Emmy, thank you, so much for taking my suggestion, I'm not only saving the video I'm sharing it with my parents and hopes of maybe using some of these things. but I'm also sharing it with friends and co-workers who have similar issues to mine so that they will be able to get some very useful information. I'm truly grateful that you did this video for me. I'm sure that's someone else Will find it very useful as well. much love keely @emmymadeinjapan
Keely Messino Thank you for suggesting it, Keely. As someone who has extreme left-sided weakness due to an in-utero stroke, I found the video very helpful. If you don’t have it, I suggest the cutting board with prongs on it. My mom bought it for me a year ago and it has made cutting and peeling so much easier.
I'm all about the food processors for cutting/slicing/dicing - it's a lot faster and more versatile than the cutting board, and easily drops into a dishwasher for cleaning. (And an immersion blender is absolutely fantastic for whipping stuff, blending soups, even making matcha lattes.) My experience with the cutting board Emmy used was that it was too expensive for what you got, took up a lot of room, and wasn't really versatile enough for me. Also, it took a LOT of time to use, and my own disability issues mean I need to work smarter/faster - things that are slow and steady will burn through my spoons before I can finish making dinner. (I have severe neuropathy in both hands which causes significant muscle weakness, and have an adaptive house, at this point.)
Keely!!! I'm delighted that you enjoyed the video and think it will be helpful for yourself and others.😊 Would you mind emailing me at emmymadeinjapan@gmail.com. Thanks again!
I've seen plenty of RUclipsrs do "challenges" like this before and most of the time they come off as insensitive and mocking or making light of other people's daily lives. This video shows someone who is genuinely trying to use these items, test them out, and give honest feedback for her audience. You didn't make the challenge aspect of it "fun" or "funny," necessarily. I really enjoy and respect that. Kudos!
Thomas Drury I agree. I love her. I hate when people are trying something out and they just laugh at everything. I'm not disabled but I love that she made this video because it really shows us what so many people dead with every day. I'm also sure a lot of people who need these things love her being so nice and genuine
Barry Lewis does kitchen gadget testing and he always tells people to remember that some could help people with disabilities. He is the only other youtuber who treats thise kinds if videos/gadgets the same as Emmy
My abuela taught me how to cook and how to make good Puerto Rican food. She had a stroke last year and can’t cook anymore. I might buy her some of these so we can cook together again. 😊
TuttiTunes Sorry about your grandmother. Trying giving your grandmother tea made from fresh ground ginger root. My grandmother had a few strokes and I would give her that tea and she started singing again and had a lot more energy in general.
I can recommend an Instant Pot, a really good electric can opener, a tray on wheels, one-handed cutlery, silicone tongs, a good metal/silicone turkey baster (you can suck up the amount of a liquid or sauce you need without having to pour the container), a collapsible silicone funnel (to cut down on spills when pouring into containers with one hand), mixing bowls with a handle on the side, a powerful lightweight handheld vacuum cleaner (so much easier to clean up dry spills on kitchen worktops), a convection microwave that can grill, work as a traditional oven as well as a microwave but be at worktop height, a wide variety of silicone pots and pans to use in the convection microwave oven and an electric whisk/chopper/mini blender to power through those prep jobs one handed. Can you tell I'm chronically sick and disabled?
I’m like a living commercial for instant pot on days when my chronic illness kicks my butt. It is also super helpful as a vegan who procrastinates (doesn’t matter that I forgot to soak beans over night then slow cook them, I’ll just rinse them & toss them in the ipot for 30 minutes and my main protein for dinner is done.)
what a wonderful video emmy!!! i spent years working in advocacy for people with disabilities and COOKING is always a huge issue! there are SO many adaptive tools even people in the community have difficult access to and then there's the questions of what works and doesn't! this is great!!
Awesome, great for the elderly who have lost dexterity. I used to help take care of an ex-nun. She had the same rocker knife. She had arthritis very bad, also recuperating from a broken shoulder. We were going to get one of those jar openers. You can also use a rubber glove to help at getting jars opened. I miss her, she was a very sweet, funny and just a joy to be around. Mary Ann Glaser... She also had me create food like her mom did, green jello, granny smith apples cucumbers with a little mayonnaise... it made her feel young again. I loved making her happy. 💜💜💜
Night Angel And you would then clear out every store in the immediate vicinity out of their jars and would be known from there on out as the crazy jar lady, a kind of superhero with the power to open every jar, thereto save everyone from unopened jars.
See Emmy, this is why I watch you, you're so humble and down to earth and I admire your positive personality so much. I think more people should aim to be more like you. You are such a special and sweet, beautiful person and I absolutely adore you. Thank you for doing this video, you truly are a beautiful person.
A good friend of mine has 2 paralyzed hands. She can amazingly do some stuff, but a lot differently than an average person. I’m gonna send her this video 🤗🤗🤗 Great idea.
emmymadeinjapan They are! As the mother of a special needs child (she has Kabuki Syndrome) I’m constantly amazed at how people adapt to life when faced with challenges!
This video makes my heart so happy! I work with the elderly and I can’t tell you how often I hear my clients talk about all the memories surrounding food and preparing special family meals. Some of these tools could bring back a considerable amount of independence and fulfillment to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to cook otherwise.
Oh Emmy, what a wonderful video!!! This is so helpful, not just to people who need assistance, but for able-bodied persons to be more mindful, aware and educated of the needs of others. Thank you!!!!! 👏💫👏💖👏🤯👏✨👏❣
Sorry for being a toxic person but it'll be nice to slap this video in the faces of those people who keep saying products like these are useless or are for lazy people
Anna don't you just hate it when you see a product that can actually be useful in some situations until some fuckwit comes along and say "these are useless" or "why would I use that when I can just do this or use that"
OVER DIACKKK, I know, as if it's just impossible to flip an egg or a pancake with a spatula, like people have been doing as long as there have been spatulas. I hate those commercials.
It's more that products like this are usually either insanely expensive to specifically prey on the disabled or they are flat out junk. Cheaply made that falls apart or doesn't work as advertised. I was genuinely pleased to see how well the Robotwist worked and I know the auto can openers work well also.
Regarding 8:44, the adage says that a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. This is because more pressure needs to be exerted using a dull blade which can suddenly slip and cause severe damage. That is why professionals such as wood carvers and surgeons do not use dull knife blades. That rocker knife shown resembles the famous Ulu knife used by Eskimos. Steel blades can be professionally sharpened to a razor sharp if requested. The Ulu rocker knife needs to very sharp for efficient cutting such as skinning or butchering animals, cutting hair, cutting food, or even trimming blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo.
My cousin was born without a hand, and though he is incredibly good at getting by, I just know that some of these products would open new doors for him. THANKS EMMY!!
hey fiona ive commented already about this i dont know how old your cousin is but there is a famous michelin starred chef in the uk with only one hand i genuinely feel hes an inspiration to all not only people with one hand but to anyone that suffers through ailments he shows that no matter your disability you can make it xx his name is michael caines if you want to show your cousin his videos
Michael Caines is amazing; he was a very talented chef already when lost his right arm after a car accident almost 20 years ago, so had to relearn all his skills with a prosthetic.
My hubby has arthritis in both hands. I bought a turbo twist for our jars and large handled spoons and spatulas for him as he likes to cook. I'm so glad I did, he didn't like to ask me for help. I now do all the knife work, chopping for him. I'm glad I can.
Great video, thank you so much for doing this. I'm going to have to look into the food pod. I have the use of both of my hands, but I'm in a wheelchair so lifting a pot of hot water is very challenging. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!
Thank you for your video. An alternative to using a knife is a pair of Stainless Steel Scissors to more safely cut up food into pieces. The Stainless Steel material resists rust and can be easily cleaned. Another useful tool is the Nelson Knife/Fork combination which is a rocker knife with fork tinges at its curved tip. Therefore with the Nelson Knife/Fork combination, it is no longer necessary to have a separate knife and a fork to eat food from a plate.
I'm so happy to see someone able-bodied talking about accessible cooking! Thank you so much for being a voice for us, so many people think devices like these are for "lazy people." (Because if they were actually marketed at disabled people, the price would probably triple. E.g. a special wheelchair blanket: $70, a snuggie: $20)
This video seriously helped me out. I watched this video, and shortly afterwards broke my arm. Living alone, cooking was a huge challenge. The suggestions here got me started so I could gain some independence back. Thanks!
Oh I’m so glad you’ve done this video Emmy! I’m able bodied myself, but nothing pisses me off more than people mocking gadgets that are created for people with limited mobility. So many times I’ve seen ads on Facebook and people in the comments gripe about how gadgets are making our generation lazy and they’re ridiculous, and if these individual people can get by without adaptive gadgets, than why should anybody else use them?! So entitled and ignorant.
As a person with limited hand strength/grip and fine motor control, the robotwist sounds so wonderful!! (I have mildish CP) I always feel very guilty to ask other for help again and again to open things for me. I often am alone which means I can’t open my own damn food until someone is home. Thank you for showing off these wonderful tools. I’ll have to check them out.
I’m right handed and broke my right arm last August 2019. There definitely challenges like trying to use a knife and flipping an egg with my left hand. Gave me a much larger appreciation for people with only one usable hand or arm!
I LOVE this video so much. Thank you! I'd love to see more of these with different products or for different disabilities. Maybe without the use of eyes, both hands, without the use of just fingers, without hearing, etc. Absolutely LOVE this video!
twocvbloke Couple years ago I fell in the road and completely blew out my dominant right arm. You would not believe I could do nothing with my left hand. I'm like wow literally nothing lol. Nowadays I can do a lot more stuff with my left hand.
twocvbloke that would be really cool, I never thought how much i took my dominant hand until a friend of mine had a stroke and he had to train his non dominant hand, and he can do more with his one non dominant (now his dominant) than i can with both of mine
I have a one-handed pepper grinder (a pepper ball) that is amazingly helpful when I'm seasoning raw meat. I can manipulate, pat, and flip the meat with one hand and use my clean hand to season. It means I only have to wash my hands once. So nice.
We take so much for granted in this life, truly. I am so thankful every day that I have my health, and we rarely ever stop to consider how even one minor change would influence our whole lives. So much respect to you for this video, and respect and love to everyone who overcomes incredible challenges physically and mentally. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💗
Oh, thank god. I saw the thumbnail and was worried you had hurt yourself. I'm glad both for your doing this video, and for your show of empathy. I did not know you had done teaching work, but it does totally fit you.
Great video, and a little hack for those who can't lift pans of boiling water, there are some spoons with holes in them used for frying and scooping cheese curds, they do great with pasta and all kinds of stuff
Milena do you mean to scoop the stuff out of the water rather than tip it? My current difficulty is lifting heavy pots so getting the water out of it is still a challenge 🤔
my nana uses teapots or bowls to scoop out the water and sometimes she uses those big soup spoons, it's not ideal but it helps her, hope it helps you too
I’m glad you made this video, it shows that it is still possible for people with disabilities to do everyday tasks. I recommend you research Occupational Therapists, they do a great job in teaching people how to use these tools and even make up adaptive tools themselves.
Emmy, this is why we love you!! You're so compassionate and take time to understand how others live when you try these different meals and gadgets. You don't just crack jokes, you actually think about what kind of situation would call for these kinds of gadgets
I loved this video so thanks for sharing Emmy! My grandfather actually used to use a mechanical jar opener like that all the time! He had Parkinson and his movement was slowed down a lot and the tremors in his hands made it particularly hard for him to do basic things like twisting a lid off of a jar! My family got him the same (or similar) jar opener and he was absolutely thrilled by it! He used to be an engineering professor at Montana State University and was fascinated with the gadget, which was really fun to see! Having simple items like this made all the difference for him as he refused to leave his home for assisted living. Luckily my parents were able to purchase the house right next to their own home to move my grandfather to, so they could provide support whenever he needed it at a moments notice 👍🏻! He was always either sitting in his arm chair sleeping or watching TV and when my parents gave him gadgets like that jar opener it gave him a reason to get out of his chair and make food for himself. Obviously he was limited to basic cooking, but even being able to open a jar of food and get it into a bowl made a huge difference and helped him feel just a little less powerless 😁! I love the content you come out with and doing a challenge like this one to bring awareness to the limited mobility community is just another reason why I'll always watch your videos! Cheers ❤!
Thank you for making this video, Emmy! I'm a childhood cancer survivor whose mobility and motor skills are severely impaired as a result, and due to circumstances outside my control I've only just started learning how to live independently and cook for myself with the assistance of an aide. It's so nice to know that there are people like you out there, who take the needs of disabled people into consideration and don't just immediately label gadgets like these as "useless" or "lazy".
Now this is the perfect type of gadget video I appreciate, having worked in the care field one of the hardest things is to encourage independence and the use of adaptive equipment is a massive help towards this goal. I am a lover of gadget reviews but hate kitchen gadgets (like you I think why have an individual gadget for each task when a single knife, for example, will do all of them) but gadgets that are designed or can be used to enhance/aid/enrich someone's life then they are worth having
Cheryle is a Special Ed Teacher and as her Doctorate in Education (I just call her The Doctor! lol) She said that you are just spot on and that we need to get the Robo-Twist right away!! :) Thank you for this vid.
Kudos to Keely for recommending this topic and to you for opening my eyes to a few tools that I’ve never seen before. I have extremely limited movement in both hands as the result of 3rd and 4th degree burns, and will be sharing this video with my Physical And Occupational Therapists. I’ll be picking up several of these tools as cooking is something I really miss. I wonder if Keely would be open to doing a series of adaptive devices with you. If she isn’t open to that, it would be lovely to see you do a video with Barry Lewis from My Virgin Kitchen. I know I’m not the first person to recommend this pairing, and he also does a fairly regular segment on adaptive devices. He recently moved and uncovered a cache of over 100 tools he has that need reviewing. Kindly Yours,
Thank you so much Keely for suggesting this video and Emmy for making it. I really respect how kind and respectful you are of people who has different abilities. I'm so happy to share this with my friends.
Great video, Emmy! I work with individuals who have intellectual and physical disabilities and it is great to be able to recommend videos like to show some adaptive equipment! (Also, thank you for also building a real meal while you demonstrated the products to give another example!)
Thanks for this lovely video Emmy. I've had arthritis since I was 10 so people see a 20 year old who looks perfectly fine struggling to just open a bag of chips, a box, or a drink bottle and they just stare and watch until I ask for help. My arthritis keeps me humble. I've even had people laugh and tell me I should work out at the gym more to increase my strength and that I should run and do other high impact exercises because "walking isn't true exercise". So it's great to see a video that could bring such limitations to people's awareness for even simple things. I remember being so upset when they changed the bottle caps on water and soda bottles to smaller grip areas (to save on plastic, which is a noble purpose) and I now have to resort to a grip pad, asking people for help, or even my teeth if nothing else works to get them open because a lot of the surface area I used to use to get a grip with more of my hand surface area is just gone. Actually, a lot of my surface area for gripping things has been slowly shrinking as the years go by and people are pushing for more streamlined packaging. I'm always torn: I don't want to use more packaging than is necessary for an item, but I also really would like to just be able to open something without resorting to butchering or biting the package in case I need to return an item that I've bought. One time I had a family member wear some of my wrist braces to limit her range of motion in her wrists for a day like mine are. She got annoyed and removed them after just a few hours because she couldn't do stuff. There was a project a few years ago, I don't know if it was ever finished, where a group of people were making full body suits for family members to wear to see what their loved ones went through when having arthritis. It restricted or completely confine their range of motion, had something in the hands, arms, and legs that would only allow them to use a certain amount of grip and muscle strength, and had pressure rods at the joint areas that would press on locations to show where pain would occur and to stop movement if the person tried to move in certain ways.
Products like these need to be made more known and become more commonplace. I am only 23 and already have really bad hand cramps when gripping things for too long. I am often brought near to tears just from trying to peel potatoes and slice them. My mother has had multiple hand surgeries and has trouble gripping things and sometimes her hand locks up and she cant even use it for much. Thank you for showcasing these items and maybe enlightening others on how hard simple tasks can be for differently abled and disabled peoples. I hope one day that these items will be readily available for those that need them, and affordable.
Emmy, this is why I love your channel/videos because you're not like other youtubers who overreact and just act stupid, silly or just down right crazy for the views, I'm sorry I'm not trying to sound like a hater just making an obvious as hell observation about other people here on RUclips. You're just yourself and most importantly, you keep it real no matter how crazy or silly it may make you look but that's what we love about you. Also, again, like I said, you're just so humble and sweet and just always really positive and again, I love that about you. You really are a really special person Emmy. Please keep up your awesome videos, I really, really hope that you keep doing RUclips for many, many more years to come. Oh and by the way, you definitely deserve soooooo many more subscribers than you have cuz you are a hidden gem here on RUclips and we just adore you. I aspire to be more positive like you and incorporate some of your values into my life. Emmy, I seriously cannot thank you enough for how much you've inspired me and for the years of entertainment that you've brought to me, thank you so very, very much and again, I hope you continue to make videos for many more years to come. By the way, every chance I get, I recommend your videos and your channel to everyone that I possibly can because I think you deserve so many more views and subscribers than you have. But yeah, I enjoy watching you so much, you're so sweet and the tone of your voice is the sweetest thing I've heard, it's better than asmr. But yeah, again, thank you, Emmy, so much for the inspiration you've given me and for all the years of entertainment that you've brought to my life. Love you girl, please keep it up, you're awesome.
Great video, Emmy. I had a stroke when I was a baby and have had little use of my left side my entire life. I have that cutting board-it’s a game changer. Cutting and peeling potatoes used to take me AGES, and now I can do it in no time and without frustration and self loathing. I loved some of the other items. They look extremely helpful for someone with a disability. Thanks!
Hey Emmy!I'm so happy to have discovered your videos. This one really piqued my interest as you address one-handed cooking. I am an occupational therapist, and work in rehab with people who have had injuries (physical and neurological) that sometimes leave them being able to only use one side of their body to function. Seeing you take this challenge was a fantastic way to exhibit the various pieces of adaptive equipment that many of my patients have had to use to allow them to retain their independence in meaningful activities, such as cooking and meal preparation. Keep up the fabulous work!
Remembering that not all tasks like this are not so simple for our differently-abled friends is tremendously important. Thank you for making this video, Emmy! It brings light to a reality that gets overlooked so often by the rest of us.
I highly recommend Dreamfarm's Vebo over the silicone thing that was used in this video. It has a lot more structure and pasta wouldn't fall out everywhere. I recommend Dreamfarm in general for a bunch of amazing one-handed cooking tools such as levoons and levups (one-handed easy leveling measuring spoons and cups).
As a disabled person who often can't make dinner more than cereal on bad days, but who loves food and cooking, this made me beyond happy, abled folks often do realize how hard it is to cook when you're not able bodied. Thank you for not just acknowledging that but actually trying out these gadgets and helping us disabled folks out!!
This is so nice to see things that help for ppl that struggle with motor skills and everyday life, my five year old sister was born with cerebral palsy and I see how she struggles, although she can't eat or drink it's nice to know things are being made to make my sisters life easier ;)
I would love to see more adaptive products tested. My mother has been living with the results of a stroke for 20 years and every year the basic activities of life become more difficult. It’s hard to find products to help her and her helpers. Thanks, Emmy! I am addicted to your videos.
My Christ, you're educating us young fowls that no nothing. Your videos are fun and so educational! Lanuage, texture, words, details it's all there. You're so kind to everyone, thank you. I'm sure Keely found this video awesome!
It’s amazing how a person can adapt to just using what they have, it’s educational and interesting that you’ve tried this Emmy. Such a very thoughtful way to teach us people who have all four limbs that one day you could loose something but you can still achieve greatness. Respect to all those who have lost mobility and or limbs. ❤️✊
This is a great video! A lot of "as seen on tv" style products were originally designed as adaptive (think of the snuggie, which was originally for wheelchair users, or the slap chop, which allows people with tremors, arthritis etc to chop vegetables ) but are then mass marketed as a way to make enough money to cover production costs. They become a lot cheaper and more readily available when they are aimed at everyone instead of just people with disabilities. The problem is that they are then derided as being for lazy people (which is ridiculous, if you like using something and find it makes your life easier, then you should be able to use it without being judged) I'm glad to see such a friendly, reasonable and understanding approach to such devices!
Emmy, thank you! I have osteoporosis, and over the years I've had MANY fractures, often hand or wrist. I've had to function one-handed so many times, I've gotten pretty good at it. But I didn't know that jar opener existed, what a great gadget! I love the silicone basket, too. I have a metal mesh basket I bought for blanching vegetables for freezing, it's a little big if I just wanted to make a small amount of something. It would be perfect for boiling eggs, you could have a bowl of cold water in the sink, and just transfer the basket from hot to cold. The cutting board is nice, not sure I could afford it, but those other two would be a huge help. With luck, I won't need them again, but I'm so glad to know they're available if I ever do. Kudos to you for teaching the art class, that's terrific.
I’m an occupational therapy assistant and we use these items and more for patients with the use of only one extremity. Our goal is to make the patient as independent as possible. AE like this allows that. It’s really amazing what products are available and how creative you can get to make your own adaptive techniques and equipment. Thank you for doing this video!
Gosh! You are such a beautiful person 💖✨ I watch you whenever I’m depressed and you’re always just so positive (something I could never be). Thank you so much for being there. You’re so relaxing. And you, tying all of these things for the people who aren’t able to work with those things themselves, it’s just amazing and I’m so inspired by you.
Thank you Emmy, as a one handed person, I really appreciate your input, that jar opener will help me with the frustration we feel every day, thank you so much, now if some one comes up with a gadget that does up buttons or shoe laces ill be a happy man.❤️
My mom deals with numbness in one of her hands due to a back injury. I help take care of her, but she has struggled so much with losing her sense of independence, so this is really helpful. Thank you so much, Emmy.
I think it’s so great that you’re doing this video and spreading awareness to the difficulty of everyday tasks caused by physical disability. I have a friend who is missing their left arm, and they watched this with me and they wanted to let you know they appreciated this too.
WOW! Some of those things will help me so much! That Robo Twist, I've tried so many jar opening adaptive gadgets for opening jars and most still require more strength than I have. Thank you so much for doing this.
This is great! I have only had one hand for 25 years and cook constantly for my family of 7:) I have come up with tons of tips and tricks through the years but it’s fun to see some different products I’ve never seen before! Will be very helpful to people new to being single handed🥰 . I’ll definitely be sharing it with people who reach out to me for help!
This is awesome! I have a niece who lost her arm in a car accident. I never thought on how difficult making a simple meal can be. I’m glad that they make these kind of products.
Thank you for doing this video! It's nice to see how well some products work. Just an FYI about the pasta: the reason it stuck is because you didn't have enough water for the amount of pasta. We were taught in culinary school to use A LOT of water for cooking pasta and to salt it because it's the only time you get a chance to season the pasta. Thanks again for the video!
Olive oil doesn't stop pasta from sticking, since it's an oil it lays on top of the water and doesn't interact with the pasta much. Just needs agitation/stirring during the cooking :)
DeliciousBreakfast, I don’t know how you are cooking your pasta, but 2-3 tablespoons of oil gets plenty of agitation in water that is heated to a rolling boil to keep 1 pound of dried pasta from sticking.. I’ve never had a problem with sticking using my average sized 5 quart pot; that’s how my Mom taught me to make it back in the 60’s; not as an adaptive device, but a way of getting you pasta oiled when you pour it into or scoop it out of water without drowning it in oil after cooking. Again, it’s not enough oil to provide any real flavor, but it does keep any shape of pasta I’ve ever cooked from sticking together.
Miss Karla agreed, also when you strain the pasta the small amount of oil that was in the water sticks to the pasta and helps keep it separated that way. Saves me having to try to pour a small amount of oil over it (requires fine motor control) or the sauce straight away if not ready yet.
Secret Diary of a Foodie, although I learned this as a hint from my Mother long ago, it came into more practical use for me when I got 3rd and 4th degree burns on my hands almost 7 years ago. Now I use a modified spider to scoop the pasta to a colander in a bowl to allow more complete straining, and unlike Emmy, I put my sauce in the pot I used ( after it cools some and I empty it ) to heat it up and combine with the pasta before serving. Finishing it that way allows me to undercook it a bit in the water and then give it a remaining minute or two in the sauce to finish it to my liking and get the initial handful of Parmesan melted without making it mush. I found that a wooden cutting board with a groove around the edge to catch meat juices has a deep enough groove to hold my Madeline safely in place, and it has so many slicing and grating blades that it is used often and is top rack dishwasher safe.
DeliciousBreakfast, oil floats on water. Lifting the pasta out in the cooking pouch, through the film of oil on the water, gets oil on the pasta. Shake it around a little in the pouch resting in the bowl or colander. Voila, it's coated.
Secret Diary of a Foodie, I agree absolutely. Having the pasta cooking in water with a bit of oil gives it plenty to avoid sticking. I don’t use a pouch, but use a spider to lift my pasta out, and that leaves an adequate coating to keep it from sticking. I personally don’t care for pasta that is ‘finished’ with oil; to me, it is just adding grease.
Lovely video. I hope this becomes a series. It would be lovely to see other gadgets and for me to learn more about adaptive technology in the kitchen. Emmy, your curiosity and genuineness is inspiring!
Yes I own several things that I use for cooking. Sense I am blind I love cooking but it can be unsafe if I did not have my helpful gadgets. Thanks for the video.
Leah Johnson do you use a George foreman type grill? Really helpful for cooking things thoroughly and on both sides (so you don't have to flip anything)
This is such an amazing video Emmy, I often see people complaining about gadgets like these saying how lazy they are, but they're so helpful to people that aren't able-bodied
Hi, Emmy, Thank you so much for making this video. I work with individuals with disabilities as my job, and I have many clients with cerebral palsy requiring assistance with handling food and certain circumstances that may interfere with creating a meal. As someone who would love to incorporate both cooking and social services, I find this video to be immensely helpful and I would definitely suggest this to my peers at work. We do cooking classes every month at another facility, so I might give feedback to these people in order to create a more adaptable and inclusive kitchen. I might even get these myself in order to make my kitchen more inclusive of individuals regardless of ability. Thank you for everything you do!
As someone born with Amniotic band syndrome (born with my left hand underveloped below the elbow) it means so much that you've done this video! You are incredible and this vid has only firmly solidified my love of you. I do everything anybody would for the most part using my "nemo fin" for help and as a personal preference no prosthesis. Adaptive products are sooo important especially for those with very limited mobility or new amputees. Thank you for doing this. Truly. I had never seen most of these. Will be sharing!😀💜
Emmy, you have just made my day brighter. Thank You for demonstrating these products. I'll be buying the jar opener as soon as I can. And probably more as decreased mobility and money allow. I've been stung too often by "as seen on TV" stuff that doesn't work as advertised or is cheaply made and doesn't last.
As an able bodied man, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to do many things without certain limbs or even full use of others. It's great that companies make products like this to help people who need it. Thank you for doing this challenge Emmy.
Thank you for this video!!! As someone who can only use one hand, I'd advise anyone in my situation to invest in a couple of things: 1) Ceramic-bladed knives. They make cutting things like tomatoes and onions so much easier, but you need to look after the blades assiduously: they're very brittle. 2) An electric slicing machine (like those made by Ritter, for example). These take all the hassle out of precise, even slicing. You can even use them to peel certain vegetables, like potatoes. You could probably pick one up for the price of that awful chopping board. 3) Dycem (that sticky, rubbery plastic) is your friend. I bought some thin, stretchable containers covers made of it that are brilliant to use on stubborn jar lids: place the jar on a Dycem mat, use the thin Dycem sheet to twist the lid off. 4) Finally, look at the OXO GoodGrips range of kitchen utensils. They make some fantastic stuff, including a salad spinner that works on a 'spinning top' principle: you just continually press down on the central button to bring the internal basket up to speed. Pure genius. I used to call mine my 'Salatbeschleuniger' (salad accelerator) when I lived in Germany! Oh, I almost forgot: you can get battery-operated hands-free tin openers, like the Culinare One-touch, but I don't use this any more because all my tins now have pull-tops. And that Robotwist... blimey! they're £48.99 here in the UK (about $62!!!). Luckily I found one on US Amazon for $17.50 with $11.16 import and shipping. Just ordered it!
I'm able-bodied but even I'm so so grateful for this! I have several friends who would benefit from these so much, especially since these items aren't necessarily marketed for disabled folks. Thank you so, so much!!!
I have salt and pepper grinders that my dad got in the early 80's I think that are push button. Not electric but it grinds a little each time you push the button on top. It might be tricky to unscrew the top to refill it though. The button is covered on one side so you couldn't use your jar robot to grip it.
Daine Sarrasri, I do use an electric coffee grinder for peppercorns. I have 2. One for spices, one for coffee. I refill a pepper shaker with freshly ground pepper. It may not be as fresh as that ground each time you use it, but I guarantee it's fresher than pre-ground pepper from the store. I order my peppercorns in bulk online, much cheaper than the grocery store.
Great idea for a video! Its so true that we all take everyday things for granted. I just finished having a double ear infection for over 3 weeks....completely deaf in one ear and only 15% in the other. I didn't realize how much I took the ability to hear for granted until I couldn't.
Thank you for doing this video!! I know a few people who are going to love this. We have a loved one with CP and we have an amputee in our family so I am always looking for ways/things to help them do things independently. I would love to see a non-dominant hand challenge!
Emmy, this was such a great video! It’s always hard for me to pick out tools that will help me in the kitchen. I love to cook, and everyone’s (dis)ability is different! Seeing such a demo, by someone as creative as you no less!, is super rad and incredibly helpful. I really hope there are more where this is came from!
Emmy This is a great video, I fractured me C3/C4 vertebrae in 2003. After intensive rehab I learned to walk, but got use of only one hand back. I have been cooking one handed since 2006. I have learned how to accomplish things as I go, things I do may not work for others. You just have to try, and think way outside the box when you're one handed. I a firm believer in the saying "where there's a will there's a way". That being said I have the will to paint the inside of my house but no matter the will in my mind my body just can't. Keep up the good work. I'm going to purchase the Jar opener and the submersible food bag for sure. Thank you very much.
Adding fresh herbs into lettuce blend is quite nice too. I never would've thought to do that. I grabbed a salad mix at store that had herbs in it(not paying attention) but I liked it
I work for a company that manufactures and sells most of these products! This is an awesome video as I consult with PTs and OTs of long term care on a daily basis and hear of all the struggles patients have!!
That jar opener is amazing ! I am not surprised at the price of the adapted cutting board. Adaptive equipment is always very expensive as the market for these items is small so the production costs are high per item. I think the spikes could be used differently. Impale the tomato on all the spikes and slice through it. You might encounter the spikes while slicing but no big deal. It has good versatility which is not always the case with adaptive equipment. Great video!
I have multiple medical conditions which conspired this week to put me in the ICU. I had 3 needles (drips/canula) in one arm so I was doing everything one handed for a few days- that was frustrating enough- can't imagine it being everyday life!!!!! (Although as one of the nurses said to me- you can adapt eventually!) ps- just watched the video- I have one of those silicone baskets- great for eggs veges or pasta too. I use a lot of pressure cooking/slow cooking and steaming. Can't lift heavy pots much and need a tall chair to sit on when I cook. It is indeed frustrating how many things people take for granted (even my own family lol) that I struggle with! Loved this video Emmy- thanks for introducing these products to us all! (Now I'm off to search for that sticky Matt thing!!😁)
Thank you so much Emmy, I was elated to see this. Disability truly can make the most simple tasks painful and frustrating beyond belief. Having a back injury and nerve pain through my arms and legs has made a lot of tasks difficult. I LOVE cooking for my family and have had to get quite creative. Unfortunately there are plenty of times I have to accept these are times I cannot but these types of products give hope. Thank you for speaking up!
What a wonderfully kind and informative video. My grip is getting bad because of arthritis and I have a lot of trouble with mason jar type screw bands. I wonder if the robotwist works on other types of jar lids? The food pod could simply add a few design additions to make it work better. An inner layer of silicone mesh to keep smaller pasta from falling out when loading or boiling the pasta. Also adding a piece that is pulled out of the top that creates a funnel to make adding the pasta easier. These would be simple but helpful additions
Emmy thank you so much for this video my daughter was born with one arm and every day we find new ways to adapt things for her this type of thing is often over looked thanks for bringing some attention to this means so much to us Bless your your spirit and thank you for giving us some awesome ideas for new things to try thank you for being you and making awesome informative videos that we look forward to watching You Rock
Emmy,
thank you, so much for taking my suggestion, I'm not only saving the video I'm sharing it with my parents and hopes of maybe using some of these things. but I'm also sharing it with friends and co-workers who have similar issues to mine so that they will be able to get some very useful information.
I'm truly grateful that you did this video for me. I'm sure that's someone else Will find it very useful as well.
much love
keely
@emmymadeinjapan
Keely Messino Thank you for suggesting it, Keely. As someone who has extreme left-sided weakness due to an in-utero stroke, I found the video very helpful. If you don’t have it, I suggest the cutting board with prongs on it. My mom bought it for me a year ago and it has made cutting and peeling so much easier.
That's awesme I hate cutting stuff knives suck lol
I'm all about the food processors for cutting/slicing/dicing - it's a lot faster and more versatile than the cutting board, and easily drops into a dishwasher for cleaning. (And an immersion blender is absolutely fantastic for whipping stuff, blending soups, even making matcha lattes.) My experience with the cutting board Emmy used was that it was too expensive for what you got, took up a lot of room, and wasn't really versatile enough for me. Also, it took a LOT of time to use, and my own disability issues mean I need to work smarter/faster - things that are slow and steady will burn through my spoons before I can finish making dinner.
(I have severe neuropathy in both hands which causes significant muscle weakness, and have an adaptive house, at this point.)
Keely!!! I'm delighted that you enjoyed the video and think it will be helpful for yourself and others.😊 Would you mind emailing me at emmymadeinjapan@gmail.com. Thanks again!
Keely Messino Thank you for suggesting this. It’s a great idea!!!
I've seen plenty of RUclipsrs do "challenges" like this before and most of the time they come off as insensitive and mocking or making light of other people's daily lives.
This video shows someone who is genuinely trying to use these items, test them out, and give honest feedback for her audience. You didn't make the challenge aspect of it "fun" or "funny," necessarily.
I really enjoy and respect that.
Kudos!
Thomas Drury I agree. I love her. I hate when people are trying something out and they just laugh at everything. I'm not disabled but I love that she made this video because it really shows us what so many people dead with every day. I'm also sure a lot of people who need these things love her being so nice and genuine
Thomas Drury i agree often involves much cackling about how stupid something is as could just do it "normal way"
I agree. She is a smart and compassionate lady
Thomas Drury yes!
Barry Lewis does kitchen gadget testing and he always tells people to remember that some could help people with disabilities. He is the only other youtuber who treats thise kinds if videos/gadgets the same as Emmy
My abuela taught me how to cook and how to make good Puerto Rican food. She had a stroke last year and can’t cook anymore. I might buy her some of these so we can cook together again. 😊
TuttiTunes
Sorry about your grandmother. Trying giving your grandmother tea made from fresh ground ginger root. My grandmother had a few strokes and I would give her that tea and she started singing again and had a lot more energy in general.
habichuelas are some kind of beans, but I don´t know which ones, here in Uruguay we don´t use that word
Oh my gosh that's the sweetest thing♡ you're grandmother would love that I'm sure ^-^
Armando Guerra maybe your dumb ass should learn how to read. Tutti never mentioned an abichuela but she did mention ABUELA
Armando before starting to talk crap to people, perhaps learn how to read correctly first :) Just a suggestion💁
What a tremendous service this video provides. Serious kudos to you and Keeley who suggested it.
As someone who deals with one hand that doesn’t work, these are very important tools to learn about
So you must be quite handsome then.
@@PrimyFritzellz XD
I can recommend an Instant Pot, a really good electric can opener, a tray on wheels, one-handed cutlery, silicone tongs, a good metal/silicone turkey baster (you can suck up the amount of a liquid or sauce you need without having to pour the container), a collapsible silicone funnel (to cut down on spills when pouring into containers with one hand), mixing bowls with a handle on the side, a powerful lightweight handheld vacuum cleaner (so much easier to clean up dry spills on kitchen worktops), a convection microwave that can grill, work as a traditional oven as well as a microwave but be at worktop height, a wide variety of silicone pots and pans to use in the convection microwave oven and an electric whisk/chopper/mini blender to power through those prep jobs one handed.
Can you tell I'm chronically sick and disabled?
MsCherade9 is the electric whisk/chopper/mini blender you mentioned one item, or three separate ones?
Secret Diary of a Foodie Asking the real questions over here.
I’m like a living commercial for instant pot on days when my chronic illness kicks my butt. It is also super helpful as a vegan who procrastinates (doesn’t matter that I forgot to soak beans over night then slow cook them, I’ll just rinse them & toss them in the ipot for 30 minutes and my main protein for dinner is done.)
null well it is important to know 😂 there might be something out there that magically does it all and doesn't take up all the counter space! 😘
@mschatade9
And have been for a while. Your list of things that should work but don’t list would be useful to hear as well.
what a wonderful video emmy!!! i spent years working in advocacy for people with disabilities and COOKING is always a huge issue! there are SO many adaptive tools even people in the community have difficult access to and then there's the questions of what works and doesn't! this is great!!
Awesome, great for the elderly who have lost dexterity. I used to help take care of an ex-nun. She had the same rocker knife. She had arthritis very bad, also recuperating from a broken shoulder. We were going to get one of those jar openers. You can also use a rubber glove to help at getting jars opened. I miss her, she was a very sweet, funny and just a joy to be around. Mary Ann Glaser...
She also had me create food like her mom did, green jello, granny smith apples cucumbers with a little mayonnaise... it made her feel young again. I loved making her happy. 💜💜💜
If I had a Robo Twist I would spend a day opening every jar in my house. Every... single... one.
Night Ange ME TOO I AGREE LOL 😂🤣😂🤣😆
My grandmother named her's robbie
And then you'd have to spend the next few days eating some VERY strange meal combinations! Lol😂😏😱
huggledemon32 🤣🤣🤣🤣!!! I thought i'd end up with a bunch of trash, but weird meals are better.
Night Angel
And you would then clear out every store in the immediate vicinity out of their jars and would be known from there on out as the crazy jar lady, a kind of superhero with the power to open every jar, thereto save everyone from unopened jars.
See Emmy, this is why I watch you, you're so humble and down to earth and I admire your positive personality so much. I think more people should aim to be more like you. You are such a special and sweet, beautiful person and I absolutely adore you. Thank you for doing this video, you truly are a beautiful person.
A good friend of mine has 2 paralyzed hands. She can amazingly do some stuff, but a lot differently than an average person. I’m gonna send her this video 🤗🤗🤗 Great idea.
Aren’t people amazing? 🤩
emmymadeinjapan They are! As the mother of a special needs child (she has Kabuki Syndrome) I’m constantly amazed at how people adapt to life when faced with challenges!
This video makes my heart so happy! I work with the elderly and I can’t tell you how often I hear my clients talk about all the memories surrounding food and preparing special family meals. Some of these tools could bring back a considerable amount of independence and fulfillment to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to cook otherwise.
Oh Emmy, what a wonderful video!!! This is so helpful, not just to people who need assistance, but for able-bodied persons to be more mindful, aware and educated of the needs of others. Thank you!!!!! 👏💫👏💖👏🤯👏✨👏❣
Sorry for being a toxic person but it'll be nice to slap this video in the faces of those people who keep saying products like these are useless or are for lazy people
Yeah a lot of the “as seen on tv” products are actually for people who have less mobility or just aren’t able to use items normally.
Anna don't you just hate it when you see a product that can actually be useful in some situations until some fuckwit comes along and say "these are useless" or "why would I use that when I can just do this or use that"
OVER DIACKKK, I know, as if it's just impossible to flip an egg or a pancake with a spatula, like people have been doing as long as there have been spatulas. I hate those commercials.
It's more that products like this are usually either insanely expensive to specifically prey on the disabled or they are flat out junk. Cheaply made that falls apart or doesn't work as advertised. I was genuinely pleased to see how well the Robotwist worked and I know the auto can openers work well also.
OVER DIACKKK it’s because they don’t want to show disabled people or old people on tv.
Regarding 8:44, the adage says that a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. This is because more pressure needs to be exerted using a dull blade which can suddenly slip and cause severe damage. That is why professionals such as wood carvers and surgeons do not use dull knife blades. That rocker knife shown resembles the famous Ulu knife used by Eskimos. Steel blades can be professionally sharpened to a razor sharp if requested. The Ulu rocker knife needs to very sharp for efficient cutting such as skinning or butchering animals, cutting hair, cutting food, or even trimming blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo.
My cousin was born without a hand, and though he is incredibly good at getting by, I just know that some of these products would open new doors for him. THANKS EMMY!!
hey fiona ive commented already about this i dont know how old your cousin is but there is a famous michelin starred chef in the uk with only one hand i genuinely feel hes an inspiration to all not only people with one hand but to anyone that suffers through ailments he shows that no matter your disability you can make it xx his name is michael caines if you want to show your cousin his videos
Michael Caines is amazing; he was a very talented chef already when lost his right arm after a car accident almost 20 years ago, so had to relearn all his skills with a prosthetic.
I want that turbo twist. I have very bad arthritis and have broken both ha da 6times . I want it lol another great video Emmy xoxo
Molly Mayor they work really well. I gave my mum mine as she has artheritis in hands.
Sarah Camley thanks Sarah ,I'm going to find one on line. I really struggle even with pull tab cans . Have a lovely day xo
Molly Mayor me too
We bought one for my mother-in-law, not really expecting it to work. Turns out they're great!
My hubby has arthritis in both hands. I bought a turbo twist for our jars and large handled spoons and spatulas for him as he likes to cook. I'm so glad I did, he didn't like to ask me for help. I now do all the knife work, chopping for him. I'm glad I can.
Omg I would love to have a chopping board like that so I could cook again! I was a chef before I became disabled, time to save every penny 😶
Missbunny187 best of luck to you! 💕 follow your heart!
Do you have an Amazon wish list? I'll send it to you.
Six6 Nix that is so sweet! I do have an Amazon wishlist but it's far too expensive to ask someone to buy for me. Thank you so much though
Missbunny187 they sell cheaper versions of it i paid about $40 for one i had.
Six6 Nix Wow...your awesome... most people wouldn’t do that
Great video, thank you so much for doing this. I'm going to have to look into the food pod. I have the use of both of my hands, but I'm in a wheelchair so lifting a pot of hot water is very challenging. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!
Thank you for your video. An alternative to using a knife is a pair of Stainless Steel Scissors to more safely cut up food into pieces. The Stainless Steel material resists rust and can be easily cleaned. Another useful tool is the Nelson Knife/Fork combination which is a rocker knife with fork tinges at its curved tip. Therefore with the Nelson Knife/Fork combination, it is no longer necessary to have a separate knife and a fork to eat food from a plate.
I'm so happy to see someone able-bodied talking about accessible cooking! Thank you so much for being a voice for us, so many people think devices like these are for "lazy people." (Because if they were actually marketed at disabled people, the price would probably triple. E.g. a special wheelchair blanket: $70, a snuggie: $20)
This video seriously helped me out. I watched this video, and shortly afterwards broke my arm. Living alone, cooking was a huge challenge. The suggestions here got me started so I could gain some independence back. Thanks!
Oh I’m so glad you’ve done this video Emmy! I’m able bodied myself, but nothing pisses me off more than people mocking gadgets that are created for people with limited mobility. So many times I’ve seen ads on Facebook and people in the comments gripe about how gadgets are making our generation lazy and they’re ridiculous, and if these individual people can get by without adaptive gadgets, than why should anybody else use them?! So entitled and ignorant.
That jar opener would save people's lives. I know there's also robtic tin can openers that work really well too.
As a person with limited hand strength/grip and fine motor control, the robotwist sounds so wonderful!! (I have mildish CP) I always feel very guilty to ask other for help again and again to open things for me. I often am alone which means I can’t open my own damn food until someone is home. Thank you for showing off these wonderful tools. I’ll have to check them out.
I’m right handed and broke my right arm last August 2019. There definitely challenges like trying to use a knife and flipping an egg with my left hand. Gave me a much larger appreciation for people with only one usable hand or arm!
I LOVE this video so much. Thank you! I'd love to see more of these with different products or for different disabilities. Maybe without the use of eyes, both hands, without the use of just fingers, without hearing, etc. Absolutely LOVE this video!
Emmy you have such a calming spirit and your energy is absolutely beautiful. I love your videos so much. 💖
🙏💕
Part two of the challenge; using your non-dominant hand... :D
twocvbloke I totally agree with this! There have been many occasions where I have only had the use of my non-dominant hand! ‘Twas fun! But challenging
twocvbloke Couple years ago I fell in the road and completely blew out my dominant right arm. You would not believe I could do nothing with my left hand. I'm like wow literally nothing lol. Nowadays I can do a lot more stuff with my left hand.
twocvbloke that would be really cool, I never thought how much i took my dominant hand until a friend of mine had a stroke and he had to train his non dominant hand, and he can do more with his one non dominant (now his dominant) than i can with both of mine
twocvbloke that’s not even close
Hmm...if there's enough interest I might take up that challenge. 🤔
I have a one-handed pepper grinder (a pepper ball) that is amazingly helpful when I'm seasoning raw meat. I can manipulate, pat, and flip the meat with one hand and use my clean hand to season. It means I only have to wash my hands once. So nice.
We take so much for granted in this life, truly. I am so thankful every day that I have my health, and we rarely ever stop to consider how even one minor change would influence our whole lives. So much respect to you for this video, and respect and love to everyone who overcomes incredible challenges physically and mentally. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💗
Thanks for bringing awareness for people with disabilities like myself. I’m now going to look for that jar opener and that cutting board!
Oh, thank god. I saw the thumbnail and was worried you had hurt yourself.
I'm glad both for your doing this video, and for your show of empathy. I did not know you had done teaching work, but it does totally fit you.
That's spectacular, way to go Emmy! I give this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. 😃👏👏💯
Thanks so much. 😍
Great video, and a little hack for those who can't lift pans of boiling water, there are some spoons with holes in them used for frying and scooping cheese curds, they do great with pasta and all kinds of stuff
Milena do you mean to scoop the stuff out of the water rather than tip it? My current difficulty is lifting heavy pots so getting the water out of it is still a challenge 🤔
my nana uses teapots or bowls to scoop out the water and sometimes she uses those big soup spoons, it's not ideal but it helps her, hope it helps you too
Milena thanks for replying 😊. It won't help in my situation but I'll find something someday!
I’m glad you made this video, it shows that it is still possible for people with disabilities to do everyday tasks. I recommend you research Occupational Therapists, they do a great job in teaching people how to use these tools and even make up adaptive tools themselves.
Emmy, this is why we love you!! You're so compassionate and take time to understand how others live when you try these different meals and gadgets. You don't just crack jokes, you actually think about what kind of situation would call for these kinds of gadgets
I loved this video so thanks for sharing Emmy! My grandfather actually used to use a mechanical jar opener like that all the time! He had Parkinson and his movement was slowed down a lot and the tremors in his hands made it particularly hard for him to do basic things like twisting a lid off of a jar! My family got him the same (or similar) jar opener and he was absolutely thrilled by it! He used to be an engineering professor at Montana State University and was fascinated with the gadget, which was really fun to see! Having simple items like this made all the difference for him as he refused to leave his home for assisted living. Luckily my parents were able to purchase the house right next to their own home to move my grandfather to, so they could provide support whenever he needed it at a moments notice 👍🏻! He was always either sitting in his arm chair sleeping or watching TV and when my parents gave him gadgets like that jar opener it gave him a reason to get out of his chair and make food for himself. Obviously he was limited to basic cooking, but even being able to open a jar of food and get it into a bowl made a huge difference and helped him feel just a little less powerless 😁! I love the content you come out with and doing a challenge like this one to bring awareness to the limited mobility community is just another reason why I'll always watch your videos! Cheers ❤!
Thank you for making this video, Emmy!
I'm a childhood cancer survivor whose mobility and motor skills are severely impaired as a result, and due to circumstances outside my control I've only just started learning how to live independently and cook for myself with the assistance of an aide. It's so nice to know that there are people like you out there, who take the needs of disabled people into consideration and don't just immediately label gadgets like these as "useless" or "lazy".
Now this is the perfect type of gadget video I appreciate, having worked in the care field one of the hardest things is to encourage independence and the use of adaptive equipment is a massive help towards this goal. I am a lover of gadget reviews but hate kitchen gadgets (like you I think why have an individual gadget for each task when a single knife, for example, will do all of them) but gadgets that are designed or can be used to enhance/aid/enrich someone's life then they are worth having
Cheryle is a Special Ed Teacher and as her Doctorate in Education (I just call her The Doctor! lol) She said that you are just spot on and that we need to get the Robo-Twist right away!! :) Thank you for this vid.
Kudos to Keely for recommending this topic and to you for opening my eyes to a few tools that I’ve never seen before. I have extremely limited movement in both hands as the result of 3rd and 4th degree burns, and will be sharing this video with my Physical And Occupational Therapists. I’ll be picking up several of these tools as cooking is something I really miss. I wonder if Keely would be open to doing a series of adaptive devices with you. If she isn’t open to that, it would be lovely to see you do a video with Barry Lewis from My Virgin Kitchen. I know I’m not the first person to recommend this pairing, and he also does a fairly regular segment on adaptive devices. He recently moved and uncovered a cache of over 100 tools he has that need reviewing. Kindly Yours,
Thank you so much Keely for suggesting this video and Emmy for making it. I really respect how kind and respectful you are of people who has different abilities. I'm so happy to share this with my friends.
Great video, Emmy! I work with individuals who have intellectual and physical disabilities and it is great to be able to recommend videos like to show some adaptive equipment!
(Also, thank you for also building a real meal while you demonstrated the products to give another example!)
Thanks for this lovely video Emmy. I've had arthritis since I was 10 so people see a 20 year old who looks perfectly fine struggling to just open a bag of chips, a box, or a drink bottle and they just stare and watch until I ask for help. My arthritis keeps me humble. I've even had people laugh and tell me I should work out at the gym more to increase my strength and that I should run and do other high impact exercises because "walking isn't true exercise". So it's great to see a video that could bring such limitations to people's awareness for even simple things. I remember being so upset when they changed the bottle caps on water and soda bottles to smaller grip areas (to save on plastic, which is a noble purpose) and I now have to resort to a grip pad, asking people for help, or even my teeth if nothing else works to get them open because a lot of the surface area I used to use to get a grip with more of my hand surface area is just gone. Actually, a lot of my surface area for gripping things has been slowly shrinking as the years go by and people are pushing for more streamlined packaging. I'm always torn: I don't want to use more packaging than is necessary for an item, but I also really would like to just be able to open something without resorting to butchering or biting the package in case I need to return an item that I've bought.
One time I had a family member wear some of my wrist braces to limit her range of motion in her wrists for a day like mine are. She got annoyed and removed them after just a few hours because she couldn't do stuff. There was a project a few years ago, I don't know if it was ever finished, where a group of people were making full body suits for family members to wear to see what their loved ones went through when having arthritis. It restricted or completely confine their range of motion, had something in the hands, arms, and legs that would only allow them to use a certain amount of grip and muscle strength, and had pressure rods at the joint areas that would press on locations to show where pain would occur and to stop movement if the person tried to move in certain ways.
With the jar opener, I could see myself telling the cat "You may want to leave the room. You'd be happier in the bedroom for a few minutes, guy."
Products like these need to be made more known and become more commonplace. I am only 23 and already have really bad hand cramps when gripping things for too long. I am often brought near to tears just from trying to peel potatoes and slice them. My mother has had multiple hand surgeries and has trouble gripping things and sometimes her hand locks up and she cant even use it for much. Thank you for showcasing these items and maybe enlightening others on how hard simple tasks can be for differently abled and disabled peoples. I hope one day that these items will be readily available for those that need them, and affordable.
Emmy, this is why I love your channel/videos because you're not like other youtubers who overreact and just act stupid, silly or just down right crazy for the views, I'm sorry I'm not trying to sound like a hater just making an obvious as hell observation about other people here on RUclips. You're just yourself and most importantly, you keep it real no matter how crazy or silly it may make you look but that's what we love about you. Also, again, like I said, you're just so humble and sweet and just always really positive and again, I love that about you. You really are a really special person Emmy. Please keep up your awesome videos, I really, really hope that you keep doing RUclips for many, many more years to come. Oh and by the way, you definitely deserve soooooo many more subscribers than you have cuz you are a hidden gem here on RUclips and we just adore you. I aspire to be more positive like you and incorporate some of your values into my life. Emmy, I seriously cannot thank you enough for how much you've inspired me and for the years of entertainment that you've brought to me, thank you so very, very much and again, I hope you continue to make videos for many more years to come. By the way, every chance I get, I recommend your videos and your channel to everyone that I possibly can because I think you deserve so many more views and subscribers than you have. But yeah, I enjoy watching you so much, you're so sweet and the tone of your voice is the sweetest thing I've heard, it's better than asmr. But yeah, again, thank you, Emmy, so much for the inspiration you've given me and for all the years of entertainment that you've brought to my life. Love you girl, please keep it up, you're awesome.
Great video, Emmy. I had a stroke when I was a baby and have had little use of my left side my entire life. I have that cutting board-it’s a game changer. Cutting and peeling potatoes used to take me AGES, and now I can do it in no time and without frustration and self loathing. I loved some of the other items. They look extremely helpful for someone with a disability. Thanks!
Hey Emmy!I'm so happy to have discovered your videos. This one really piqued my interest as you address one-handed cooking. I am an occupational therapist, and work in rehab with people who have had injuries (physical and neurological) that sometimes leave them being able to only use one side of their body to function. Seeing you take this challenge was a fantastic way to exhibit the various pieces of adaptive equipment that many of my patients have had to use to allow them to retain their independence in meaningful activities, such as cooking and meal preparation. Keep up the fabulous work!
Remembering that not all tasks like this are not so simple for our differently-abled friends is tremendously important. Thank you for making this video, Emmy! It brings light to a reality that gets overlooked so often by the rest of us.
I highly recommend Dreamfarm's Vebo over the silicone thing that was used in this video. It has a lot more structure and pasta wouldn't fall out everywhere. I recommend Dreamfarm in general for a bunch of amazing one-handed cooking tools such as levoons and levups (one-handed easy leveling measuring spoons and cups).
What a considerate idea for a video! Thank you to the viewer who suggested it
Emmy cares so much about everyone and it's so touching that she'd spend that much money on someone she didn't really know. Respect all around
As a disabled person who often can't make dinner more than cereal on bad days, but who loves food and cooking, this made me beyond happy, abled folks often do realize how hard it is to cook when you're not able bodied. Thank you for not just acknowledging that but actually trying out these gadgets and helping us disabled folks out!!
Omg her background explains so much about why she is so amazing at what she does. I love emmie
This is so nice to see things that help for ppl that struggle with motor skills and everyday life, my five year old sister was born with cerebral palsy and I see how she struggles, although she can't eat or drink it's nice to know things are being made to make my sisters life easier ;)
I would love to see more adaptive products tested. My mother has been living with the results of a stroke for 20 years and every year the basic activities of life become more difficult. It’s hard to find products to help her and her helpers. Thanks, Emmy! I am addicted to your videos.
My Christ, you're educating us young fowls that no nothing. Your videos are fun and so educational! Lanuage, texture, words, details it's all there. You're so kind to everyone, thank you. I'm sure Keely found this video awesome!
It’s amazing how a person can adapt to just using what they have, it’s educational and interesting that you’ve tried this Emmy. Such a very thoughtful way to teach us people who have all four limbs that one day you could loose something but you can still achieve greatness. Respect to all those who have lost mobility and or limbs. ❤️✊
This is a great video! A lot of "as seen on tv" style products were originally designed as adaptive (think of the snuggie, which was originally for wheelchair users, or the slap chop, which allows people with tremors, arthritis etc to chop vegetables ) but are then mass marketed as a way to make enough money to cover production costs. They become a lot cheaper and more readily available when they are aimed at everyone instead of just people with disabilities.
The problem is that they are then derided as being for lazy people (which is ridiculous, if you like using something and find it makes your life easier, then you should be able to use it without being judged)
I'm glad to see such a friendly, reasonable and understanding approach to such devices!
I couldn’t possibly love you more! We often don’t consider accessibility for everyone and I really appreciate you for making this. Much love, Emmy!
I’m a nurse practitioner and I see geriatric patients and these products are so helpful for arthritic hands. Thanks Emmy!
Emmy, thank you! I have osteoporosis, and over the years I've had MANY fractures, often hand or wrist. I've had to function one-handed so many times, I've gotten pretty good at it. But I didn't know that jar opener existed, what a great gadget! I love the silicone basket, too. I have a metal mesh basket I bought for blanching vegetables for freezing, it's a little big if I just wanted to make a small amount of something. It would be perfect for boiling eggs, you could have a bowl of cold water in the sink, and just transfer the basket from hot to cold. The cutting board is nice, not sure I could afford it, but those other two would be a huge help. With luck, I won't need them again, but I'm so glad to know they're available if I ever do.
Kudos to you for teaching the art class, that's terrific.
I’m an occupational therapy assistant and we use these items and more for patients with the use of only one extremity. Our goal is to make the patient as independent as possible. AE like this allows that.
It’s really amazing what products are available and how creative you can get to make your own adaptive techniques and equipment.
Thank you for doing this video!
Gosh! You are such a beautiful person 💖✨ I watch you whenever I’m depressed and you’re always just so positive (something I could never be). Thank you so much for being there. You’re so relaxing. And you, tying all of these things for the people who aren’t able to work with those things themselves, it’s just amazing and I’m so inspired by you.
Thank you Emmy, as a one handed person, I really appreciate your input, that jar opener will help me with the frustration we feel every day, thank you so much, now if some one comes up with a gadget that does up buttons or shoe laces ill be a happy man.❤️
My mom deals with numbness in one of her hands due to a back injury. I help take care of her, but she has struggled so much with losing her sense of independence, so this is really helpful. Thank you so much, Emmy.
I’ve noticed a lot of As Seen On TV products are geared towards adaptability without really saying it.
That’s why they garner the opinion of being “useless”. They’re marketed heavy towards lazy people instead of who they would actually benefit.
I think it’s so great that you’re doing this video and spreading awareness to the difficulty of everyday tasks caused by physical disability. I have a friend who is missing their left arm, and they watched this with me and they wanted to let you know they appreciated this too.
WOW! Some of those things will help me so much! That Robo Twist, I've tried so many jar opening adaptive gadgets for opening jars and most still require more strength than I have. Thank you so much for doing this.
This is great! I have only had one hand for 25 years and cook constantly for my family of 7:) I have come up with tons of tips and tricks through the years but it’s fun to see some different products I’ve never seen before! Will be very helpful to people new to being single handed🥰 . I’ll definitely be sharing it with people who reach out to me for help!
This is awesome! I have a niece who lost her arm in a car accident. I never thought on how difficult making a simple meal can be. I’m glad that they make these kind of products.
Thank you for doing this video! It's nice to see how well some products work.
Just an FYI about the pasta: the reason it stuck is because you didn't have enough water for the amount of pasta. We were taught in culinary school to use A LOT of water for cooking pasta and to salt it because it's the only time you get a chance to season the pasta.
Thanks again for the video!
Olive oil doesn't stop pasta from sticking, since it's an oil it lays on top of the water and doesn't interact with the pasta much. Just needs agitation/stirring during the cooking :)
DeliciousBreakfast, I don’t know how you are cooking your pasta, but 2-3 tablespoons of oil gets plenty of agitation in water that is heated to a rolling boil to keep 1 pound of dried pasta from sticking.. I’ve never had a problem with sticking using my average sized 5 quart pot; that’s how my Mom taught me to make it back in the 60’s; not as an adaptive device, but a way of getting you pasta oiled when you pour it into or scoop it out of water without drowning it in oil after cooking. Again, it’s not enough oil to provide any real flavor, but it does keep any shape of pasta I’ve ever cooked from sticking together.
Miss Karla agreed, also when you strain the pasta the small amount of oil that was in the water sticks to the pasta and helps keep it separated that way. Saves me having to try to pour a small amount of oil over it (requires fine motor control) or the sauce straight away if not ready yet.
Secret Diary of a Foodie, although I learned this as a hint from my Mother long ago, it came into more practical use for me when I got 3rd and 4th degree burns on my hands almost 7 years ago. Now I use a modified spider to scoop the pasta to a colander in a bowl to allow more complete straining, and unlike Emmy, I put my sauce in the pot I used ( after it cools some and I empty it ) to heat it up and combine with the pasta before serving. Finishing it that way allows me to undercook it a bit in the water and then give it a remaining minute or two in the sauce to finish it to my liking and get the initial handful of Parmesan melted without making it mush. I found that a wooden cutting board with a groove around the edge to catch meat juices has a deep enough groove to hold my Madeline safely in place, and it has so many slicing and grating blades that it is used often and is top rack dishwasher safe.
DeliciousBreakfast, oil floats on water. Lifting the pasta out in the cooking pouch, through the film of oil on the water, gets oil on the pasta. Shake it around a little in the pouch resting in the bowl or colander. Voila, it's coated.
Secret Diary of a Foodie, I agree absolutely. Having the pasta cooking in water with a bit of oil gives it plenty to avoid sticking. I don’t use a pouch, but use a spider to lift my pasta out, and that leaves an adequate coating to keep it from sticking. I personally don’t care for pasta that is ‘finished’ with oil; to me, it is just adding grease.
Lovely video. I hope this becomes a series. It would be lovely to see other gadgets and for me to learn more about adaptive technology in the kitchen. Emmy, your curiosity and genuineness is inspiring!
Yes I own several things that I use for cooking. Sense I am blind I love cooking but it can be unsafe if I did not have my helpful gadgets. Thanks for the video.
Leah Johnson do you use a George foreman type grill? Really helpful for cooking things thoroughly and on both sides (so you don't have to flip anything)
This is such an amazing video Emmy, I often see people complaining about gadgets like these saying how lazy they are, but they're so helpful to people that aren't able-bodied
Hi, Emmy,
Thank you so much for making this video. I work with individuals with disabilities as my job, and I have many clients with cerebral palsy requiring assistance with handling food and certain circumstances that may interfere with creating a meal. As someone who would love to incorporate both cooking and social services, I find this video to be immensely helpful and I would definitely suggest this to my peers at work. We do cooking classes every month at another facility, so I might give feedback to these people in order to create a more adaptable and inclusive kitchen. I might even get these myself in order to make my kitchen more inclusive of individuals regardless of ability.
Thank you for everything you do!
Awesome!!! I hope it helps. Thanks so much for sharing your story and doing what you do. 🙌
As someone born with Amniotic band syndrome (born with my left hand underveloped below the elbow) it means so much that you've done this video! You are incredible and this vid has only firmly solidified my love of you. I do everything anybody would for the most part using my "nemo fin" for help and as a personal preference no prosthesis. Adaptive products are sooo important especially for those with very limited mobility or new amputees. Thank you for doing this. Truly. I had never seen most of these.
Will be sharing!😀💜
Emmy, you have just made my day brighter. Thank You for demonstrating these products. I'll be buying the jar opener as soon as I can. And probably more as decreased mobility and money allow. I've been stung too often by "as seen on TV" stuff that doesn't work as advertised or is cheaply made and doesn't last.
As an able bodied man, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to do many things without certain limbs or even full use of others. It's great that companies make products like this to help people who need it. Thank you for doing this challenge Emmy.
Thank you for this video!!! As someone who can only use one hand, I'd advise anyone in my situation to invest in a couple of things: 1) Ceramic-bladed knives. They make cutting things like tomatoes and onions so much easier, but you need to look after the blades assiduously: they're very brittle. 2) An electric slicing machine (like those made by Ritter, for example). These take all the hassle out of precise, even slicing. You can even use them to peel certain vegetables, like potatoes. You could probably pick one up for the price of that awful chopping board. 3) Dycem (that sticky, rubbery plastic) is your friend. I bought some thin, stretchable containers covers made of it that are brilliant to use on stubborn jar lids: place the jar on a Dycem mat, use the thin Dycem sheet to twist the lid off. 4) Finally, look at the OXO GoodGrips range of kitchen utensils. They make some fantastic stuff, including a salad spinner that works on a 'spinning top' principle: you just continually press down on the central button to bring the internal basket up to speed. Pure genius. I used to call mine my 'Salatbeschleuniger' (salad accelerator) when I lived in Germany!
Oh, I almost forgot: you can get battery-operated hands-free tin openers, like the Culinare One-touch, but I don't use this any more because all my tins now have pull-tops.
And that Robotwist... blimey! they're £48.99 here in the UK (about $62!!!). Luckily I found one on US Amazon for $17.50 with $11.16 import and shipping. Just ordered it!
I'm able-bodied but even I'm so so grateful for this! I have several friends who would benefit from these so much, especially since these items aren't necessarily marketed for disabled folks. Thank you so, so much!!!
I have salt and pepper grinders that my dad got in the early 80's I think that are push button. Not electric but it grinds a little each time you push the button on top. It might be tricky to unscrew the top to refill it though. The button is covered on one side so you couldn't use your jar robot to grip it.
Phil Nolan I wonder if you could use a coffee grinder for peppercorns and just do it that way instead of having to finagle with a pepper grinder 🤔
Daine Sarrasri you probably could! I've never actually used one though. Of course you might end up with some spicy coffee if you use it for both.
Daine Sarrasri, I do use an electric coffee grinder for peppercorns. I have 2. One for spices, one for coffee. I refill a pepper shaker with freshly ground pepper. It may not be as fresh as that ground each time you use it, but I guarantee it's fresher than pre-ground pepper from the store. I order my peppercorns in bulk online, much cheaper than the grocery store.
Great idea for a video! Its so true that we all take everyday things for granted. I just finished having a double ear infection for over 3 weeks....completely deaf in one ear and only 15% in the other. I didn't realize how much I took the ability to hear for granted until I couldn't.
This video makes me heart so warm!! Thank you for making it!! My brother can only use one hand due to CP, so people recognizing this means a lot
If you put the pasta straight into the sauce after cooking, it won't stick together.
professorM True, but it would have been too hot for her to handle it straight out of the boiling water, so I think that's why she waited
Also, just a thought, give the equipment to Hayley who recommended the video.!!
Melissa Harris I think her name is Keely but that's not a bad idea
Melissa Harris Its Keely not Hayley also I think she should give it to someone who is disabled
I think she is disabled, which is why she wanted to see a video like this.
Mayonayys I just saw her post about sharing this with her parents maybe with the hope of using these things. So I may have read it wrong.
Thank you for doing this video!! I know a few people who are going to love this. We have a loved one with CP and we have an amputee in our family so I am always looking for ways/things to help them do things independently. I would love to see a non-dominant hand challenge!
Emmy, this was such a great video! It’s always hard for me to pick out tools that will help me in the kitchen. I love to cook, and everyone’s (dis)ability is different! Seeing such a demo, by someone as creative as you no less!, is super rad and incredibly helpful. I really hope there are more where this is came from!
Emmy
This is a great video, I fractured me C3/C4 vertebrae in 2003. After intensive rehab I learned to walk, but got use of only one hand back. I have been cooking one handed since 2006. I have learned how to accomplish things as I go, things I do may not work for others. You just have to try, and think way outside the box when you're one handed. I a firm believer in the saying "where there's a will there's a way". That being said I have the will to paint the inside of my house but no matter the will in my mind my body just can't. Keep up the good work. I'm going to purchase the Jar opener and the submersible food bag for sure. Thank you very much.
Adding fresh herbs into lettuce blend is quite nice too. I never would've thought to do that. I grabbed a salad mix at store that had herbs in it(not paying attention) but I liked it
I work for a company that manufactures and sells most of these products! This is an awesome video as I consult with PTs and OTs of long term care on a daily basis and hear of all the struggles patients have!!
That jar opener is amazing ! I am not surprised at the price of the adapted cutting board. Adaptive equipment is always very expensive as the market for these items is small so the production costs are high per item. I think the spikes could be used differently. Impale the tomato on all the spikes and slice through it. You might encounter the spikes while slicing but no big deal. It has good versatility which is not always the case with adaptive equipment. Great video!
I have multiple medical conditions which conspired this week to put me in the ICU. I had 3 needles (drips/canula) in one arm so I was doing everything one handed for a few days- that was frustrating enough- can't imagine it being everyday life!!!!! (Although as one of the nurses said to me- you can adapt eventually!) ps- just watched the video- I have one of those silicone baskets- great for eggs veges or pasta too. I use a lot of pressure cooking/slow cooking and steaming. Can't lift heavy pots much and need a tall chair to sit on when I cook. It is indeed frustrating how many things people take for granted (even my own family lol) that I struggle with! Loved this video Emmy- thanks for introducing these products to us all! (Now I'm off to search for that sticky Matt thing!!😁)
Thank you so much Emmy, I was elated to see this. Disability truly can make the most simple tasks painful and frustrating beyond belief. Having a back injury and nerve pain through my arms and legs has made a lot of tasks difficult. I LOVE cooking for my family and have had to get quite creative. Unfortunately there are plenty of times I have to accept these are times I cannot but these types of products give hope. Thank you for speaking up!
What a wonderfully kind and informative video. My grip is getting bad because of arthritis and I have a lot of trouble with mason jar type screw bands. I wonder if the robotwist works on other types of jar lids? The food pod could simply add a few design additions to make it work better. An inner layer of silicone mesh to keep smaller pasta from falling out when loading or boiling the pasta. Also adding a piece that is pulled out of the top that creates a funnel to make adding the pasta easier. These would be simple but helpful additions
Emmy thank you so much for this video my daughter was born with one arm and every day we find new ways to adapt things for her this type of thing is often over looked thanks for bringing some attention to this means so much to us Bless your your spirit and thank you for giving us some awesome ideas for new things to try thank you for being you and making awesome informative videos that we look forward to watching You Rock
You're so bright and cheery all the time Emmy - I love watching your videos, they make my day. :)