PIP - Preparing food…. and pre prepared food.

Hi Blueberry Owl

I have never heard of carrots becoming an aid, although they do say they help you see in the dark. 🥕🥴

So if you can't cut up vegetables, you need to explain why not.

1, Because of frequent bouts of dizziness you are only able to sit down for a few minutes (try and say what few is). and then you need to go and lay down.

2. Handling knives is impossible because of the lack of grip and safety issues and the real danger of hurting yourself, which is why your partner does all the cooking.

3. Because of the lack of grip you are unable to move pans, as you would drop them. You don't have the balance of strength.

4. Nor could you take a ready meal and put in in the microwave (you need to say why you can't do this - balance, grip, dizziness, lifting something out - the danger of burning and hurting yourself, being unable to stand).

5. You also need to say why you cannot sit on a perching stool (because of the dizziness).

Gary

Hi Blueberry Owl,
I will try and explain about food preparation and PIP, as this can cause confusion.
The test is about whether you can prepare and cook a simple one course meal for yourself, using fresh ingredients. The test therefore involves chopping and peeling vegetables, and/or preparing meat, understanding how to cook meat/veg, knowing about cooking times, and being able to identify when food is properly cooked, ie not over or under done. The food can be bland, but mustn't be inedible by eg being over salty or over spiced. I think some knowledge of food hygiene is required, in order to meet 'safety' criteria. The various components of the meal need to be ready to be eaten altogether, so you will need to show you can combine timings in order to serve.
Inedible, burnt, raw, very salty food, or wrong timings etc will all comprise not being of an acceptable standard.
So...First question to consider is do you need help with any of the above tasks?
If the answer is yes, then what help is required, and is the help required for the majority of days?
What help do you need - can some sort of gadget allow you to be safe, get to an acceptable standard etc? Or do you need
another person?
If chunky handled knives, or a food processor allows you the ability to chop vegetables without increasing pain or the risk of cuts from knives slipping, then you need an aid/appliance.
Similarly if you need a perching stool because you can't stand for long, or there is something else that helps you to cook food properly, then this will also be an aid etc.
However, maybe no amount of gadgets allow you to peel veg or chop it, or to stir food etc - you need some help. Some one to chop, but you can then prepare the rest of the meal.
Maybe you can chop things, but get confused about timings or understanding when food is cooked- then again you need assistance/supervision. If you need someone to ensure safety, perhaps because of falls or epilepsy - then you will need supervision.
If the helper ends up becoming the chef rather than the assistant, then this maybe indicative that you can't prepare and cook food.
Remember that you need to remain safe, maintain an acceptable standard - significant levels of pain will also render an activity not acceptable, you need to achieve a reasonable time ( no more than twice that of non disabled person, )and repeat across the whole day as required. Pain, fatigue, breathlessness, confusion could all be reasons why you can't repeat. It is likely you might want to cook 3 meals per day, (but it is YOUR norm that is important, or what you would want to do if you were able that matters, as long it is reasonable,) a failure to to complete all the required repetitions shows you need an aid or physical help etc.
Each descriptor activity will have a different repetition rate. Unless it is a very trivial time, just one failed repetition will indicate points should be awarded.
Points can also be achieved if you have to use a microwave ìnstead of a normal cooker. There is a lot of confusion about this. You will not gain points simply by using a microwave. On this descriptor there has to be a proper (health) reason why you can't use a normal cooker. I'm not entirely sure what reason this could be. Maybe if you became ill via steam from boiling veg, and this didn't happen in the microwave? However, the test is still chopping and prepping fresh food, and then simply needing to use the microwave to cook it.
That said, a lot of people rely on ready meals. If you rely on these because you can't cook/prepare food- you will score points - otherwise if these are just for quickness, then no points can be scored.
Prompting will arise when you need encouragement or explanation, but can still cook most of the meal yourself.
Descriptor 1f is different from the other descriptors in section 1. Here you have to show you can neither prepare nor cook. Points can be gained on other descriptors for failing to do one of preparation OR cooking, or of course both.
I hope this helps.
LL26