We all seek to enhance our kitchen efficiency and lower costs for obvious reasons: money and time are valuable! Both can be saved over time without sacrificing quality or cutting corners. From how you keep your vegetables to how you organize your pans and pots, the kitchen is as much about practicality and layout as it is about food preparation.
Let's face it: nothing beats stepping into your kitchen and finding all of your ingredients arranged neatly and in place. Do you believe you have a lot more to learn? Then keep reading to learn about these culinary techniques that will turn you into a total pro and turn your culinary dreams into a reality.
Microwave Cleaning Hacks
Do you always find yourself looking at a messy microwave at the end of the week? The splattered food, grease, and odors that refuse to go away. If you're sickened every time you open your microwave, lemon is here to help.
In a microwave-safe bowl, squeeze four lemon quarters. Next, insert the lemons into the bowl. Mix in a 1/2 cup of water. Set your microwave on high and wait for the water to boil and steam. After 15 minutes, use a damp cleaning cloth to clean the inside of the microwave. Fresh again!
Cutting Board Organizer
Isn’t it wonderful that all of your kitchenware has a home to return to once it was used? The same should be true for your cutting board. This is, without a doubt, one of the most neglected kitchen objects. After usage, we tend to place them on the kitchen counter, leaning against the wall, ready for backsplash from the sink.
With just a few hooks and some hardware, you can create a cutting board holder under your hanging cabinet or elsewhere in your kitchen. The most difficult tool you'll have to use is most likely a power drill, but nowadays, there are no-nail solutions to consider.
Burned Pots And Pans
Baking soda is your greatest weapon when it comes to removing stubborn stains from pots and pans. Yes, it is possible to clean pots and pans using just baking soda and a few household amenities! Not only does it remove stains, but it also aids in the removal of any leftover food odors from your cookware.
Add about a teaspoon of baking soda to the pan or pot. Boil for ten minutes with a cup of water and 1/2 cup of vinegar. Once the food or stain has cooled, it should be ready to be removed. There—you’ve saved yourself a scrubbing workout.
Grocery Bag Dispenser
A can of wet wipes can be really useful, especially if your counters or surfaces frequently become dirty. When the wipes are gone, don't just throw the container in the recycling bin; instead, give it new life by storing plastic food storage or supermarket bags.
To load your dispenser with plastic bags, lay them flat and squeeze out any air inside the bag. On the longer side of the plastic bag, fold it in half. Make sure the bag's handles are folded on the top side facing you.
Shoe Organizers
Cleaning materials might be difficult to keep organized and in order if you don't have the correct accessories or special storage options. But having them where you need them and when you need them makes cleaning much faster and easy.
Although they are designed to hold shoes, these organizers are also ideal for storing cleaning materials. Hang one on a wall or the back of a door for a plethora of individual storage spaces. Other advantages include the fact that containers remain upright and that you have easy access to all of the objects in the organizer.
Peel Your Egg Like A Pro
Peeling hard-boiled eggs is notoriously difficult. If you don't cleanly remove the skin that rests between the shell and the egg white, you'll be stuck peeling off painfully small bits, resulting in sticky fingers and a crater-covered egg.
Fill a glass or cup halfway with water, cover the top with your fingers or palm, and begin shaking. The idea is to shake it over the sink so that some of the water can escape via your fingers and not all over the place. Make sure to shake hard for a good five to seven seconds. The shell should slip right off.
Garbage Bin Deodorizer
Trash can scents may quickly stink up your kitchen. So it's critical that you clean your trash on a regular basis. Even if you take out the garbage every night, particles of muck, rubbish, and run-off accumulate in your trash bin, causing it to create an unpleasant odor.
Fill little coffee filters with baking soda, close them with a rubber band, and put them at the bottoms of waste bins. The white powdery substance deodorizes, absorbs, and neutralizes odorous garbage and, best of all, is biodegradable.
Polish Silver With Ketchup
Wouldn't it be lovely to have clean, glistening cutlery on your nicely-set table, complete with precisely shaped linen napkins and flowers? You don't want tarnished cutlery to cast a shadow over your special occasion. Here's an interesting way to clean silver.
Simply pour ketchup into a plate and immerse the silver until completely submerged. After that, the silver can rest in it for 10 minutes. After that, take the silverware and clean it with warm water before patting it dry with a rag. It’s odd, but it works like magic.
Cupboards With Silicone Baking Cups
Spills, drips, and filth tends to accumulate at the bottom of your car cup holders. Cupholders are likely one of the dirtiest areas of a vehicle. But who wants to waste time cleaning the sticky mess away?
Here's a quick and easy fix! Fill the cup holders with cheap silicone cupcake liners. Cupcake liners are the right size for typical automobile cup holders, and if not, they can widen out to accommodate. So, the next time you clean the car, simply remove the liners, chuck the cupcake liners into the dishwasher, and replace them once they’ve dried.
Candle Wax Remover
Candles occasionally spill or dribble wax on their table or surface, and this wax solidifies and becomes tough to remove. Scraping it off might be tedious and leave a residue, but with the help of a plastic card and an ice cube, you can skip all of that.
Instead, take a plastic bag, fill it with ice cubes, and dab it gently over the wax. Allow to cool and solidify for a few minutes. After that, you can easily pull it away from any surface.
Sponge Standee
Finding new applications for everyday household items can be a joy in and of itself. For example, the kitchen sponge is an extremely common item found in every home, and binder clips are an excellent way to hold dish sponges on your sink without taking up too much space.
As an added bonus, this storage technique allows sponges to dry faster, which is more sanitary and prevents bacteria from growing on the sponge, which can defeat the point of even cleaning your dishes. It’s a clever way to air dry your sponges.
Stackable Glasses
What can you do when you grab for a glass and end up with two locked up together, one within the other? You don't want to break one or both by attempting to separate them. Even a bodybuilder lacks the remarkable ability required to separate these tenacious crystals.
Don't be concerned; WD-40 has your back. Squirt some WD-40 on the stuck glasses, wait a few seconds for the can to work its magic, and then gently peel the glasses apart. Remember to clean your glasses carefully before using them.
The Jar Collection
Reusing old jars and bottles is an environmentally friendly approach to storing liquids and solids. You can name them and place them on the shelf so that different components aren’t mixed together. Storing pancake batter in old mustard and ketchup bottles is another great idea.
First, thoroughly clean the bottle and prepare the batter according to your recipe. Then, pour it gently but steadily into the bottle with a funnel and use it for instant pancakes to avoid making a major mess in the kitchen whenever you’re hankering for one.
LED Lights To The Rescue
The kitchen is the worst room in the house for poor lighting. For crying out loud, it's where you have to work with dangerous blades, flames, and agitated (usually hungry) individuals! So if you have a cave-like kitchen, here are some ideas for you.
No, we're not going to tell you to demolish your entire kitchen and recreate it as a minimalist white area with floor-to-ceiling windows. Instead, here are some quick and easy ways to brighten up your area: insert some LED lights within the shelves to ensure that everything is visible.
Under Sink Organizer
The area beneath the sink soon becomes a catch-all for all kitchen objects that don’t have a home of their own. Trash bags, dish detergent, sponges, scrub brushes, and at least a dozen different cleaners crowd and clog the cabinet space.
As a result, it quickly becomes congested. A tension rod can be extremely useful in this situation. Fortunately, reclaiming the space and adding an extra layer of storage will just take a few minutes and only a few dollars.
Magic Eraser For The Stove Top
Ceramic cooktops are extremely useful. In principle, a ceramic glass surface saves more energy and is easier to clean than an old cast-iron cooktop. Baked-in grease, Water from boiling pots, and a variety of other stains can cause your ceramic stove to deteriorate over time.
To make matters worse, cleaning this sort of oven requires extra caution. But it’s much easier when you use a magic eraser. The sponge's texture is ideal for difficult grease stains and oil buildup. With just a few swipes, your ceramic stove top will be spotless.
Sharpen Up Your Knives
It's a pain to cut an onion—or any ingredient—with a dull knife. As a result, seasoned chefs always keep a sharpening stone on hand. But there’s no reason to shell out cash on a special knife-sharpening implement.
You can use any porcelain tableware with a rough bottom, from a plate to a mug. Simply flip the ceramic bowl or mug over, run the knife's edge at a 20-degree angle over the rough edge of the plate, continue on the other side, then rinse it under water to remove the microscopic metal particles.
Hang Up Utensils
Cooking in a tiny kitchen has its challenges, especially when you hoard a lot of utensils and cooking supplies and only have a little countertop room to put them in. When you start putting up hooks, you'll discover that you have a lot more space.
You can hang larger equipment like spatulas, strainers, larger spoons, and ladles, as well as larger hanging knives like chef knives and cleavers. This can significantly reduce the frustration of a cluttered kitchen. It's also a lot easier to find. Just keep anything sharp out of reach of children.
Sticker Residue Remover
Nothing is more inconvenient than removing a sticker on a new purchase and discovering that it has left an unsightly residue behind. Adhesive residue not only looks unpleasant but also attracts dust and debris.
Dab a paper towel with cooking oil, such as olive, canola, or sunflower. Then, place a paper towel over the stubborn residue. Allow the oil to work for a few minutes to dissolve the tenacious glue. Finally, take the towel and use another clean paper towel to rub away the sticker residue.
Condiment Holder
How many of you have a refrigerator full of condiments? The problem is that few of them can stand on their own. Then you have to put them in the fridge, which takes up a lot of space. It also makes it tough to squeeze the remaining few squirts of ketchup!
Use this egg carton hack instead. Simply cut a carton in half to fit inside your refrigerator door. You can now store your condiments there to conserve room—and make it easier to get them when you need them!
Drain Sinks With A Brush And Lemon
Nothing stifles a cooking mojo like a sink filled with floating water with the ghosts of previous feasts. Food causes kitchen sink blockages. All of the scraped plates, crumbs, and liquids poured down the garbage or drain disposal can build up over time and cause a clog.
Drains frequently smell and become clogged with hair, soap scum, and grease, so scour them clean with a used toothbrush. You may also use lemon juice and baking soda to make your drain smell great again.
Grime And Grease
Summer’s coming up—it's the ideal time for a barbecue. As everybody knows, the grill is the star of any outdoor barbecue, so learning how to clean your BBQ before wheeling it out in front of the neighbors is essential.
Grills can become rusty and out of commission after not being used for a few months. Stainless steel cleaners, cleaning gloves, a sponge, a wire grill brush, a paint scraper, and a can of WD-40 are all recommended over just a cloth and soapy water. It's now time to get your hands dirty.
A Wine Cork As A Chip Clip
Synthetic wine corks make quick and easy chip clips when you’ve finished with the wine. To begin, all you need is a razor blade or equivalent cutting tool—the thinner, the better—just make sure it’s a synthetic wine cork.
Cut the cork in half lengthwise, around two-thirds of the way through. Now you have your cork chip clip. You're done. Now just slide it onto your bag. The cork should hold the bag firmly closed. Now you can rapidly seal your chip bags and keep the crispiness.
Ground Meat Storage Hack
Ground beef is fantastic to keep on hand for a quick supper fix, but if you're in a rush, it can take an eternity for the meat to defrost. Here’s what you can do. First, remove the uncooked ground beef from its container and secure it in a ziplock freezer bag.
Flatten the beef into a broad, flat rectangle approximately 12-inch thick using a rolling pin before sealing the bag. Before closing the bag, squeeze out as much air as possible. Then, throw the bag in the freezer.
Extinguish Grease Or Oil Fires
We've all been there. A pot of oil is left on the burner and forgotten, burning away until it's too late. Cooking fires are one of the main causes of house fires. While you probably won’t be dealing with grease or oil fires every day, it’s crucial that you’re prepared.
Extinguishing a grease fire may appear to be difficult, but it can be done without a huge amount of effort—if you have the know-how. Baking soda is your best bet for putting out a fire on your stove. This will not work as well for a huge blaze, but it can work amazingly effectively for little fires.
Makeshift Spaghetti Storage Can
It can be tough to find a convenient solution to store surplus spaghetti, linguine, or other long noodles once you’ve split the enormous package. Tall, thin Pringles potato chip cans are ideal for keeping them straight and pristine.
To store dry spaghetti, use a cleaned-out Pringles can. That’s it. No need to panic about keeping the opened box or bag tight. Another advantage is that the lid is see-through plastic, so you’ll always know when you need to stock up before heading out to the supermarket.
Appliances At Their Best
Is there anything more appealing than the look of a brand-new kitchen with gleaming stainless steel appliances? Unfortunately, that look does not last long. Dishwashers and coffeemakers, for example, can accumulate unpleasant odors and filth that impede their operation.
Cleaning stainless steel equipment is an easy and inexpensive method to revitalize a kitchen.
Run an empty cycle with only baking soda and water inside to make them look, smell, and work better. The accumulated residue should disappear. You might notice that they are working better as well.
Clogged Sink Stinks
Having a clogged sink is far from nice. It's inconvenient, depressing, and unsanitary. Depending on the obstruction's severity, you may need to hire a plumber. But before you pick up the phone, try these easy and quick clogged sink fixes.
Begin by dumping a pot of boiling water into the drain. If this doesn't work, use a baking soda and vinegar solution. The plunger is the next option. If the obstruction persists, use a plumbing snake or clean out the P-trap. If all that fails, it’s time to call in a professional.
Kitchen Towel Rack Hack
Hand towels are an essential item in almost every kitchen. They’re used for everything, from drying dishes and hands to cleaning up emergency spills. Finding the best places to hang your towels can save you time and money while also adding a decorative element.
However, finding the proper towel holder can be tough, especially if your space is restricted or there is no ideal location for a towel bar. Instead, install a pole on the wall above the sink. Now you can hang the dish towels there and tell the bacteria to find another place to party.
Use Fabric Drapes for Kitchen Improvement
Most kitchens are about seventy percent cabinets. We all require lots of space to store dishes, mugs, pots and pans, and other necessities for our daily lives. After viewing the same old wooden cabinets every day for months or years, they begin to feel drab and boring.
Try removing the cabinet doors and replacing them with fabric drapes. You won't have to yank out the covers all the time, and you can choose your favorite pattern or color, measure it out, and attach it to the top of the cabinets.
Extend Garlic And Onions Shelf Life
Although vegetables like onions, garlic, and even shallots last considerably longer than fruits and vegetables like apples, oranges, and bananas, there is a simple technique that can extend their life by up to three months.
Simply take a paper bag or a lunch bag, and punch holes all over it with a paper punch. After that, fold the bag top a couple of times and secure it with a paperclip. Keep full bags in a cool, dark place where air can travel between them.
Blender Washing Hack
Cleaning a blender can be a pain. Not only that, but it can also be rather harmful. Sticking your hand through blades can result in cuts if you’re not careful. That’s something no one wants. However, there is a safer alternative—one that might even save you spending as much effort.
Fill half of your dirty blender halfway with warm water, then add a few drops of dish soap. Connect the blender's lid and turn it on. The soapy water sloshing around the blender will assist in removing pina colada remains. It's completely safe and efficient.
Tissue Box As Plastic Bag Holder
While it's easy to throw an empty tissue box in the recycle bin, having weathered your hay fever, we have a terrific idea to upcycle your old box. Use those painted cardboard boxes to keep your shopping bags organized.
You can turn an empty tissue box into a bag holder by putting plastic bags inside. Insert the bags with the loops facing up and fold the end of each fresh bag into these loops. That way, every time you take a bag out, another one is there waiting for you!
Remove Sticker Residue From Your Plates
It's always exciting to cook knowing that your supper will be served and eaten on a sparkling, brand-new set of dishes! It's a fantastic experience, whether it was a wedding present or that you're simply replacing your old set.
The only thing that might spoil the fun is the fact that the stickers on the bottoms of your new dishes need to be painstakingly removed. To avoid leaving a sticky residue that may remain on the dish for the rest of its life, apply WD-40 to assist in peeling the stickers off easily.
Pots and Pans Organizer
Don't have room in your kitchen for an overhead shelf? Not a problem. Stop stacking and start hanging to make more room in a limited space. Simply apply a cork board to the inside of your cabinet and add adhesive hooks. You'll have plenty of space if you hang all of your pots and pans this way.
A pot-and-pan pullout allows you to reach and arrange your implements easily. Depending on your cookware, there may even be a place to store your lids. It takes a few hours, a few boards, and a few drawer slides, but the result is well worth your time and energy.
Tightly Closed Jars
It’s the classic kitchen conundrum—the securely closed jar that refuses to open. There have been several products designed to address this issue, but they are not always available when you need them. As a result, you’ll find yourself improvising using the materials at hand.
Duct tape is one tool you can use to great effect. This may appear counterintuitive—you generally use duct tape to keep things together—not to unstick them. However, duct tape can give you the grip you need to get the jar open. Just make careful to push the tape firmly into the container at first.
Paper Towel Rack
Spills aren't just limited to the kitchen. Why not have a clean roll of paper towels in each room? That way, when an emergency presents itself, you’ll be ready. By having easy access to paper towels whenever you need them, you’ll also save yourself some counter space.
Mount a short tension rod in the intended room's closet or cupboard, or even on the wall using no-nail hangers, and thread the roll onto the rod. Do you hear that? That’s the sound of you maturing into an adult.
DIY Mug Display
Make a little hook set in your kitchen for your morning pick-me-up receptacles. Your morning cup of joe will be so much better knowing your mugs have found their own little homes by the espresso machine, traditional pots, mugs, and all the fixings.
You’ll need to fetch a few rods, wooden boxes, and S-hooks. After mounting the box to the wall, hang the rods, then the hooks, and finally the mugs. Feel free to decorate your coffee nook and express your love for that one thing you can't live without—coffee.
Spice Up Your Kitchen’s Style
In our opinion, there are two sorts of people in the world: those who are eager to cook and those who are eager for takeout. As members of the latter group, we would enjoy being introduced to more members of the former.
Cooking enthusiasts worry more about their kitchen spice rack than the new season of The Bachelor, which says a lot. We're guessing they'd love this small hack: using a suction shower rack to add an extra storage spot for convenient spice access.
Cleaning Containers
Of course, one of the most effective ways to avoid food stains in our containers is to clean them promptly after use. But, all too frequently, life gets in the way, and we don't have the time to do it immediately.
However, filling them with hot water and a small amount of dish soap right away will make the cleaning procedure much easier and will keep all of the grease and oil stains away due to the detergent. It will also make cleaning up any leftovers easier.