Blind cooking handy hints

Hints and Tips for blind sighted beginner Chefs

If you have partial vision, buy some black and some white dishes. Place dark ingredients in white dishes and light ingredients in black dishes. The contrast makes it easier to see ingredients.

Before cooking, measure out and arrange ingredients in dishes in the order they will be needed.

Invest in a Braille labeller and label all jars of food, ingredients, etc making a note of use by date.

The intensity of your hob can be assessed if you hold your hand about a foot above. Watch your sleeve, jumper, tie, long beard or low hanging nose hair etc.

The more that your cooking experience and skills grow, the more you’ll start looking for gadgets to aid your way. This is especially useful for the visually impaired and blind. Things like; finger cutting guards, slow cooker, talking microwaves, talking scales, bread makers (My favourite toy), bread slicing guide etc. not necessities but handy so write those Xmas lists now.

Buy garlic, chilli, ginger (in fact, most herbs etc) in tubes of paste as well as getting pre-chopped veg for ease to cut out the tedium of cutting veg. You can do all that messy stuff as your skill and confidence grows.
A mandolin slicer will work well though for veg etc but try to get one that attaches to a bowl to avoid messy floor.

When peeling garlic cloves or onions you’ll find it easier if you snip the ends off first then peel.

Fed up with buying fresh garlic then only using one clove. With this tip you can buy a lorry load of Garlic and not waste a bit. Peel it all, stick it in a blender, blend to a paste and then freeze in clove size blobs in cling film. These can then be carefully transferred into a plastic sealed container, labelled and returned to the freezer.
The above tip can be utilised for many other things including ginger, sun dried tomato etc. I got this tip from a good friend (Thanks Tehmina), she also uses a blend of garlic and ginger. Don’t ask me the proportions but it’s tasty.

If a bit of an otherwise good recipe frightens you, always look for alternative methods to avoid difficulties. Things like hot fat etc may be a little un-nerving when you CAN see, but when you can't it sounds like a fire spitting, hissing dragon/serpent. Oven, microwave or grill maybe a friendlier option.

Freeze chopped leafy fresh herbs such as basil, rosemary or thyme in ice cube trays. Place chopped herbs in a bag add water to barely cover them. Shake to cover properly then pour into ice cube tray to freeze. When needing herb throw them straight into your cooking to melt.

Always read full recipe beforehand. Things may need to thaw, set, etc, so check that you’ve allowed enough time.

If you're a beginner, start with very simple recipes. As confidence grows, then and only then, move on.

Keep notes (Recipes, good ingredient brands etc) as well as recording your notes on the results on recipes you try.





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This is very nice. This tips will really help those people who loves to cook and have eye defects. Hope that many people can apply these tips.

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