This one is basic. If you still have limited vision, get colored salt. We have black salt and some weird purple salt. It all still tastes like salt. It makes seasoning way easier.

Food both sounds different and smells different before and after it is cooked. Learn to recognize the differences in your favorite dishes.

Keep a small trash can near where you work to minimize having to move around.

Prep! Get everything you need and organized before you start cooking. Keep it all in a tray to help organize and keep it together. KNIVES AT THE BACK!

Plenty more tips, but really most of it is common sense stuff.

A talking set of scales really help!

See if you can find a school for the blind or other service like that. I also have RP and am taking a cooking class for the blind just to get used to it if it gets worse. It's through Services for the Blind department so it doesn't actually cost me anything.

Get Be My Eyes app. You can call people and volunteers will answer. If it's q bad experience you can review bad. I hope to someday get a call from you. Please get it it's my favourite app. Also learn Braille and get Braille stickers to put on the foods.

Okay so I’m not experienced with interacting with someone who’s blind over reddit, however for checking whether something is fully cooked or not you can use the finger method. Here is a link that explains that. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/the_finger_test_to_check_the_doneness_of_meat/

The gist of it is you touch your pointer finger to your thumb and use your opposite hand pointer finger to press the muscle in between the fingers you are touching together. For Rare, the muscle will be very soft, touching pointer finger to thumb. For medium rare, touch your thumb to your middle finger and press the muscle. For medium, touch your thumb to your ring finger. You will notice this muscle getting tighter and it’s the same process the meat is undergoing in the pan. You can use this for beef, fish, and chicken. Let me know if you have questions, I’m a chef and I stumbled on this post.

In my opinion, the most important thing about cooking blind is patience. As I'm losing my vision, I have noticed that cooking itself hasn't become much harder. Of course there are things like measuring or deboning a fish that become very challenging but most actions can also be done blind. What's drastically different in my cooking is that I need far more time for certain tasks. For example chopping veggies nicely takes me forever sometimes. Luckily I have my sighted wife who jumps in and helps me sometimes. If you have someone like that, don't be afraid to ask for assistance. Other than that, take your time and stay patient. The process of cooking can be exhausting but the end result is even more rewarding because of that.

Also, like someone else has already mentioned, practice mise-en-place. This is something helpful not just for blind people but for everyone. Especially when you're cooking a dish that can be a bit stressful, make sure to get everything ready. For example I love to cook risotto for my wife and myself. When I do so, I chop all the onions and garlic, put them in a small bowl, chop other veggies that I want to serve as a side, such as cherry tomatoes, put them in a bowl, measure all the rice, open the wine bottle, get the chicken broth boiling and clean up the work surface. Only then do I actually heat up the pot to start cooking the actual risotto.

A talking meat thermometer would be useful, something like $1 so that you can ensure meat/fish/a pie is properly cooked

You can get training at a blind center on how to cook non-visually. If there isn’t one in your state you can attend an NFB training center in Colorado, Louisiana or Minnesota and learn non-visual skills in many areas to be able to be more independent, cooking included.

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try looking up the word cook and kitchen in the search box at the top of the subreddit to find previous threads as well.

"Cooking in the dark is also a nice podcast"

Oh yes, also something else I just thought about. To keep small items such as measuring utensils, spoons or anything that’s easy to miss placed, get some type of Tupperware or glass bowl or something you can put all of those small things in, that way you can either carry it from countertop to countertop, or just keep up with them in one place.

Hi, I'm so glad you're not giving up; that's the first step in doing anything when you're losing a vital part of yourself, but it can be done and I'm so proud of you for not just quitting. I like that you're reaching out for help. Someone briefly mentioned this, but do you have a case open with your local vocational rehabilitation agency? If not, google can help you find them, and they have people there that teach blind and low-vision people how to navigate daily life, such as cooking, labeling, cleaning, etc. For some actual tips: smell is key. A chicken in the oven that smells wonderful while cooking doesn't necessarily mean that it's done if it smells good, but, other than using a timer, you can tell when a dish is getting done because the smell is very strong with flavor at first, but when it's closer to done, it smells just a little bit milder and not so in your face. I know that's kind of a weird tip, and you always want to double check meat and stuff like that with a talking thermometer like someone else said, which can be purchased by your local VR services agency. Also, if you're frying or baking something that sizzles, like burgers or chicken, etc., another way to tell it's getting close to done is that at first, the sizzling is loud and proud, with popping and crackling sounds, but then it'll calm down and get quieter whenever it's almost ready. I do this a ton with burgers, fries, chicken, bbq, and other sizzly things.
Another suggestion: organization is essential, and having a place for everything is vital so you don't have to scrounge around for stuff. Measuring tips: keep oils and other liquids in the fridge, so you can touch the edge of the cup with a clean finger and more easily feel when it's almost full and you can then slow the pouring. Also, you can put a cookie sheet with foil on it under your workspace and measure over the cookie sheet, that way all you have to do is maybe rinse the sheet and just 86 the foil. With smaller measurements, like baking soda, salt, etc., instead of pouring the liquid or powder into the spoon, which is very, very hard even for me as a life-long totally blind woman, just pour a fair amount into a short and somewhat narrow container, but not too narrow, because you want to be able to get your hand inside with the spoon, dip some out, and if it's liquid, you can touch gently the very edge of one of the sides of the spoon to check for fullness. Also, I only use metal measuring spoons, that way I can bend the handle 90 degrees, so that way I can just dip the spoon straight down into whatever liquid I have poured into my temporary holding container that I mentioned pouring things into for easier measuring, and then pull straight up and try to keep your spoon handle as vertical as you can, so as not to lose any before you get it over the bowl. Also, you can measure liquids over a clean sink so if you do spill some, you're good there. Let's see, more tips? Patterning is so important when cleaning stoves, counters or tables, to make sure you don't miss something. Of course, after you clear the area of any items no longer needed, get a dry cloth or paper towel and start from the back of the surface area, gently brushing the surface with the cloth, and your other hand at the front edge of the surface, ready to catch crumbs or excess flour, powder, or a missed piece of chopped veggie for instance, and do this from one edge of your surface to the other, in a back to front motion. Then, when there are no more larger particles there, with your usual cleaning rag/sponge and cleaning product of choice, start at the back of the area and go slowly from side to side from edge to edge horizontally, not picking up your rag/cloth, then scooting down a couple inches toward you and going from one side to the other; do that until you reach the edge of the surface. If you choose to, you can pick up and fold your cloth or flip it over and use the other side halfway through, or you can do the whole surface and flip it over and do it a second time, which is what I sometimes do. This is sort of the same thing I do when vacuuming. For bigger areas, mentally section off the surface into quarters or 3rds or whatever you want, and do the same pattern with each section. I have tons more, and when I think of them I’ll come back here and post another comment or 5. lol Hope that helps. Feel free to ask anything.