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Anxiety barriers to preparing/making food

friendlyTortoise7027 July 18th, 2016
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I'm having a hard time and have identified this as an issue.. I guess it doesn't count though under eating disorders because eating disorders are categorized by having a relationship to the way you see yourself.

For me, it's like my brain just freezes up.

It feels so hard. Because I have to clean, because I have to prepare stuff and do multiple layers to make a full meal. Because I'm DEFINITELY not eating enough but probably am malnourished at this point.. At least I feel like I am.

My son put a can opener in the oven before he left with his dad on Friday.. I didn't discover it until Saturday, when I preheated the oven to 400 to make a pizza. It's still in the freezer and now there is dripping plastic attached to both oven racks. I got most of it scraped off the bottom but the smell was horrific.

Now I'm afraid of getting in trouble for the fact that the heat sensor is screwed up and telling me the oven is warm. I'm also vaguely worried about heating up the stove in case that smell permeates again.. but at some point I'll have to reheat the oven at least to try to get the last of the plastic that may be on the bottom out, and I still have to clean off those racks and... ugh.

I just want to make food. I love pasta. I love making it with onion and mushroom.

I don't know what to do ;_;

1
Anomalia July 19th, 2016
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@friendlyTortoise7027 - I've done a bit of research and it sounds like you are very much not alone in having plastic melted into your oven. The good news is, that means other people have done the work of figuring out what to do about it! Check out some tips here:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2354332/melted-plastic-inside-oven-help

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/q-and-a/a2487/remove-plastic-meltdown-oct01/

Outside of dealing with the plastic, it may also help to come up with some easy to prepare meals that don't require the oven or stove for the meantime. Perhaps things that don't require heating, like a sandwich or salad, or things that can use the microwave to heat instead. Anything that feels low pressure and low effort to take some of that anxiety away and let you get the nutrition you need more easily!