Aspergers and Cooking

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People have told me I need to eat healthily. I used to ask for recipes because I just wasn't sure what I could cook, what would freeze. I need ideas!

No one gave me ideas.

A friend of mine has now been giving me loads of ideas, recipes, things that work.

Im now beginning to almost understand cooking, the way a dish goes together.

Only a few weeks ago during an assessment, they said I had Aspergers. Now Im looking at my issues with cooking and wondering whether this was Aspergers related. They talk about Theory of Mind, and not being able to imagine. So I couldn't even begin to dream of something I wanted to eat. What would be good. I still have no idea really. Search for recipes? What am I searching for?

But once someone has given me recipes, it's like Im pulling out ideas from the cooking, learning how a dish goes together, understanding how things get made up, what goes in first.

It's like I need someone to show me first. They need to tell me. They need to give me something. They need to give me a recipe and some tips on what to do. It's no good just saying "search the internet". What am I searching for?

Could it be? Could my poor diet all be Aspergers related? Is that why I need people to give me specifics instead of vague ideas?

It could be related. I prefer to eat out rather than cook because I get so into my special interests that I don't have time to prepare a dish by the time I'm super hungry.

By the way, can't you also go online and find recipes?

I know of a great book that I gave to someone that teaches about the scientific aspects of cooking, and why things are done as they are. That way the actual reasons behind various cooking methods are learned, and then with this knowledge, one can create one's own recipes instead of relying on the internet. Although I do find many of mine online. But I always read the reviews!

I think the problem is that you are perhaps overwhelmed with the amount of information available, and don't know where to start. I think that that happens to many people even without ASD. I do have the same problem with many things. I must have a clear starting point. So I begin by researching to get enough of an idea of what I need to do, and then develop a strategy based about the information that I have gathered. But the research can take many hours over many days, and sometimes it is too overwhelming and I cannot even begin until I feel less anxious about the whole idea.

Here is the book that I had mentioned: http://www.amazon.com/Science-Cooking-Cooks-Illustrated-Cookbooks/dp/1933615982

Go online to find recipes?

That's what most people say. I've tried to have a look. But I don't know what Im looking for. What can be frozen? What can be reheated? What's going to taste good.

I've searched several times, but not found anything.

But someone gives me a recipe, I can follow the instructions and make it happen. Then there's the practical tips they give me about storage, reheating and freezing, other bits of advice such as what to substitute.

I've now done several recipes which basically come down to....

Put in the onion and garlic and fry (aromatic).
Add the spices
Add the vegetables
Add the stock
Add the meat

Im beginning to develop an understanding, a process maybe of the basics of cooking.

Maybe it is information overload as Yigeren says. I know I don't know where to begin looking. There are too many recipes. But if someone gives me a recipe, Im fine. I have my starting point! Maybe it's more about having a starting point.

I don't know. I just think wow, how fascinating, I wonder if this lacklustre cooking performance has been caused by ASD.

As I have tried to explain to my counsellor, my poor diet is not because I lack the practical "life skills" - my Mum actually did a very good job of teaching me how to cook when I was a child.

Much like alex, getting too engrossed in my special interests often interferes with me preparing food - I have burned so many meals because I thought I'd look on a forum while I waited for something to bake, then got so engrossed that I didn't even hear the oven go "ping". Executive functioning problems and agoraphobia also make it difficult sometimes - the problem is often that I don't have the groceries in the house that I need to make a complete recipe, for example.

One thing that does work well for me, is to always make extra portions of food when I do get around to cooking. That way I can freeze whatever I don't eat immediately. I then nearly always have a few healthy, home cooked meals already made, and they can be microwaved so that there is no lengthy preparation. It also avoids the wasted food that can happen if you live alone and try to prepare single portions. Most meals can be frozen - the only thing I have been warned of is that many foods should not be de-frosted and then frozen a second time, especially if they contain meat, and it is often advised that cooked rice should not be frozen.

When you gotta search for recipes, just search for the general type of meal you'd like and you'll find a bunch of variations of it. For example, when I can't come up with a dish I often look up "salmon dishes" since that's my favorite type of meat and there's a whole list of different salmon dishes. Same goes for hotdogs, burgers, steaks, chicken, just have some type of idea of what you'd like to cook and you'll find some interesting version of it.

Keeping a good supply of condiments, herbs and spices is very handy, I find. A dollop of sauce, sprinkling of paprika etc. can make even the simplest foods much less bland, and is an easy way to add a little extra variety when my grocery shopping gets "stuck in a rut" of always buying the same things.

"Semi-prepared" foods can be useful sometimes too - for example, ready made dough for pie casings, or mixes for baking cakes. I find those particularly useful because I'm not good at getting my household chores done, and they avoid some of the messier aspects of preparing a meal (for example: flour all over the counter-top, dirtying extra pots and pans).

I agree with the 'getting preoccupied' comments. I love cooking (ok, I love baking), but I tend to get way too busy doing whatever it is I can't stop doing for that day, and by the time dinner comes around, I'm either too tired to make it or I have missed dinner time altogether, and it is time for bed (oops).

Luckily, my husband loves cooking. And we keep pasta and jarred sauce (and frozen veggies) in the pantry and the fridge in case I forget and he doesn't feel like it.

Or, like tonight, when we are just finishing all the leftovers in the fridge.

I think cooking can be a challenge for Aspies because it does take a great deal of executive functioning. First off, there's planning the meals. Then there's getting to the store and not forgetting to buy the ingredients, then there's actually following the steps of cooking.

I usually do OK with the actual cooking part, and I am a good cook in the fact that when I am done it usually tastes good. But, sometimes I still forget the salt when I make bread and things like that. I just have learned to laugh at myself. One time, when I was first married, I made a whole crockpot full of chili...but I had forgotten to plug in the crockpot. When I was pregnant, I had "pregnancy brain" on top of it all, and those are the only two times I've started fires in the kitchen...

So, it does take some extra effort.

But, there are things that can help you. There is an entire movement out there in regards to Freezer Cooking. This is about making meals that you can keep in the freezer. You will learn all about what will freeze well and what won't. There are sites online as well as books in the library about this. You just want to be careful to make a small amount the first time you try a recipe to make sure you like it before freezing a whole bunch of it.

For general cooking skills, look up books about home economics in the library and read the sections on cooking. Or, get a copy of a really solid, basic cookbook that is more of a textbook than just a collection of recipes. These books will teach you about ingredients, cuts of meat, how to plan a well-balanced and appealing meal, how to present a meal, etc. They will also give instruction on knife skills and how to use your oven, etc. These things may seem very basic, but even as a seasoned cook I still find it useful to read these things.

Check out cookbooks from the library before purchasing, so you can see if you would like to own your own copy. I suggest looking at a copy of Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything.

Cooking is a special interest of mine. The kitchen is the best place one can have some control over their own health and finances. When one knows how to cook well, one is empowered to make a lot of choices for oneself.

And the funny ironic thing. Is I love to cook. But I hate eating out. I'm always cooking, it's partly one of my special interest which makes it easier for me to cook. My problem is that I love to cook. I am not too fond of eating. Because it's a sensation thing.

I like the thought of making something tasty. But after I made it, I honestly wish humans didn't have to eat. I hate being too full, but I also hate being hungry.

But I don't know. Sometimes if I like something. I crave the flavor. But not really the food. If there was a way to package the flavor into like a lollipop or something that be great. Because that's my biggest issue.

It isn't that I overeat because of feelings. It's because I want the same flavor over and over and over again. And I will think and obsess about that flavor. Then it becomes a compulsion to seek that flavor out.

I sound horrible.

Worse part is I am always worried it will affect me negatively because as of right now. I am a fat kid stuck in a skinny kids body. I love food. Hate too eat too much. Sometimes end up eating too much because I either don't eat all day, get too enrgossed into something or just because I don't want to.

Cooking is my main special interest and has been for the last 14 years or so (ever since I stopped being totally obsessed with the band No Doubt & Gwen Stefani). To the point where it's turning into a career. I find it easier to come up with dishes to cook when there are restrictions on what I can make. I'm vegan so that narrows it down quite a lot. I go through phases of eating just raw food, being gluten free etc and this also seems to make it easier to decide what to make, for me at least.

I'm a very experienced cook but the way I usually decide what to make is I go to the local shops and buy the food that's reduced in price, I then google the ingredients and see what recipes come up.

Maybe you could watch cooking channels on Youtube? Think of a dish that you really like, maybe you've eaten it in a restaurant or someone made it for you, and search for that?

I like cooking because if I don't like how a recipe turns out, I can change things until it does.

For instance, there is a relationship between the size of a pan how hot it gets. I want a hot pan to brown meat--so I use a little pan. That same pan will burn pancakes, so I use big pan--this works much better than trying to adjust the heat of the stove.

I'll add salt to get more flavor out of pasta--but run a timer and stay inside the kitchen so it doesn't overcook and get mushy.

I'll often spend a few extra minutes preparing stuff with a knife before cooking to make food easier to eat. I can do this now as I'm much better coordinated now than when I was younger.

I love cooking, and baking even more, but only when I'm in a good mood, otherwise I lose all motivation.
Is it possible that you have sensory issues related to taste or smell that make you have a more restricted diet than you'd like ?
I think that a nice start would be to print several charts which you'll find on nutrition websites, one for each ingredient category (such as vegetables or meat) and you tick what you like in one colour and what you dislike in another colour. Starting from that, think about the ingredient you'd like to eat right now, search for recipes with that ingredient on Youtube as Crazybunnylady suggested as this will show you all steps (which is much more easier than written recipes), choose something easy, buy everything you need and go ! Maybe you'll fail the first time but that's okay, many people fail when they start trying to cook by themselves, they just need to try again and again until the result is perfect, it's a matter of experience and patience. The easier the recipe, the less you risk failure.
If you want to try something easy and that everyone likes, why not start with pancakes ?

I order pizza so often that the delivery guy from Dominoes recognizes me. I had some cooking skill when I was younger, but it seems to have atrophied.

Yay! I'm not alone! I'm too much into other things to cook..

I love cooking my favourite meals! Am I the odd girl out here?