Simple recipes or useful equipment for a nervous cook

[rubyhorse]

My BIL has cerebal palsy and is very, very nervous in the kitchen, particularly about chopping and handling pans of boiling water. However, for health and financial reasons he's really going to have to cook decent meals for himself more than he currently does. Does anyone have good recipe / equipment ideas? For example, is frozen chopped onion any good? I was also thinking about the colanders you can get which hang across the whole sink, leaving two hands to manage a pan of rice / pasta.

TIA.

For a price, there are loads of products out there. For instance, you can get a chopping board with a built-in "vice" to hold what you're cutting - that means you don't have to have your other hand in the way of the knife.

Also, I've seen a kind of metal basket which you put into the pan and boil food in - then you can just lift the food out when it's done and don't have to carry the pan of boiling water at all - you carry the pan of cold water to the hob, cook and lift out the food, and can leave the pan of water to cool down before you take it over to the sink to tip out.

Do you/he have any contacts with Ocuupational Health etc? I would think they should have people who can maybe get hold of this equipment for less than the usual retail price.

As to recipes, things like pasta and a bought sauce might be an easy start, also stir-fries - he could buy ready chopped vegetables for that (I do that, even though I'm able-bodied!). Casseroles too - does his cooker have a top oven? That can be easier than having to bend down to the main oven to take a hot dish out.