[nabs-l] cooking questions

[William ODonnell]

Please write me off list.  I would like to help you.  You are able to ask those in the store who are assisting you to give you an idea of what the labels say.  I am able to read the store circulars however, if I am in a situation where JFW or any speech program System access, voice over, or NVDA can not read them, I ask for generalizations IE specific meat products, produce, etc.  I only ask about those products I am interested in so the person does not feel like I am a burden on them.  As far as the cooking with the oven is concerned, the dials work in a clock-wise direction where the low temperatures begin with the first turn and gradually increase as the dials are turned in a clockwise motion.  The burners work in the opposite format.  The first turn to the write is in the high format and the temperature decreases as you turn the knob in a clockwise direction.  Finally, are there any resources for the blind in your area?  What is your zip code?  Why
 do your parents have so much control over you if you live on your own?
Thanks


--- On Fri, 6/4/10, Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [nabs-l] cooking questions
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Friday, June 4, 2010, 1:28 AM
> Hi All!!
> 
> I hope these questions are not off-topic for this list. I
> understand
> there is  a blind cooks list, but since I am a
> 22-year-old college
> student I wanted to get some answers from other students.
> 
> I know very little about cooking. My parents refuse to
> teach me how to
> do anything with the stove (I'm talking about the stove,
> not oven) and
> think I should make everything in either the microwave, or
> George
> Foreman grill.
> 
> I live in an area where the closest NFB chapter is an hour
> away so I
> don't really have any other blind people that can come over
> to help
> me.
> 
> I can make a few things, mainly chicken (just put a
> boneless chicken
> breast on the George Foreman grill), tacos (I cook the
> hamburger in
> the Microwave, make the taco sauce in the microwave, and
> use hard taco
> shells), sloppy joes (same thing, cook the hamburger in the
> microwave
> and add the sloppy joe sauce), and steaks (George Foreman
> grill.)
> 
> I can also use the toaster for fixing waffles, and
> strudles.
> 
> I can fix hotdogs and pancakes in the microwave.
> 
> As you can see, this is very limiting and gets old after a
> while. I
> would like to learn how to fix other things but don't know
> how without
> a blind person teaching me.
> 
> Two things I'd like to do in particular are learning how to
> brown
> hamburger properly on the stove, and fixing eggs but I am
> afraid to
> just begin messing with the stove because without it being
> labeled
> properly and not knowing what I'm doing I could easily
> start a fire.
> 
> For the oven, I use one of those small small toaster ovens.
> It has a
> dial and I put dots beside the knob to tell the temperature
> but since
> the dots are just dots I often can't tell which temperature
> I am
> actually setting the oven to. I have my own apartment and
> it has one
> of those huge ovens but my parents won't allow me to label
> it. It's
> electric, not gas so there are no flames but I can't get
> them to see
> it my way. They refuse to teach me how to fix even the
> simplest things
> on the stove because they do not want to be responsible for
> me burning
> my fingers or having grease splatter on me.
> 
> Do any of you have any suggestions?
> 
> What things can I buy that you can fix in the oven? I've
> been told
> things like chicken nuggets, tator tots...
> 
> Where can I find good recipes to begin trying to cook other
> things?
> 
> Can many of you cook well or is this the level you are on?
> 
> Is there any way to learn to fix eggs or brown hamburger
> without
> having another blind person teach me?
> 
> How do you have your ovens/stoves labeled?
> 
> How do you find out directions on packages? I've tried
> looking up the
> directions for things like hamburger helper on the internet
> but I get
> results such as "how to make home made hamburger helper,"
> and all I
> want is the oven time/temperature on the package.
> 
> Can I fix hamburger helper by cooking the hamburger meat in
> the
> microwave, then fixing the noodles/sauce in the microwave
> and mixing
> it all together?
> 
> When I go grocery shopping, is it appropriate to ask the
> shopping
> assistant to read me the package directions (at least the
> cooking time
> and oven temperature) and jot it down?
> 
> When grocery shopping, how do you make sure to get the best
> prices on
> your items? Is it appropriate to ask the shopping assistant
> to look in
> one of those sales papers to see any of the items on the
> list is on
> sale? If so, are they usually willing to do these extra
> things?
> 
> 
> I am going to training eventually, but in the mean time it
> frustrates
> me not being able to fix hardly anything!
> 
> When I stay at my parents house (they live really really
> close so I
> can come to their house often) they fix real dinners that
> taste so
> good and it makes me not want to go back to my apartment
> because I
> hate my cooking because I don't really fix things properly.
> My parents
> are not that good at cooking themselves, but they fry their
> food and
> it's cooked right so it tastes good whereas I'm trying to
> brown
> hamburger in the microwave for example which isn't really
> how your
> supposed to do it.
> 
> Thanks so much for any help!
> 
> Kerri
> 
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