Hi. When I’m cooking from a recipe book I put the book in a metal book stand but find it hard to read and cook hands-free. Likewise if I tear a page from a magazine with a recipe I want. If I find a recipe online I can just magnify it before I print it out, which avoids the problem. This is all about my MS-y vision. Yes, I do have specs, very good optician, good light in my kitchen etc
I did buy a cheap perspex sheet from Amazon but it doesn’t work when it’s laid on top of the page in the recipe book. I called up the RNIB to see what they suggest and they referred me to this company (below). I spoke to them and they suggest this:
What with the shorter days and dark evenings I feel I really want to get something to crack this. I’ve a number of recipe books I tend not to use as it’s too tricky to follow the recipe on the page! Can anyone personally recommend anything? I can order the above product and they said I could send it back if it’s unsuitable, but maybe someone here has a suggestion.
If you magnify webpages before printing and they’re OK, it does sound like your specs are no longer the right prescription for you.
When did you last have your eyes checked?
A number of years ago, I had laser-surgery to correct my short sightedness. I was told at the time that as I got older (typically when I reached my 50’s) my eyesight would change and I’d almost certainly become long-sighted and need reading-glasses, and my close-up vision would be quite poor.
As predicted, I now require glasses for reading, computer use and close-up vision (…so a totally different prescription to my teenage short sightedness). My long-distance sight is brill, so vision for outdoor stuff etc. is better than it’s been for years .
Just to illustrate that things change for all of us as time goes by !!
No Dom, my specs are OK - had the prescription altered about three months ago. I have varifocals, plus single vision readers, plus a long distance pair for driving!
Think I’ll try that magnifying gadget and will report back here if it helps!
I love(d) my cook books but, like you, I have trouble reading from them. The problem I have is that I am color blind to varying degrees and have trouble with low (ie NORMAL!) light levels. Most modern cookery books are beautifully designed but have an unusable mix of font, font colour, background colour etc. And don’t get me started on magazines! What I tend to do now is use the writer’s website and print the recipe from there in a decent font I can read! (Keeps my lovely books clean too!)
You can find most published recipes online with little effort. People like Nigella,Delia, Jamie Oliver etc have really comprehensive websites. Recipes published in a newspaper are usually on the newspaper’s website. BBC programmes can be found on the BBC Good Food website (not directly on BBC.co.uk any more). Finally, lots of people will have blogs where they reproduce a recipe they have tried. Happy cooking! I can’t cook as much as I used to do but I still love doing it occasionally. (Dorset apple cake this weekend. Yum. Yum!)
I have used full page magnifiers a lot in the past. Some are better than others. I have a rigid A4 magnifier that looks like a picture frame and it has flip out “legs” for it to rest on which is excellent but I also tried a cheap floppy sheet that was of little or no use. I can’t see how either would work with a cookbook in a stand because they need to be held a little bit away from the page because they are lenses. Good if the book is flat and you have a free hand but not in a kitchen!
Hi Boblatina. Thanks for info. I do often print out recipes in a larger size so I guess I could look through the cook books normally, choose recipes, and print them out larger.
Was this the thing that you meant ? Think I’ll have a go at this.
It’s just reminded me that I can see and read the best on bright sunny days. Days like today (where it’s very cloudy all day and there’s no brightness at all) seem to make it more difficult.
Hi Boblatina. Thanks for info. I do often print out recipes in a larger size so I guess I could look through the cook books normally, choose recipes, and print them out larger.
Was this the thing that you meant ? Think I’ll have a go at this.
It’s just reminded me that I can see and read the best on bright sunny days. Days like today (where it’s very cloudy all day and there’s no brightness at all) seem to make it more difficult.
Louise
[/quote] The one I have is like that but it doesn’t have the lights - very swish! I do really struggle overvlight levels. As much as possible I have changed the lightbulbs in every fitting to the highest rated ones I can. I also try to get the daylight rated bulbs as these seem to give me a “less cloudy light” (if that doesn’t sound stupid). I also use a desk lamp to concentrate on what I am trying to see. Problem is, I have to work in a room that is more strongly lit than the average operating theatre!