Autistic in the kitchen: executive functioning and food prep
Cooking can be inaccessible when you’re Autistic. This piece explores why the kitchen feels overwhelming and how tools like Tiimo can help.
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Cooking can be inaccessible when you’re Autistic. This piece explores why the kitchen feels overwhelming and how tools like Tiimo can help.
If you listen closely in the quiet, in the silences, you will hear it; a lot of people on the Autism spectrum are really struggling with cooking, baking, and almost everything related to food preparation. The kitchen is an inaccessible place, fraught with danger and the domestic wizardry of metal cutlery-ware. Just talk to your Autistic friends, your colleagues, the person behind the counter at your supermarket and you will find that this is quite a widespread issue.
It is not an unusual issue, but there is little research that fully captures how widespread or nuanced this challenge really is. But being able to cook/bake/prepare food, in line with your abilities and access needs, is crucial when it comes to the topic of independence. Food education matters, but traditional approaches rarely support Autistic learners. Executive functioning plays a huge role in making the kitchen feel manageable. Here is what helps, and how you can adapt cooking to suit your needs.
If you Google the term, executive function is generally described as being a set of mental skills everyone has and they include things such as working memory, being able to think flexibly, and other areas like that.
A former support worker for me personally described it as though everyone has a small personal assistant (PA) in their brain, an individual who is in charge of just about everything we need to be able to do in order to function on a daily basis. My former employer also had another metaphor for this; imagine that these skills are a set of cogs, and in order for a task to be carried out, all of them have to work together, turn together, for it to be completed. However, when you are Autistic, the cogs may become swollen due to too much input - such as if the environment is too noisy, or there are too many tasks.
Executive functioning can sometimes be an issue when you are Autistic, but there are some basic, inexpensive adaptations that can be put in place to help.
Let’s just put this out there: in short, the world of everything to do with food preparation is not that accessible, unless you are prepared to spend an inordinate amount of time investing in learning, practicing, and trying to jump extra hoops that Neurotypical individuals don’t have to on a daily basis. No one really thought about Autistic individuals when it came to the kitchen.
If you tend to think literally, recipe language can feel confusing or absurd. What does “light heat” mean when heat has no weight? How much is a knob of butter? Or a dab? Language is everything and yet people do not just say what they mean. Recipes and instructions often hide helpful information, the parts that Neurotypical individuals just seem to innately know and trying to create something tangible becomes difficult.
Executive functioning challenges can make cooking feel especially overwhelming, particularly when it comes to sequencing tasks. Take something like making chicken kiev with chips. Each part needs to be cooked for a different amount of time, in a particular order, so everything is ready at once. You might need to preheat the oven, get the chips started, and then time the chicken just right. Keeping track of all those moving parts, while also adjusting along the way, can feel like juggling too many things at once. Without support, it can be exhausting. Even getting started, known as task initiation, can be difficult, especially if you are not sure where to begin or already feel overstimulated.
These are just some of the areas as to why cooking may be harder if you are on the Autistic spectrum. Cooking is difficult for many people, but being on the Autistic spectrum presents another layer of challenges. You can’t ‘just learn’ away your challenges - and practice takes a lot of extra time and energy, making it an unreasonable expectation.
Accessibility does not have to be expensive, and some of the most effective tools are simple, adaptable, and low-cost. Tiimo is a good place to start. It is a visual planning app designed to support executive functioning, and you can use it to break down a recipe into manageable steps, set gentle timers, and create routines that work with your brain instead of against it. The AI co-planner is especially helpful if you struggle with sequencing, as it can suggest what to do first and help you avoid the overwhelm of holding everything in your head at once.
Before you begin cooking, it helps to gather and prepare everything you need. Even small steps like pre-slicing vegetables or measuring ingredients in advance can ease task initiation and make the process feel less chaotic. For example, when I make pasta with salad greens stirred into the sauce, I always chop the greens before I start cooking, so I am not scrambling later.
Time agnosia often makes it difficult to notice time passing while cooking, so setting a timer can offer a gentle structure. Tiimo’s visual focus timer works well for this, but you could also use your phone’s timer or even a liquid timer if that feels less intrusive. Whichever you choose, it is worth adjusting the alert sound so it does not come as a sensory shock.
If timing is something you regularly find difficult, it can help to write out each step of the recipe with estimated times. You can do this directly in Tiimo as individual tasks, or on paper if you prefer something physical. Most packaged foods include approximate cook times, so you can use that information to guide the flow of your meal prep without relying solely on intuition.
Autistic people are often made to feel like everything is their fault. There is constant pressure to cope, to learn skills more quickly, to do better without support. This kind of expectation is not only unrealistic, it shifts an unfair amount of responsibility onto the Autistic person instead of addressing the barriers that make daily life harder.
Being different is not a problem. It should not be treated as something to fix. It is something that deserves recognition, support, and celebration.
When people have access to tools that are aligned with their needs, it becomes easier to build confidence and autonomy in ways that feel sustainable. Independence does not mean doing everything alone. It means being able to move through the world with the right support in place. Autistic people are more than capable of this, especially when the systems around us are designed to help rather than hold us back.
Cooking can be inaccessible when you’re Autistic. This piece explores why the kitchen feels overwhelming and how tools like Tiimo can help.
If you listen closely in the quiet, in the silences, you will hear it; a lot of people on the Autism spectrum are really struggling with cooking, baking, and almost everything related to food preparation. The kitchen is an inaccessible place, fraught with danger and the domestic wizardry of metal cutlery-ware. Just talk to your Autistic friends, your colleagues, the person behind the counter at your supermarket and you will find that this is quite a widespread issue.
It is not an unusual issue, but there is little research that fully captures how widespread or nuanced this challenge really is. But being able to cook/bake/prepare food, in line with your abilities and access needs, is crucial when it comes to the topic of independence. Food education matters, but traditional approaches rarely support Autistic learners. Executive functioning plays a huge role in making the kitchen feel manageable. Here is what helps, and how you can adapt cooking to suit your needs.
If you Google the term, executive function is generally described as being a set of mental skills everyone has and they include things such as working memory, being able to think flexibly, and other areas like that.
A former support worker for me personally described it as though everyone has a small personal assistant (PA) in their brain, an individual who is in charge of just about everything we need to be able to do in order to function on a daily basis. My former employer also had another metaphor for this; imagine that these skills are a set of cogs, and in order for a task to be carried out, all of them have to work together, turn together, for it to be completed. However, when you are Autistic, the cogs may become swollen due to too much input - such as if the environment is too noisy, or there are too many tasks.
Executive functioning can sometimes be an issue when you are Autistic, but there are some basic, inexpensive adaptations that can be put in place to help.
Let’s just put this out there: in short, the world of everything to do with food preparation is not that accessible, unless you are prepared to spend an inordinate amount of time investing in learning, practicing, and trying to jump extra hoops that Neurotypical individuals don’t have to on a daily basis. No one really thought about Autistic individuals when it came to the kitchen.
If you tend to think literally, recipe language can feel confusing or absurd. What does “light heat” mean when heat has no weight? How much is a knob of butter? Or a dab? Language is everything and yet people do not just say what they mean. Recipes and instructions often hide helpful information, the parts that Neurotypical individuals just seem to innately know and trying to create something tangible becomes difficult.
Executive functioning challenges can make cooking feel especially overwhelming, particularly when it comes to sequencing tasks. Take something like making chicken kiev with chips. Each part needs to be cooked for a different amount of time, in a particular order, so everything is ready at once. You might need to preheat the oven, get the chips started, and then time the chicken just right. Keeping track of all those moving parts, while also adjusting along the way, can feel like juggling too many things at once. Without support, it can be exhausting. Even getting started, known as task initiation, can be difficult, especially if you are not sure where to begin or already feel overstimulated.
These are just some of the areas as to why cooking may be harder if you are on the Autistic spectrum. Cooking is difficult for many people, but being on the Autistic spectrum presents another layer of challenges. You can’t ‘just learn’ away your challenges - and practice takes a lot of extra time and energy, making it an unreasonable expectation.
Accessibility does not have to be expensive, and some of the most effective tools are simple, adaptable, and low-cost. Tiimo is a good place to start. It is a visual planning app designed to support executive functioning, and you can use it to break down a recipe into manageable steps, set gentle timers, and create routines that work with your brain instead of against it. The AI co-planner is especially helpful if you struggle with sequencing, as it can suggest what to do first and help you avoid the overwhelm of holding everything in your head at once.
Before you begin cooking, it helps to gather and prepare everything you need. Even small steps like pre-slicing vegetables or measuring ingredients in advance can ease task initiation and make the process feel less chaotic. For example, when I make pasta with salad greens stirred into the sauce, I always chop the greens before I start cooking, so I am not scrambling later.
Time agnosia often makes it difficult to notice time passing while cooking, so setting a timer can offer a gentle structure. Tiimo’s visual focus timer works well for this, but you could also use your phone’s timer or even a liquid timer if that feels less intrusive. Whichever you choose, it is worth adjusting the alert sound so it does not come as a sensory shock.
If timing is something you regularly find difficult, it can help to write out each step of the recipe with estimated times. You can do this directly in Tiimo as individual tasks, or on paper if you prefer something physical. Most packaged foods include approximate cook times, so you can use that information to guide the flow of your meal prep without relying solely on intuition.
Autistic people are often made to feel like everything is their fault. There is constant pressure to cope, to learn skills more quickly, to do better without support. This kind of expectation is not only unrealistic, it shifts an unfair amount of responsibility onto the Autistic person instead of addressing the barriers that make daily life harder.
Being different is not a problem. It should not be treated as something to fix. It is something that deserves recognition, support, and celebration.
When people have access to tools that are aligned with their needs, it becomes easier to build confidence and autonomy in ways that feel sustainable. Independence does not mean doing everything alone. It means being able to move through the world with the right support in place. Autistic people are more than capable of this, especially when the systems around us are designed to help rather than hold us back.
Cooking can be inaccessible when you’re Autistic. This piece explores why the kitchen feels overwhelming and how tools like Tiimo can help.
If you listen closely in the quiet, in the silences, you will hear it; a lot of people on the Autism spectrum are really struggling with cooking, baking, and almost everything related to food preparation. The kitchen is an inaccessible place, fraught with danger and the domestic wizardry of metal cutlery-ware. Just talk to your Autistic friends, your colleagues, the person behind the counter at your supermarket and you will find that this is quite a widespread issue.
It is not an unusual issue, but there is little research that fully captures how widespread or nuanced this challenge really is. But being able to cook/bake/prepare food, in line with your abilities and access needs, is crucial when it comes to the topic of independence. Food education matters, but traditional approaches rarely support Autistic learners. Executive functioning plays a huge role in making the kitchen feel manageable. Here is what helps, and how you can adapt cooking to suit your needs.
If you Google the term, executive function is generally described as being a set of mental skills everyone has and they include things such as working memory, being able to think flexibly, and other areas like that.
A former support worker for me personally described it as though everyone has a small personal assistant (PA) in their brain, an individual who is in charge of just about everything we need to be able to do in order to function on a daily basis. My former employer also had another metaphor for this; imagine that these skills are a set of cogs, and in order for a task to be carried out, all of them have to work together, turn together, for it to be completed. However, when you are Autistic, the cogs may become swollen due to too much input - such as if the environment is too noisy, or there are too many tasks.
Executive functioning can sometimes be an issue when you are Autistic, but there are some basic, inexpensive adaptations that can be put in place to help.
Let’s just put this out there: in short, the world of everything to do with food preparation is not that accessible, unless you are prepared to spend an inordinate amount of time investing in learning, practicing, and trying to jump extra hoops that Neurotypical individuals don’t have to on a daily basis. No one really thought about Autistic individuals when it came to the kitchen.
If you tend to think literally, recipe language can feel confusing or absurd. What does “light heat” mean when heat has no weight? How much is a knob of butter? Or a dab? Language is everything and yet people do not just say what they mean. Recipes and instructions often hide helpful information, the parts that Neurotypical individuals just seem to innately know and trying to create something tangible becomes difficult.
Executive functioning challenges can make cooking feel especially overwhelming, particularly when it comes to sequencing tasks. Take something like making chicken kiev with chips. Each part needs to be cooked for a different amount of time, in a particular order, so everything is ready at once. You might need to preheat the oven, get the chips started, and then time the chicken just right. Keeping track of all those moving parts, while also adjusting along the way, can feel like juggling too many things at once. Without support, it can be exhausting. Even getting started, known as task initiation, can be difficult, especially if you are not sure where to begin or already feel overstimulated.
These are just some of the areas as to why cooking may be harder if you are on the Autistic spectrum. Cooking is difficult for many people, but being on the Autistic spectrum presents another layer of challenges. You can’t ‘just learn’ away your challenges - and practice takes a lot of extra time and energy, making it an unreasonable expectation.
Accessibility does not have to be expensive, and some of the most effective tools are simple, adaptable, and low-cost. Tiimo is a good place to start. It is a visual planning app designed to support executive functioning, and you can use it to break down a recipe into manageable steps, set gentle timers, and create routines that work with your brain instead of against it. The AI co-planner is especially helpful if you struggle with sequencing, as it can suggest what to do first and help you avoid the overwhelm of holding everything in your head at once.
Before you begin cooking, it helps to gather and prepare everything you need. Even small steps like pre-slicing vegetables or measuring ingredients in advance can ease task initiation and make the process feel less chaotic. For example, when I make pasta with salad greens stirred into the sauce, I always chop the greens before I start cooking, so I am not scrambling later.
Time agnosia often makes it difficult to notice time passing while cooking, so setting a timer can offer a gentle structure. Tiimo’s visual focus timer works well for this, but you could also use your phone’s timer or even a liquid timer if that feels less intrusive. Whichever you choose, it is worth adjusting the alert sound so it does not come as a sensory shock.
If timing is something you regularly find difficult, it can help to write out each step of the recipe with estimated times. You can do this directly in Tiimo as individual tasks, or on paper if you prefer something physical. Most packaged foods include approximate cook times, so you can use that information to guide the flow of your meal prep without relying solely on intuition.
Autistic people are often made to feel like everything is their fault. There is constant pressure to cope, to learn skills more quickly, to do better without support. This kind of expectation is not only unrealistic, it shifts an unfair amount of responsibility onto the Autistic person instead of addressing the barriers that make daily life harder.
Being different is not a problem. It should not be treated as something to fix. It is something that deserves recognition, support, and celebration.
When people have access to tools that are aligned with their needs, it becomes easier to build confidence and autonomy in ways that feel sustainable. Independence does not mean doing everything alone. It means being able to move through the world with the right support in place. Autistic people are more than capable of this, especially when the systems around us are designed to help rather than hold us back.
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