Seat for cooking

[NelliePledge]

I see what you mean about safety @Barry

I don’t do much hob cooking just soup or scrambled eggs veg stir fry and thinking about it i don’t reckon I need to sit down at the cooker for these short activities.

I don’t bother with making gravy or sauce and also given up frying onions and garlic browning meat etc. I don’t fry up my soup contents either. I put combinations of food together in a pan with stock/wine/Passata and boil for soup or cook in the oven for a stew or pot roast.

so on reflection my scooting would be between my prep area, Food cupboards and the fridge/freezer. Then the assembled masterpiece would be set to cook with occasional checks to make sure its cooking ok.

Once cooked the only thing I do anything to before serving is stick blend soup in the pan but a couple of quick bursts and that’s done and again for me that’s not long enough to need to sit down.

 

[Kitty]

so on reflection my scooting would be between my prep area, Food cupboards and the fridge/freezer.

So changes to the way you do it could potentially help quite a bit – e.g., keeping your frequently used pans, crockery and seasoning as close to your work area as possible, and only going to the food cupboard and fridge once. It took me a while to learn to organise everything I eat regularly, but it really does help. I started by dictating notes into my phone whilst I was doing it the inefficient way, then converted that into a written list.

It felt clunky and tiresome to set up, but cut down on miles travelled by two thirds. I couldn't have done it without the note-making, though, as I go foggy as soon as I start moving, and end up stumbling around in ever less organised circles.

Apologies if you've long since done this, or were never as half-witted as me to start with!!

 

[Invisible Woman]

I've checked with the vet supplier & they only sell to vets who have accounts with them.

The cheaper amazon stool is currently £229 plus vat. It's in their sale that lasts till the end of Feb.

Out of our reach. Although I might carry on investigating cheaper saddle style stools.

 

[ladycatlover]

Just a word of warning, my dentist has a saddle seat, and he's complained a couple of times to me that he gets saddle sore using it. But he's prob sitting on it all day of course.

I've got a cheap and cheerful bar stool from Argos (cost about £40 I think) at the caravan for those days when OH abandons me for home (like today!) so I can sit to do a bit of washing up or food prep... Though mostly I just live off the pile of sarnies he leaves ready made for me in the fridge!

 

[Kitty]

@NelliePledge and @Invisible Woman, it struck me that it'd be quite hard to choose a specialised stool without trying it out for comfort and range of heights first. A quick search for local-ish suppliers of rehab and physio equipment yielded this company, which does sell saddle stools:

https://www.phoenix-healthcare.co.uk/browse/couches-traction-stools/treatment-stools-foot-stools/94

I don't know whether they have a facility for people to try things out before buying. However, if they don't, there may be another company the region that does – or they may agree to send a demo model to an Independent Living Centre for you to test.

I'm not sure whereabouts in the country you're based, @Invisible Woman, but if you wanted to explore further, I found that a Google search on 'rehab equipment' plus region seemed to work quite well.

 

[ahimsa]

I use an ordinary kitchen stool with slightly splayed legs. I have a small kitchen, so there's only just room to put it where I won't trip over it in front of a cupboard. I just drag it to where I want to sit on it.

Assuming that a bar stool is the same thing as a kitchen stool then my solution is very similar to what Trish described. I even do the same thing with opening the doors under the sink when I move the seat there!

The only thing I'd add is that I put sliders on the feet of my stool. [look up furniture sliders or super sliders - there are several brands] That way it's a bit easier to move. These sliders are not so slippery that the seat moves around while I'm sitting on it. But this way I can push it across the floor more easily (lifting it would quickly drain my energy).

Also, my bar stool has a backrest as well as a foot rest (no dangling legs). And it swivels so I don't need to worry about whether it is lined up just right. I can swivel as needed.

As several folks have mentioned it's not ideal because there is no place to put your legs under the counter. You have to sort of sit sideways. But it is better for me than standing.

When I have a longer task (say, chopping something) then I do that at the kitchen table. I only use the stool for shorter tasks that need to be done at counter level. The two examples that come to mind are hand washing items at the sink (I have a couple of travel mugs that can't go in the dishwasher) or stirring something on the stove.

 

[Kitty]

stirring something on the stove.

That reminded me of a tip I might or might not have mentioned here before: FaceTiming my dinner!

If I put something on a low light that's going to take a while to heat up, or I want to make sure a huge batch of chilli is simmering rather than boiling furiously, I switch on FaceTime on my phone, prop it up so the camera can see into the pan, then go and watch it on my laptop whilst having a welcome rest on the sofa.

It doesn't stir the pot, of course, but it's very useful when cooking big batches – it saves me going back quite so frequently to check on something that's going to need a good couple of hours to cook through.

 

[Wonko]

It doesn't stir the pot, of course, ......

Amazon product ASIN B016UWZZEM
This does - I should point out that it's not what I use, I use a stirio but you can't buy them any more, so I can't say if the one linked to is any good, or not (the stirio works fine at stirring, it's just loud, too loud. It would be ideal for the cook to use in a separate wing of a mansion).

My point may be that, if desired, then devices to stir things do exist.

 

[ladycatlover]

I found my Argos bar stool. Just in case anyone is interested - at least it's cheap! It's comfy enough for short term use, and it's height adjustable. Though the handle for that broke off the first time I used it. Should get OH to glue it back on or something - it's the kind of thing I could imagine a toddler taking their eye out on without the handle! But you get what you pay for, I guess, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a bar stool that I might only use 3 or 4 times a year - if that!