Hi ladyrose, sorry that you don't enjoy cooking for your family. i understand that it is diffcult with only one hand fuctioning, and your knives are blunt!. having blunt knives are madding, i know mine were blunt, told my man do something! The fact that you tried to cook with one arm you get street creds from me! Do not be so hard on yourself. Maybe try easy stuff at first to cook, I was very basic after my stroke, just putting pasta in a pot of water and I felt good. Slowly, I moved on to meats, again just seasoning the meat and putting it in the oven I was Chef Ramey!The problem was I forgot that the meat was in the oven!!!!!!!!!!!! Again over time I got better. Moved onto rice, my man loves rice. lets not count the pots of rice I burned! That stroke life! Iam better now after three years!

Hope this cheers you up, and you have a great family that understand, that is a blessing.

Yvonne

LadyRose - so sorry and I know from what Bruce tries to do, how very frustrating. If Bruce has to open a package, he stabs it onto the spike in the cutting board and then he can use scissors.

Now he has two new knives - yes, Cutco - the ones a person with two functioning hands can cut a finger off with - but perfect for him. I never touch them. That was one of the best pieces of advice I got here when Bruce wanted to start to help out in the kitchen - the one handed cutting board and absolutely sharp knives.

See if you don't have a stone tucked in the back of one of the kitchen drawers and then set your "men" to sharpening up your knives.

Discouraging that you were so looking forward to cooking and you just need to sharpen up your knives and I bet you will find it gets much easier. Keep trying. Debbie

Thanks for the support and encouragement, Yvonne and, Debbie. I'm sure I'll keep trying but first I'll mope awhile. Maybe I'll get new knives and a promise from hubby not to use them. He can sharpen our current ones and call them his.

there are some things I can't open with both hands, either! Boy, bad knives are a danger in themselves. The best I like for tomatoes are serated one. Have you seen these videos on one handed cooking?

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cooking+with+one+hand

oh, be sure to watch the Andy one! It starts off showing how hard it is, then shows it the Andy way. It's good! But for opening things, I'd suggest things like shred cheese that come in zip lock bags, and just having someone pre-open all of them when they come into the house, so they are ready! maybe even put them in a jar that is easier to open again?

oh, just watched another one called something like cooking with disabilities. The woman was demo'ing several items that looked helpful.. although.. I did want to sucker punch her for using 2 hands all thru the demos!

oh, be sure to watch the Andy one! It starts off showing how hard it is, then shows it the Andy way. It's good! But for opening things, I'd suggest things like shred cheese that come in zip lock bags, and just having someone pre-open all of them when they come into the house, so they are ready! maybe even put them in a jar that is easier to open again?

I WANT AN ANDY NOW! Can't see whereto find one though.

Here's lots of things to study, but don't order anything right off. Prices vary WILDLY, so take your time to check out the different links, as something can vary from a few dollars to $100 for the same thing!

I found this thing on ebay - be sure to hover over the tiny pics that are below the bigger one, and it will give more scenes of using the product with cutting veggies/fruit:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fruit-and-Vegetable-One-handed-Chopper-Slicer-Dicer-Kitchen-Gadget-w-Side-Blade-/281389864496?pt=Small_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item4184249630

this cutting board has prongs to stick large things on and cut without moving. Also has 2 edges to back a piece of bread into for spreading on:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Single-Handed-Cutting-Board-/181335437506?pt=Kitchen_Tools_Gadgets&hash=item2a386f30c2

We actually have one of these one touch openers, from USA - some from China, don't know how one would use a warranty from China (PS-save boxes and receipts for warranty):

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=one+handed+jar+can+opener&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xone+touch+opener&_nkw=one+touch+opener&_sacat=0

The first 2 here are mounted under the cabinet:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xone+handed+jar+opener&_nkw=one+handed+jar+opener&_sacat=0&_from=R40

this one sits on the counter:

http://www.sologrip.com/

one handed pan holder:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KITCHEN-HOUSEHOLD-AID-POT-PAN-HOLDER-1-HAND-USE-/350428435646?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51972994be

Lots to see here:

http://www.rehabmart.com/category/Kitchen_Gadgets.htm

Lots of interesting links, with a few stupid ones (like the purses/bags):

https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=ytff1-gl-gen1&p=one%20handed%20vegetable%20cutting&type=

Lady Rose, I actively look all of the time for things that I might can do 1-handed. And one thing I settled on was cooking. Unlike you, I was not an experienced cook, nor did I like it much. So, I went on-line, and found that there is a wealth of free recipes out there! Virtually, every food producer has a web site devoted to recipes. Like "Kraft", "Betty Crocker", etc. Or, try searching by product, such as potato, pork, anything you want. Web sites usually have a search on site, in which you can search for a particular recipe if you want. Look for recipes that are "quick and easy", and look at Sandy's suggestions for "helpers", and I bet you'll be cooking like a pro again in no time! And,have new recipes to share! Becky

I loved cooking too. Now I hate cooking, but I find it is not as much the stroke as the difference between WANTING to cook and HAVING to cook.

I loved cooking too. Now I hate cooking, but I find it is not as much the stroke as the difference between WANTING to cook and HAVING to cook.

I think I feel a bit like that too but mostly I want to be able to as it was a big piece of how my husband and I spent time with our friends, sharing meals and alternating who'd do the hosting. It's still nice to get together with friends, but it's very different now. not at all like it was.

UPDATE: I bought an electric knife sharpener from LLBean and although I personally have not tried to cut with my newly sharpened knives, I witnessed them in use, cutting paper-thin slices of tomatoes. I'll be trying again soon, I think.

LadyRose: do let us know. I have a knife sharpener, never used it, so this will be great to know. It will give Bruce so many more choices. Debbie

Hi LadyRosa, I'm new to StrokeNet and while looking around I found your post about cooking, OR NOT!  I believe cooking is wonderful rehab and if you loved to cook before, (I did too before my stroke), you CAN still love to cook now.  I have a website, onehandcan.com where I have a cooking video gallery and other info on cooking in a one-handed kitchen.  It is very frustrating for sure, but it can be fun again, too.  Sharp knives are a MUST of course.  My local grocery store meat department will sharpen knives for free if someone brings them in to them.  Maybe your market does too.  Also, there are manual knife sharpeners that are relatively easy to use with one hand.   You can check one out on my website on the "Essential tools for a one-handed kitchen" page.  

Your post was sometime ago and I hope you are now having more success in the kitchen.  Still I hope my suggestions are helpful.