Food has been a longstanding difficulty for me. Meal planning, shopping, cooking, washing up, even just the eating are all experienced as demands. On top of that, eating food can be a difficult sensory experience. As can the visuals of a supermarket, and the wetness of washing up.
I’ve tried a few things over time. A therapist recommended that I bulk cook, and label by type of food. “Spicy”, “bland”, “fish”, etc. Ultimately, I haven’t yet reached a place where cooking from scratch feels possible. It’s difficult following a sequence, chopping is a difficult motion, and of course, the ever present demands.
I’ve tried cooking with carers, which can help. I may well make time to do this again, as practice would be good. Doesn’t quite remove demands though. There just becomes a demand to use carer sessions that way, and it’s easy to quietly opt out.
So I’ve decided to try some meal subscription services. The first is Stocked food. They came today, with good warning of when they would arrive specifically. Had to work out how I was gonna defrost the dry ice package, especially without the cat breathing it all in. Doesn’t help that I have a wasp phobia, so ventilating is not my favourite thing to do!
Managed to get through that though, which probably did the phobia some good. Cooked a couple of blocks up of the hearty ragu, and spooned it over some toasted sourdough. Didn’t do perfectly, the toast was not that toasted, and the sauce was over reduced. I had turned the heat down, then it didn’t seem to melt, and I think I over compensated afterwards.
However, it was still a tasty meal. My brother had mentioned that they have a lot of beans, which would have been something I absolutely would not have coped with as a kid. However, nowadays, beans are more palatable for me.
The second one I’m going to try is frive. Those are somewhat fancy ready meals. So, no more difficult than I’m doing now, but a much wider range of meals. Better ingredients, too.
It feels good to try and get some fruit and veg. It can be very easy for me to find that the only food I can stomach is junk food. Not a very helpful safe food! Variety really helps me keep eating, as does fish, for some reason.
(Note: this is not in any way an ad, and I have not been paid to mention these companies. They’re just what I’m currently trying).
PDA fae 