The things we consider the hardest are most likely to be done in a simpler way and actually work. Some of us view the kitchen as a room for the experts only and shy away. The very complex things you see being done in the cooking channels are as easy as a walk in the park if you try some of these simple kitchen hacks. They are suitable for saving time and money. You can call them shortcuts that really go a long way.
1. Keep Your Tomatoes Fresh
The most nagging problem in the kitchen is finding your tomatoes rotten after some time. We buy enough tomatoes to last us through the week but before it ends, you start seeing rotten sports on them. Keeping them in the fridge is not the solution because eventually, they will still go bad after some days. What you should do is, when buying tomatoes, be sure to mix both raw and ripe tomatoes. Buy some lemons as well and put them together in one basket. Be sure to place a lemon in the middle of four tomatoes. The lemon slows down the ripening process making the tomatoes stay fresh for longer.
2. How to Store Your Coriander
Putting coriander stem in water won’t keep them fresh. They wither after some time and turn yellow. The best way to ensure that they stay fresh for up to 10 days is very simple. Buy your coriander and cut off the roots. Do not cut up to the stem. Wash them thoroughly and put them in a container. Seal the container tightly to make sure no air goes inside. Store them in the fridge and only open it when you need to take some out and use it. Close the container and return to the fridge for use on another day. Your coriander will stay fresh up to two weeks or more. Remember, store in the fridge and not the freezer.
3. Slice Your Onions Without Tearing Up
Every time you slice an onion, you always find yourself ‘crying’. The smell of the onions irritates our eyes which causes us to tear up. A helmet could work yes, but having to go to the store and buy a helmet yet you don’t own a bike could seem awkward to yourself. It is also expensive to incur unnecessary costs. To avoid all this, peel your onions and soak them in salty water twenty minutes before you cook and that will do the trick.
4. Need to Store Peeled Potatoes?
For instance, you go to prepare dinner, you have already peeled your potatoes ready to be cooked then, a friend pops in with the takeaway food. That situation is tempting and you suddenly feel like you don’t want to cook anymore. What will happen to your potatoes? If you leave them like that, they will turn black by morning and you don’t want to boil them. Just wash them well and put in a bowl with water then place small slices of bread on the water. Bread floats on water while the potatoes are underneath the water. By the next day morning, the potatoes will still be very fresh, as the bread will have sacked up the gas that causes them to darken.
5. Do Not Throw Out Your Jars
Most if not all stores, sell empty jars for us to buy and store spices, sugar, salt and other things in them. To avoid these costs, just improvise on what you already have. The empty Nutella and honey jars can come in handy. Simply remove their labels and put nametags of what you want to keep in them. This is a good form of cost-saving.
6. Peel Tomatoes With Less Hustle
Sorting tomatoes peels on the side of your plate as you are having dinner is a lot of work. You could even lose appetite while at it. You don’t have to keep doing that. If you don’t prefer blending your tomatoes, you could opt for this very simple hack. Soak your tomatoes in hot water for thirty minutes. This will soften their skin making it easy to peel with your hands. Peeling with a knife is not a good idea as you might deeply cut out some part of the tomato, leaving you with a very small tomato.
7. Replace Plastic Bags With Containers
Storing food leftovers in plastic bags and placing them on the shelves look a bit messy. The entire kitchen tends to look clustered just because of that shelve. The best way to avoid this is to get rid of plastic bags and opt for containers. Foodstuff like beans and peas can be put in cereal containers instead. If you need to have plastic bags around, get a drawer for them.
8. Do Not Throw Out Leftover Bread
For the lovers of bread, you do not have to throw the one remaining piece every day. Dry the bread and put it in a jar in form of crumbs. After a few times of drying your leftover bread, your jar will be full and you can use the crumbs to fry chicken or make meatballs. You will have saved the cash that you could have used to buy breadcrumbs from the store.
9. Preserving Your Tomato Paste
Whether in the fridge or not, tomato paste seems to go bad soon as you have unsealed the can. You end up throwing away a merely used can of paste. To prevent this, simply pour some little olive oil on the paste. The oil prevents bacteria from forming on the paste keeping it fresh for longer. You could use cooking oil too in case you are out of olive oil.
The Bottom Line
These simple hacks are a lifesaver for almost every situation. Some of the hacks are basic science that we learned in our early school days. Do not attempt any hack that you are not sure of to prevent loss or damage to your stuff.
