. There's also easy stuff like a couple pounds of chicken, a jar of salsa, mild preferably, and a can of blackbeans. Have him take the chicken out and shred it, mix it back in, and then put it in tortillas or over basic white rice, even microwaved minute rice, and boom, easy, tasty meal.

I'd also consider marking his oven, because there's a lot that can be done in the oven just by following basic directions. There's also a bit more leeway IMO.

As far as stove cooking, there are classes he could attend, depending on where you are, that can help with that. I attended the Carroll Center in Newton, MA, and I can't recommend it enough. I learned to fence, cook independently, I learned Braille, woodworking, screen reader usage, and a lot about cane usage as well as using my ears to find things.