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Now that I am back and helping mum daily after pursuing my career for the past three decades, she expresses that she does not like to cook anymore. Is it energy, memory or too many HPB meds through the years? Are there ways to re-energize her love to cook her favorite dishes?

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She has probably forgotten ingredients. MIL tried to use the bread machine and forgot some water, so the dough was no good. She may have burned things. MIL had scorched pans and cookie sheets. It's a little of all of the above, but it you cook WITH her, you can stir heavy dough and watch the cookies before they are charcoal. You can turn the burners down so sauces don't stick. For cuccidatti, I buy the fruit, chop it, spice it, marinate it and grind it so mom just spoons it up as filling for the final cookie. She still gets to take credit for the cookie, but 75% of the hard labor is eliminated.
Always say "Let's make..." and ask for her help. "How's this taste?" "Does it need anything?" preserves her sense of being important.
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she may have been cooking for herself for a while and that is absolutely not what cooking is about. cooking is purely an ego or giving of yourself thing. more about sharing.
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Cooking is complex, really. Many people's minds get a bit less organized when they are older, so cooking becomes challenging. And, as the captain said, when they cook for themselves alone it loses appeal. Some of us lose our love of cooking even earlier. I'm 62 and I no longer like to cook. It is just one of those necessary evils.
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Its a sign of aging and dementia, and if she is in her right mind, she just might be tired of it after 70 years of making meals. My mom is in her 90's and doesn't cook at all any more, except to heat up soup. She has senior dementia and doesn't remember what happened five minutes ago. She acts surprised when we make her something SHE taught us to cook - says she never had it before. Truthfully, she doesn't remember how to cook although she is constantly talking about wanting me to buy ingredients so she can make a "home cooked meal." She can't use the can opener or oven or dishwasher. She used to heat tv dinners, but now doesn't use the microwave. Its sad, but at 89, your mom just isn't the same person she was when she loved to cook.
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