I was the person who didn’t like the idea of cleaning up after a meal or sometimes anything that involved the “sweat equity” of what it took to cook.
I have experienced many flaws in my cooking during my years of independence, yet I was patient and learned when I was taught the proper techniques in cooking.
I took Foods classes in High School, which was two decades ago. I never dreamed that I would be putting those skills and others to action and actually care about cooking to the point I am invested and it feels therapeutic to do so.
I started yesterday, by planning the meals for the week and knowing I wanted to roast this chicken today, set in the refrigerator to defrost.
Then, I put it in the pan and cooked it this afternoon.
When it was done, I took it out of the oven and cooked the instant potatoes. While they were sitting and forming, I cut the pieces of chicken I wanted to eat and after the potatoes were ready, I plated them and ate.
Our work is never done after eating. This meal, I had to de-bone the chicken and put it and the left potatoes in containers for a later meal. Then I washed the dishes, disposing of the unusable chicken parts and I realized that the garbage would need to be taken to the container, of which I did. Doing this let the dishes dry and I took some time to decompress and add to my food journal for day before putting the dishes away.
Many of these things were once a struggle and I am not saying that all autistics can do this scale of a meal. But to think that I could ever pull off a meal of this magnitude was something in the infancy of my independence that would seemed impossible. However with not wanting to procure any food waste this year and food prices in the current state of influx, you have to work with what you have and this was part of my monthly food supplement and was ready to cook with minimal embellishing.
If you think you can, you can.
Dustin's Dynasty 