Starting to learn to cook and prepare food for yourself and maybe other members of your family or friends can seem a daunting task if you are just starting out in your own home with a disability.

Some things are just common sense, but you would be surprised at the lack of kitchen design when you are trying to reach up or down to cupboards.

Start by thinking about the essential items that you use every day and put them in an order that you know you can reach and access the working surface easily. make sure the cooker is at a height that you can work with while handling hot dishes.

If you have a problem with standing, make sure that you get yourself a leaning stool. This is a stool that you can adjust to the height you need to half sit to manage saucepans on the hob, or to prepare vegetables etcetera.

The opposite is needed if you are in a wheelchair you need your cooker at a level you are comfortable with. (higher up and with a door that opens sideways is easier to transfer food in and out of the oven).

Make a list of all the store cupboard items that you use regularly, and keep them within easy reach everybody uses items like Sugar Flour Bread Pasta Rice Spices Cooking oil vinegar cereal stock cubes and gravy granules. I expect you can think of more that you regularly use.

If you have a blind person in the house, try to acquire cupboards that have doors that lift or roll up out of the way, ( I have lost count of the times my partner has walked into an open cupboard door!)

One pot meals are brilliant for cooking for one or two as you can throw everything in and serve up with salad or bread and there is not too much washing up! a bit of research at the supermarket and on line for easy meals that are healthy and nutritious pay dividends for the future. Would you like to see recipes here or websites to try? one I have used is sofeminine Men don't be put off by the name, it's a really good site for easy meals.