Do you need a fun hobby your parents, your siblings, and you can all work on together? Have you considered saving important family recipes in a cookbook you create together?
Collect the Recipes
As you start to plan your family cookbook, think of the recipes that you have stories to go with them. You can start the recipe with those stories.
As kids, you and your cousins would sneak out to the freezer on your grandmother’s patio. Buried in the freezer was a coffee can that she’d fill with chocolate chip cookies. You and your cousins remember eating all but one cookie and thinking that no one noticed, but your grandmother always knew.
Your dad’s homemade teriyaki sauce always kicked off the summer as he’d get out his grill, light the charcoal, and fill the air with the sweet, citrusy smell of his marinade on burgers or steaks. After dinner, he always sat outside with you while you roasted marshmallows.
Keep going through family recipes and sort the ones that you feel are worth passing down. You’ll have family recipes to pass on to your children, your grandchildren, and other family members now and in future generations. A senior care provider can also help your elderly parent go through cookbooks or favorite recipes as an engaging afternoon activity.
Have Family Gatherings to Test Recipes
You may not all be able to gather, but a few of you can bring ingredients to your parents’ house and test out recipes. If recipes aren’t working, adjust measurements until it’s right.
As you make them, you can have a family dinner that gives your parents a chance to socialize. They’ll also be able to tell you the origins of some of the recipes. Take photos to add to the cookbook. If people have suggestions to improve the recipe, consider adding them as additions to the original recipe.
Pick Your Platform
You could create an actual book and use a self-publishing service to print copies to hand out. You could also build the family cookbook online on a private website that you share with family members.
If money is limited, a website may be better. You could also create it on your computer, print the pages at home, and then secure them in three-ring binders with page protectors to keep each recipe clean of stains.
When you’re not able to help your parents with meals, grocery shopping, and other daily tasks, why not arrange to have senior care aides help? Senior care aides can stop by, keep them company at home and out at stores. Call to learn more.
