Kitchen
- Store onions away from potatoes, as the gases and moisture from potatoes can cause onions to spoil more quickly.
- To keep onions fresh, place crumpled newspaper balls between them.
- Pure honey - Heat a small amount of honey in a spoon over a flame. Pure honey will caramelise and form bubbles, while impure honey may froth or produce a burnt smell due to added sugars.
- Pure honey - Heat a small amount of honey in a spoon over a flame. Pure honey will caramelise and form bubbles, while impure honey may froth or produce a burnt smell due to added sugars.
- Purity of Honey - Place a small drop of honey on your thumb and check if it spreads or sticks. Pure honey will remain intact and not spread easily, while diluted honey may spread or absorb into your skin.
- Use coconut milk as a base for marinades, especially for chicken, seafood, or tofu. It adds flavor and tenderizes the protein.
- Coconut milk can be used as a moisturizer for your skin. It's particularly helpful for soothing sunburned or dry skin.
- When salt is added to water, it affects the physical properties of the water in two ways. First, it raises the boiling point of the water. Second, it lowers the specific heat of the water.
- If any of your pots are boiling over, quickly place a wooden spoon across the rim—that'll settle the frothy bubbles and prevent more over-boiling.
- Figs can be used as a substitute for coffee.
- Blocked Drains? Blocked drains are the absolute worst. If you recall earlier days of science projects at school, mixing together baking soda and vinegar caused our homemade volcanoes to erupt. We can use this same chemical reaction to unblock stubborn drain blockages in no time.
- Mix some baking soda into warm water and swish it around your mouth as you would with any commercial mouth wash. It’s a natural and effective alternative.
- Sprinkling baking soda onto the carpet and scrub with warm water. You can also leave it to soak overnight and then vacuum away any excess in the morning. Your carpet will look good as new.
- Clean an egg boiler by boiling it for a short while with a bit of vinegar in it. It will lift and dissolve everything.
- Cut lettuce with a plastic or ceramic knife to keep it from bruising.
- Chicken breasts taste best if you whack them with anything sturdy (like a rolling pin) beforehand. Meat tenderising is a thing. Or cut them across the grain (short sections, not long) as this also cuts the fibres and looks best for serving.
- Separate your bananas (and store them away from other fruit) to prevent them from going off quicker.
- Soak popcorn kernels in water for 10 minutes, drain then pop, for super-quick popping, fluffy popcorn.
- Over salted your soup or stew? Plop in a potato (peeled, mind you) and the it will absorb all the salt. (It takes about 10 minutes.)
- Pop a celery stick into the bread bag if it starts to go off. This is said to restore the freshness for a bit.
- Don’t let leftover wine go to waste. Freeze it in wine cubes and use for adding to sauces like bolognese.
- To remove any funny food odours from your hands, washing them with salt or rubbing your hands against the stainless steel tap work a charm.
- Take your pasta off the stove just a tinge before al dente. When you pour it into the colander, quickly pop the pot back below to catch the water. The steam will keep the noodles hot and stop them from sticking.
- Before chopping chillies, rub your hands with veg oil to prevent them from absorbing the chilli oils.
- Using Spray 'n' Cook in measuring cups before measuring sticky ingredients like honey and syrup, makes them slide right out.
- Freeze bananas without their skins (because they’re a hack to peel when frozen) for epic smoothie additions.
- Eggs peel easiest if you add some bicarb to the water and then pop it in cold water afterwards.
- Egg shells are best for fishing out bits of egg shell. Why? Because they’re sharp and cut through the egg.
- Don’t bother peeling garlic, just cut off the root end and squish it with the flat side of the blade.
- Use cooking spray to make less of a mess-When measuring out super sticky ingredients (hey, @honey, I see you), coat your measuring cup with a butter- or oil-based cooking spray first. It ensures the sticky substance will slide right out and prevent you from having to scrub at your cups forever afterward.
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