Kitchen tips
Read these 62 Kitchen tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Mom tips and hundreds of other topics.
Prepare a Weekly Menu
Prepare a weekly menu before you go to the grocery store. You will focus on buying only what you need instead of making last-minute impulse purchase. Plus, you will not be stumped with what to make for dinner.
Keep bananas fresh longer
To keep bananas fresh longer cut off the tip of it instead of hanging them by it. The peel will still turn brown but the inside will stay fresh for twice as long.
Helping Toddlers Learn Shapes
To make eating more fun, cut your children's food into different shapes. Cut scrambled eggs into triangles, or sandwiches and fruit into circles or squares. Don't limit yourself to simple shapes, but use your imagination and create different designs. You might enjoy having a theme for a day. Serve round foods like crackers, cookies, or tortillas for a snack. Mention that all of the snacks are round. Do the same with foods of other shapes or use pasta that comes in shapes, including letters and numbers.
Strawberries That Last Longer
After you have washed and capped fresh strawberries, put them in a colander and pour boiling water over them. By doing so, you kill the bacteria that makes them get moldy & mushy. Afterwards, refrigerate as you normally would, and the berries should last a lot longer.
Great Grapes
Do not wash grapes until just before serving to prevent premature brown spots and spoilage.
Soft, Chewy Cookies
If homemade cookies have dried out and gotten hard, soften them by placing a slice of bread in the cookie jar overnight. The cookies will absorb moisture from the bread and will be soft and chewy again.
Keep onions longer
When you are only using half an onion make sure to save the half with the root. It will stay fresh longer.
Oily cooking scents?
When you have finished frying foods, and that oily smell surrounds you, pour off the excess fats, add enough vinegar to cover the bottom of the pot/pan and simmer for 20 minutes. This liquid will loosen the baked on grime and the fumes will neutralize the oily smells.
Virtuous Vinegar
1 Tbls salt dissolved in 1 Tbls vinegar is a gentle abrasive that magically removes tea or coffee stains from china and glass cookware.
Low Fat Baking
Substitute half applesauce for the vegetable oil in your baking recipes~you'll greatly reduce the fat content! (Example: 1/2 cup vegetable oil=1/4 cup applesauce + 1/4 cup oil)
Baby Food from Scratch
Want to make your own baby food? Mash leftover vegetables (no additives like salt ,pepper, butter etc.) Fill ice cube trays with the results. When frozen, pop out, bag the cubes, label with date, use each as a single serving.
Citrus Scents
Leave lemons and limes in the fruit bowl rather than refrigerator. They act as air fresheners.
Stained Plastic Containers?
Spray your tupperware with non-stick cooking spray before pouring in tomato-based sauces~no more stains!
Dark/Non-Stick and Glass Pans
Dark nonstick or glass baking pans readily absorb heat and are best used with the baking temperature reduced by 25°.
Quick and Easy
Quick fixes for a botched recipe: If you over-salt a dish while it's cooking, drop in a peeled and cut raw potato, as it will absorb the excess salt (remove potato before serving). If you have over-sweetened a dish add salt.
Look-a-like Cups?
Party time or just lots of kids visiting? Don't mix up look alike cups. Use masking tape and marker to label each with the owner's name.
Virtuous Vinegar
De-glaze the frying pan after pouring off the excess fats and oils by simmering 1/4 " of water and 1/2 cup vinegar. You will notice a remarkable reduction in the lingering oily smells.
Pizza Cutter
Pizza cutters can be a wonderful kitchen tool for more than just pizza. Use them to take the crust off of kids' sandwiches, cut sandwiches into manageable quarters, cut up pancakes, etc. The wheel-shaped slicers is quicker and easier to use than the more time consuming knife.
Are Your Eggs Fresh?
Fresh eggs have a rough and chalky shell. They will sink and stay horizontal on the bottom of a glass of water. Old eggs, on the other hand, are smooth and shiny. They will float in a glass of water.
Virtuous Vinegar
By simply adding a few drops of vinegar to the water when boiling cabbage , brussels sprouts or broccoli you will allow all other delicious cooking aromas to share the air.
Frozen goodies
If you plan on freezing lots of small items like blueberries, strawberries, or meatballs, place in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about 1/2 an hour. Afterwards, bag them. Now they will stay individual rather than a block and make using and measuring much easier.
Virtuous Vinegar
Keep the coffee pot dripping as fast as possible. Once a month , fill with 1/2 and 1/2 water and vinegar , ( remove the "gold" filter ) and run through the cycle. Follow directly with a second pot of clear water.
Pancake Batter
Use a meat baster to "squeeze" your pancake batter onto the hot griddle~perfect shaped pancakes every time!
Freezer packs
Store your packaged juice containers in the freezer. Not only do the kids not raid them as often, but they make great freezer packs in coolers and lunch bags.
Preventing Cross-Contamination
To reduce the risk of cross-contamination in your kitchen, have multiple cutting boards. Designate one only for meat, one only for produce, and one only for poultry.
Virtuous Vinegar
For those perfect poached eggs on Sunday mornings , add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water to speed set the egg whites.
Onion Smell on Your Hands?
Rubbing your hands over a stainless steel object will remove the onion smell from your skin.
Virtuous Vinegar
Freshen up those lunch boxes by leaving a vinegar moistened piece of bread inside the closed container overnight.
Out, darned spot
To prevent tomato sauce from staining plastic bowls and containers, spray a thin coating of cooking oil on the surface before serving
Too Hot to Cook
Too hot to cook? If you must use the oven, prepare the item(s) in the morning and reheat in the microwave.
Stuff those crusts
Making dozens of sandwiches for a picnic or party? Save the crusts. Dry them out overnight. Bag them and freeze them to stuff the next turkey or chicken.
Keeping Pineapple Fresh
If pineapple is not being served immediately, then the fruit should be cut from the shell (preserving as much juice as possible), and refrigerated in an airtight container. Use within one week.
Quick Meal Resources
Some of your best meal resources are on the labels of soup cans, and on the back of boxes. Try some of their time-saving techniques.
No crumbs? No panic
Try substituting your children's favorite cereal as the basis for needed breadcrumbs that may be in short supply. Unsweetened whole grain oats, rice and corn cereals work best.
Quick and Easy
The easiest way to peel, then chop or slice an onion is first to cut off a thin slice from the top and bottom. Then halve it lengthwise. The peel from each half comes off easily. With the flat side of the onion half on a cutting board, chop or slice as required.
No breadcrumbs?
Bulk up your bread crumb measure by adding parmesan cheese. Add a little garlic powder, basil and oregano for instant Italian twist.
Bananas Mushy? Make a Milkshake
When a banana is starting to get soft, you could make banana nut bread. Or, for a great summertime treat that doesn't involve turning on the oven, you could make a milkshake! Peel the banana and place it in a sealable plastic bag, then stick it in the freezer. When it is frozen, put it in the blender with a little bit of milk, some vanilla extract, and a touch of sugar for a frosty treat. Yummy, and frugal too!
No more breadcrumbs?
The cupboard was bare. You need breadcrumbs, now. Plug in the toaster and toast those crusts no one eats, anyway. Place in a bag and roll into crumbs.
Recipe reviews
Always follow a new recipe, exactly, the first time. Before you put away the cookbook or paper, add your written comments, right on the page. e.g. "Bland. Try doubling garlic".
Baby bottles
Most bottle nipples and rings fit directly on the baby food jars of juice. Try it and save washing out the deep bottles. This juice is already diluted. Do not try warming the container in the microwave.
Ever smelled Rotten Eggs?
Always open each egg seperately and into a small bowl or container before adding to a recipe mix. If it is rotten (smells like sulfur) you won't waste all the other ingredients already in the bowl.
Excess Peanut Butter?
To dispose of the vast quantities of inferior peanut butter collecting in the pantry; having our children's friends over for any mealtime, breakfast, lunch or dinner, a
socially acceptable method. Offering a simple menu of pb and jam or banana sandwiches is a great idea, any season.
Brown Bananas?
Use overly ripe bananas in any muffin mix. My children's favorite this year is Oatmeal muffins with banana and butterscotch chips.
Portion Control for Picky Eaters
Remember to offer child-size servings. Adult portions can be overwhelming and turn off youngsters. Serve one-fourth to one-third of the adult portion to your child. Also, serve less than you think your children will eat and let them ask for more if they're still hungry.
Cookie Crumbs
Keep broken cookies in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Combine and use with graham crumbs for your next recipe.
Preserving Non-Stick Pans
Put potholders or soft hot pads between pans when stacking them to avoid scratching the nonstick surface.
First Solids for Baby
Here's a tip I wish I'd had before my son started on solids: When baby is getting ready to go to solid foods, begin with veggies. Once we taste fruits, we seem to develop that good old sweet tooth and there's no going back!
