Got a clever kitchen tip you love? Share it with us & you could get a collection of kitchen favorites from Solutions!
Help us celebrate Kitchen Month at Solutions by sharing your favorite kitchen shortcut with our readers! The writer of our favorite tip will receive a handsome, neoprene Market Tote packed with our popular Gourmet Getaway Bag, nonstick Silver Dollar Waffle Griddle, neoprene Fishnet Wine Tote, an Egg Pet Plant and an e-gift card for $100 at Solutions.com. Altogether, this wonderful gift has a total value of over $235 – you can even share it with someone else!
Submit your kitchen tip in the comments section below by midnight on Monday, October 19th PDT. We’ll post our favorite tip shortly after the deadline.
Here’s a kitchen tip from Solutions team member, Jenn:
“When my grandmother was making sausage for a crowd, she would thread them on a meat skewer before frying them. This made it a lot easier to turn them at the same time and reduced splattering, too.”
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I tape copies of favorite recipes to the inside of the kitchen cabinet over my work space. This makes them always handy and out of splatters!
After cleaning or dicing onion or garlic I wash my hands and while still wet and sudsy rub my hands over the kitchen faucet to get rid of the odor and to clean the faucet–two jobs done at once.
Before I store newly bought spices, peanut butter, tuna, and other mainstay foods, I’ll write the date bought in permanent marker on the top so I can easily see if the item is still good before using.
containers for rolls of foil, cling wrap etc have a triange on each end of the box. Push these in and the roll will not come out when you are using it.
In order to grill onions, we slice an onion into ~1cm slices, then brush a little olive oil and sprinkle with cajun seasoning. We then put them on a skewer so when you are grilling the onion and the get soft, they wont fall through the grill. Makes grilling onions and other veggies with your meats quick and easy
I keep my spices in little plastic baskets in cabinets above my stove sorted by type – one basket for baking, one for herbs, one for ethnic spice blends, etc. This way when I’m cooking, I can just reach up and bring down the basket and I have everything I need without having to hunt through a spice rack.
I always cook my vegetables in the microwave, when I am using them in a soup or stew. It makes cooking lots faster.
When I have leftovers and want to know when I ate the food originally, I put a date on the container using blank stick on labels used in computers. Then I know whether they are still viable to eat. After using the rule, “When in doubt, throw it out!” I know I will not be eating anything that needs tossing.
Over the years our children have come to love certain recipes. I purchased a three pack of spiral bound 3X5 lined note cards at an office supply store. I have copied the favorite recipes of each child into their own recipe collection. Now they will be able to make their favorite foods when they leave home.
Whenever I begin cooking something, I always lay a single paper towel on the counter. I put any stirring spoons, measuring cups, etc onto the paper towel so I don’t have any mess on the counter. When I am done, I transfer all the dishes to the dishwasher and just toss the paper towel. A little prevention saves the need for elbow grease later.
I put down several layers of newspaper and then a paper towel on top to soak up cooked bacon grease. It’s a great way to use old newspaper and less paper towels!
I cut up backing (that is sold to keep throw rugs from slipping) to layer between my skillets. It keeps them from scratching or making noise.
I store my many spices in the top drawer of my island cabinet. Enough room to lay all flat for easy reach and I keep them in alphabetical order which makes a quick reach easy and fast.
I use 4×6 index cards for recipes. I put the recipe in the magnetic photo sleeves, you can buy at the craft store, and put on my refrigerator-it keeps the card clean and right at eye level. I also put my recipes that I take from magazines and foodie websites in plastic sheet protectors and put in a binder. when I want the recipe, I take it out of the book and attach to a magnetic clip on refrigerator.
To cool cookies after baking, lay several layers of newspaper (just open up an unread section, like the classified ads) on your countertop, island or table. After cooling cookies on pan for 1-2 minutes as recipe directs, transfer them to the newspaper sheets. Unopened newspaper is completely hygenic, and will absorb extra oil from the cookies. It also makes cleanup a snap: just roll the newspapers, crumbs and all, and toss them in the trash.
Before measuring spices, sugar, flour, or other dry ingredients for a recipe, I put a sheet of parchment paper on my countertop. Then I do the measuring over the paper. If I spill an ingredient, I just roll up the paper and funnel the ingredient back into its container. No more wasting expensive spices. You can reuse the paper, too (provided it stays clean and dry, of course!).
Every time I wash dishes after a meal, I will put a small bowl of water and dish detergent into the microwave and microwave for about 2 minutes (sometimes longer if there has been an extra messy cooking episode). While the microwave is running, I finish cleaning up my stove and cabinets. When done, the steam from the soapy water has covered the interior of the microwave and all the splatters wipe up very quickly and easily. The the hot soapy water goes down both drains to help clean the pipes that may have had some greasy residue. This will help keep the pipe clear and unclogged. Just rinse out bowl, dry and put away.