[KittyLady]

Well, my wonderful cog fog brain did it again!! I forgot I was cooking and left a pot of oil on the hot burner and it almost caught fire. I realized I left something on the stove when I smelled something burning. I was just trying to make fried cucumbers, and I got a HUGE scare instead. I cant begin to tell you how terrified of cooking I am anymore and tonight is not helping!! This is not the first time Ive done this, but this pot of oil on stove thing happend to me when I was first dx. I did the same thing only that time it did catch on fire. I had to grab my 2 baby girls and the dog and run out of the house to the neighbors. Im really trying to stay on a good healthy diet and not eat any processed foods, but Im telling ya, Im terrified this will happen again and next time we wont be so lucky. If I can put something in the microwave, at least it will ding when its done. Ive tried using a timer when I cook, and find myself not knowing what the heck the timer was set for.... Maybe I should just cash in all my chips and quit cooking... I dont know

[Jomar]

I'm thinking of getting my elderly parents a George Foreman grill or something similar for when they have troubles frying and cooking certain things..


For safety reasons maybe no more frying...

I've never heard of fried cukes???

[Kitty]

I've pretty much stopped "cooking".....at least like I used to. My right hand doesn't work very well and things that need chopping and cutting are just too dangerous now.

I use alot of prepared foods. And frozen foods I can microwave.

I don't really like doing this but it's safer. I've had a few close calls and really don't trust myself to remember to always turn things off.

It seems that when I'm doing several things at once I get overwhelmed and tend to forget or overlook things. I can't believe the meals I used to cook for my family........it was a multi-tasking feat I never thought I'd one day really miss.

[KittyLady]

Before we went on vacation a few weeks ago, I thought I would surprise my dh and make him some peanut butter cookies... well, AGAIN I forgot I was cooking and them poor cookies payed the price. They werent that bad, but enough to where dh wouldnt really eat them so I had to throw them away.

[Koala77]

I'm so pleased that you and your girls are safe KittyLady. That must have absolutely terrifying for you.

I agree with what you said about the microwave timer. Why not use a timer for all your cooking? Anything to keep you and your family safe. Use the timer in your oven and buy another one... even 2 would be a good idea and set them whenever you put anything on to cook. Set them at different times. Depending on the item being cooked... then 15 seconds or 1 minute apart, for example.... the item being heated would determine the time difference.

I also agree with the George Foreman grill idea for your parents Jo*Mar. Our George Foreman grills get heaps of use and if hubby is away, the small one is easy for me to use. I noticed that some now come without timers so have a look around. We have several of his grills in different sizes, .... all with timers. One even turns itself off when the timer is finished. I'm not sure if you can still get grills that do that but if so ... would be perfect in this situation.

[Kitty]

I use one of those kitchen timers that rings loudly once it's timed out. I cannot tell you how many times that thing has startled me when it rings......because I've gotten busy doing something else and forgotten about what I had on the stove.

[Blessings2You]

My theory is that there isn't a THING you could cook that would be worth the risk to you and your children. I think if I had that happened more than once, I would take extreme measures to keep it from happening ever again--I like the idea of timers. Or if you have to, don't use the stove when you're alone.

[Dejibo]

I have one of those HUGE big button timers. I turn it on and then put it in my pocket. This way I hear it! On the back, I took a permanent marker and wrote OVEN on the back of it. If I wonder why its ringing, I just flip it over.

Schwans has many yummy things that can be microwaved. Eating smart has TV dinners.

You can also do Meals on wheels. If you accept medicare you qualify. They will drop off meals at your home, and you simply reheat them. no more cooking! If you want cookies buy them pre made!

I saw my moms house go up in flames when my niece sat to play her video games, forgot the stove, and WHOOSH! it went up quick. Trust me, you dont want that.

[kicker]

Time for change.

Timers, timers and more timers.

Healthy diet? Fried cucumbers? This does not sound healthy to me. No frying, period. Well, maybe oil brushed or used for chicken saute, fish, etc. New cookbooks sound like fun.

Change is hard but you also have kids besides yourself to watch out for. Once I started cooking, I never left kitchen. I no longer can cook, DH does it and is always burning stuff and leaving burners and stove on. He does not have MS or anything! I see my job as to follow-up behind him. Love my kids, house, cats, dogs, etc.

[SallyC]

Schwans and my MW does all my cooking now.

That's after I burned the bottom of every pan I own..