Organizing Your Kitchen by Touch
Recently I have had people ask me questions about organizing food in their cabinet or freezer.
Some lucky seniors have friends or family members who bring them small containers of food to stock their freezer. We have been doing this for my mom for several years. Seniors, or any visually impaired person, may have trouble recognizing what is in the container and will not be able to read the container labels. Here are a few hints. However, feel free to ignore them if you like the element of surprise.
The most important thing to remember is consistency. Once you set up a pattern for identifying food, whether it is in your cabinet or freezer, stick with the plan.
Find 3 or 4 different types of containers. There are so many to choose from. They will need to be small because it is best if they hold just one meal. It is also nice if you can pop them right into the microwave. Maybe go with a round one, square one, rectangle, and then you can duplicate the shapes with containers using a different kind of lid. This gives you the ability to mark 6 kinds of food. You can double mark to help reinforce memory or expand your food selection by using colored drafting tape to mark the lids. Use a color that will contrast with the color of the container. This tape is thin but easy to feel. You can put large letters on the top of the container like ML for meat loaf or CS for chicken soup.
Now for food in the cabinet: I have tried to stay away from packaged foods as much as I can but there are a few standards that fill my shelves. There are several shaped cans. The standard flat bottom cans come in a few sizes and then there are round bottom cans. Now we have the ones with the pull ring to open without a can opener. Always buy the same flavor soup in the same can. I usually buy tomato soup and chicken soup. I buy one in the flat bottom can and one in the round bottomed can. Thank goodness they make dog food in square cans and tuna in round cans. This used to be my worse nightmare.
I think you get the idea. Just remember to stay consistent.
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