Cooking and Kitchen Safety

For People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired

This section is full of practical tips to make cooking and meal preparation safe and easy for people with blindness or visual impairments. Information covers the full range of activities: grocery shopping, kitchen accommodations, selection of appliances, and techniques for measuring, pouring, and cooking.

Below are the topics you'll find in this section. Click on a title to jump to a specific topic.

• Kitchen Organization, Food Preparation, and Cooking
• Organizations and Resources to Explore: Cooking

Kitchen Organization, Food Preparation, and Cooking

Adapting the Kitchen, Lighthouse International
Practical advice for organizing the kitchen, using appliances, pouring liquids, cooking, and setting the table; includes links to demonstration videos and online classes.

Your Kitchen, American Foundation for the Blind – Senior Site
Kitchen organization ideas and simple steps for streamlining kitchen chores.

Cooking & Meals: Master Your Kitchen, American Foundation for the Blind – Senior Site
Practical suggestions for grocery shopping, setting the table, safety, serving food, and eating out; includes a video on kitchen activities.

Doing Things Differently in the Kitchen, Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB)
Practical tips for safety and independence in the kitchen.

Lesson 1--The User-Friendly Kitchen
Lesson 2--Let's Cook Together
These lessons use illustrations, text, and an audio narrative to present food preparation techniques, products, and tools, and demonstrate preparation of a sample recipe.

Low Vision Cooking Tips, Center for Educational Networking
Ideas for organizing the kitchen, preparing food, cooking, and baking; includes a list of adapted equipment and tools.

What's for Dinner? Iowa Department for the Blind
Suggestions for baking and using the stove top.

Tips for Cooking with Low Vision:  Adaptive Techniques for Visually Impaired People to Use in the Kitchen, Associated Content, Inc.
Rhonda Brantley, who has retinitis pigmentosa, shares her cooking techniques.

Cooking Tips, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
Helpful hints for grocery shopping and meal preparation.

Cooking Tips 2009, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
Suggestions for cooking, shopping and labeling; plus information on special products and adaptive equipment.

Measuring, The Carroll Center for the Blind
Tips for measuring liquids and weighing ingredients.

Microwave Ovens, Vision Australia
Features to look for when selecting a microwave for a user who is blind or visually impaired.

Pouring Liquids and Making Hot Drinks, Vision Australia
Strategies for pouring liquids neatly and safely.

Tips for the Kitchen, American Foundation for the Blind
Simple techniques and precautions to make kitchen tasks safer and easier; available in English and Spanish.

The Safe Chef: Helpful Techniques, American Foundation for the Blind – Senior Site
Extensive information on a range of kitchen safety topics, including cooking, cutting and chopping, measuring, pouring, peeling, and baking.

Cooking and Other Kitchen Safety Tips for the Visually Impaired, Associated Content, Inc.
Drawing from her own experience in adjusting to vision loss, Angela Kimball shares advice for working in the kitchen.

Crockpot Cooking Tips, Fred's Head--American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
Michael McCarty shares tips for cooking with a crock-pot or slow cooker.

Organizations and Resources to Explore: Cooking 

Cooking without Looking, Vision World Foundation
Tailored to people who are blind or visually impaired, this streaming video/audio program features guest chefs who demonstrate cooking techniques and recipes.

Sue's Kitchen, The Accessible Friends Network
Sue Pallett shares accessible recipes, cooking tips, and other useful information for people who are blind or visually impaired.