Cutlery

Everyday living
1

I can no longer manage a knife and fork, and am starting to struggle using just a fork or spoon. Just as well I like sandwiches. I’ve got exercises to do to improve my grip and strength, but I’m not expecting miracles.

is it worth buying special cutlery or the foam thingies to go on the handles or would it be a waste of money?

2

Hiya

I hate special cutlery. The foam pads are OK, as are big fat handles, sort of. Apart from feeling like a dork using them. But who had the bright idea that if you have trouble with cutlery, trying to stick the business end of a great big fork (or spoon) will be useful to help me eat? My mouth is really not that big (obviously I do metaphorically have a big gob, but still!) even my dentist says I have a fairly small mouth. So trying to fit a huge great forkful of food into my mouth is just not going to happen. And I don’t want food smeared all over my face if I can help it (obviously sometimes I can’t)!

So, my solutions:

  • In general I use older cutlery at home, it tends to be smaller. So we have old stuff, that I use and new cutlery that OH and visitors use. Why is nearly all cutlery nowadays so damn big?
  • I cut up food (or have OH cut it up, especially meat and harder to cut things) then eat with just a fork in my right hand.
  • When my hands are feeling particularly lousy, I wind an elastic band round the handle of the fork. It helps with the grip.
  • If I’m out and don’t have access to an elastic band and the cutlery is big and/or heavy, I have been known to wind cling film round the handle (twist a bit round so it’s long & thin then wind round). A sticking plaster, would also work, if made of the old fashioned bandage type stuff, but harder to get off.
  • I have recently put a small fork in my bag, it’s actually part of a kids set from IKEA, just the right size. In a place where it’s impossible to use the cutlery, I can just whip it out. So to speak.
  • When I eat out, I often order food that can be picked up and eaten with fingers.
  • At home (and sometimes out) I am quite frequently to be found surreptitiously sliding food onto a fork with my fingers!

And lastly:

  • Accept that I sometimes eat like a chimp. If I drop my cutlery onto the plate, lap, table or floor, so what.

Sue

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3

There is some with bigger handles etc (not foam) They were recommend by my physio when having problems with dexterity in both hands, and work well for me, so give them the thumbs up.

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4

Hi

We’re on the same page I think.

OH cuts up my food, I just use the fork, but often with all the dexterity of a clumsy chimpanzee.

When we eat out I opt for things I can eat with a fork or my fingers where ever possible.

At home I use steak knives and forks, the wooden handles are marginally easier.

Surreptitiously sliding food onto my fork - yes me too!

Am I embarrassed - no, not any more.

if anyone has a problem with it, then it’s their problem, not mine.

I won’t waste money on “special” ugly cutlery.

Thanks Eve xx

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Thanks xx

6

My wife struggles with both grip and strength in her fork hand: I fitted a chunky wooden handle to a fork which she says has helped a bit.

It’s going to vary from one person to another.

Another quick fix if you want to try it would be to whip the length of the handle with some thin cord/thick string - it does require a reasonable amount of dexterity to do so you will probably need someone to do this for you. Any sort of sticky tape could also be used just to try it out.

Whatever you do don’t restrict yourself to sandwiches, try a wrap or tortilla or similar, you can put almost anything in them, chicken marinated in oil, lemon and herbs (and then dry fried) with some salad and mayo is tonight’s offering, last week I made some spicy lamb thingys and had those in a wrap (or three) with some salad and creme fraiche.

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Hi Flowerpot,

Had to open a post titled cutlery. I have similar problems. mostly cook things I can eat with a fork with my right hand, pasta, rice dishes.

Some cutlery is so slippery. Great idea to take your own as long as people don’t think you’re stealing it when you put it in your handbag at the end of the meal.

Sue, do you carry cling film around just incase you have to wrap it round a fork?

My dad put some bunsen burner rubber tubing on my toe nail clippers. Perfect. would work for cutlery too.

Love this website for top tips to make our lives easier.

Jen x

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Hi Jen

The cling film thing was actually a chefs solution. When I was having lunch in Malta, the forks were really heavy and slippy in my stupid hand. So I asked the waitress if they had any smaller (ie children’s, or starter sized) forks. So the chef suggested the cling film idea. It worked brilliantly.

The only problem occurs when you ask for a piece of cling film and the waiters’ first language is not English. A while back, I was offered first a blue bandage which was never going to work, then sellotape, which I tried, but it failed. I drank too much that day. Didn’t eat enough and after that I started carrying the small fork.

Getting drunk is a bad idea when you can’t walk but need to transfer from wheelchair to car seat and vice versa when home is reached. Carrying a small fork and being prepared to look like a thief is a small price.

Sue

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Good Grips cutlery, works very well for me. Big rubber handles make it so much easier to eat with. I have a knife, fork & spoon as well as a spreader knife which is a godsend.

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The fat handle cutlery has made my eating much less eventful expensive but shop around our mobility shop did us a great rate list price on first item and cost on the other two . Nice people, even they couldn’t believe how expensive.

XXX Don

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Ps the foam things are worse than rubbish

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Great practical advice, with a dose of style and humour. As for getting drunk despite having the balance of vertically stacked chainsaws, not a great idea, but it does make the consequences seem funnier.

Sometimes when I am out I ask the kitchen staff to cut up my food, saving my amazing wife one little job.

Mick

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