I don’t have enough to do. So I’m thinking I might try to cook. The problem is I don’t feel like it because I’m depressed. Maybe I can just cook sometimes. Does cooking help anybody?
12 Likes
Cooking is an awesome idea, @Jake! It helps me A LOT!
What do you like to eat?
4 Likes
I can’t get myself to cook since I got pneumonia last spring. I can go without oxygen long enough to be by a stove for long enough to cook so that is no excuse. I think it has to do with low self esteem. Cooking used to be my hobby years ago. I dropped it never knowing why.
1 Like
I like Italian, like lasagna
4 Likes
I’m sorry to hear that
Do you already know how to cook?
2 Likes
Not really, very little experience. I took a cooking class in the 7th grade. Cooked a chocolate pie with my father. And cooked a chicken pot pie like 7 years ago.
1 Like
You’re ok if 1, you can understand a recipe 2. you have a friend who can help you out. 3. you love to be creative.
3 Likes
Yes cooking is fun I like slow cooking like baking or stewing to kill time. However I don’t seem to have time these days with everything going on in my life so I tend to do smoothies or a subway sandwich a lot of the time. I’m not really much of a domestic person I get a little frustrated doing things like cooking. I need to do it while multi tasking like with the tv on playing a movie.
1 Like
Cooking is a great mindfulness exercise. Since you are forced to pay attention to your surroundings. And unlike other activities where you can daydream permanently, when you are cooking or prepping the food, you will be forced to come back to earth.
I don’t want to sound like cliche self help guru “Now is the only thing you have” But it is true. We live in world where we touch and we make a senses from the stuff around us. So I’ll take whatever I can get. Even washed up “Being in the now”
4 Likes
I do find that cooking creatively is an enjoyable activity although I tend to repeat the same meals too often and find myself limited to what i can cook when I try to avoid bread which I believe has a negative effect on me.
Do you have people you can cook for?
Maybe you can try some simple recipes and then go from there.
I rather cook for people than just for myself.
When I lived alone I was not keen on cooking just for myself.
It’s nice to harothers enjoy your cooking.
It’s not hard to find websites like these.
My philosophy was that if I can read…then I can cook.
Recipes are just like the instructions to building model airplanes. They list all the steps in order of how to cook something. They list all the ingredients (parts) and how much you need. I cooked for years until I moved into a group home where they did all the cooking. I made some pretty fancy dishes when I lived by myself. Anything from chili, to cheesecake to stew or omelets.
2 Likes
I like to cook. I don’t know if I’m any good at it, but I like getting excited to have a certain meal, and the whole process of going to buy the ingredients and preparing them
1 Like
Cooking is a good method to kill time. But you’d better find someone to eat what you cook. When you are depressed, you are more likely to crave food. This certainly will put your size at risk.
cooking is good.
There os a million hobbies though if want:
drawing
painting
indoor gardening
sculpting
stainglass
scrapbooks
tshirt paint
floral arrangement
writing
volunteer work (dog walker at shelter, food sorter - at a food bank)
re-finishing / restore furniture
Learn auto mechanics via an old junker and Haynes manual
learn about landscaping by planning your own garden/lawn (if you own a home)
learn emergency techniques - cpr, how to purify water, how to pack an emergency box for your sef/family
i could go on for days.
oh, i didnt know that part. yes, highly suggest you spend some time cooking.
Easiest meals are salads. Tip: sprinkle with small amount of cheese.
Next suggested lesson: something like a hamburger.
3rd, maybe speghetti or some kind of pasta.
Tip: add 1 teaspoon of oil to water before boiling. this helps pasta not stick together.
After done and drained, if there will be left overs, add 1 to 2 teaspoons oil and stir well about 2 minutes. Do the oil before adding sauce. This oil added after cooking will keep sauced pasta from being dry as a left over.
By the time a person can cook a bit of meat and pasta they are up and running.
1 Like
Eating healthy food really helps my symptoms, so cooking definitely helps in that respect. I make a lot of stir frys. They are really easy and you can get a good variety of vegetables, kind of like a cooked salad.
2 Likes
Sure it helps, anything that can be fun and challenging - helps
I cant bring myself to cook more than once a day. Once is rewarding but more than that and I feel like I’m just wasting too much time in the kitchen. I recommends soups salads and stir frys
1 Like