20 Handy Quick Tips For The Kitchen

Here’s a mix of handy kitchen tips from Tipnut, other bloggers and from Tipnut readers…

1. Cabbage Rolls Tips: Wash cabbage heads, pat dry then wrap well in plastic and place in freezer a couple days before you plan on making stuffed cabbage rolls. Thaw the cabbage heads in the fridge one full day before preparation. When the cabbage is thawed the next day, you’ll find the cabbage leaves will come off the head easily and roll nicely. Another method you could try: Microwave cleaned cabbage head on low heat setting for 10 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, peel leaves off. If you find the cabbage leaves aren’t as supple once you’re down a few layers, reheat for a few more minutes as needed.
2. Ripen Peaches: Fill a box with peaches and cover them with newspaper to speed up the ripening process. To store in the freezer, slice the washed peaches into chunks, sprinkle on some lemon juice and pack them in freezer bags. A pound of peaches equals 4 cups sliced peaches (approximately).
3. Protect Hands When Handling Meat: If you have a cut or wound on your hand, wear rubber gloves when preparing uncooked meat. The meat can transfer bacteria into the wound and that’s bad news. It’s also a good idea in general to cover hands that have a wound or sore when preparing any kind of food item so you don’t inadvertently transfer ickies to your family when they eat the food.
4. Best Kitchen Organization Tip: Make kits to keep all your kitchen stuff organized. Example: Measuring kit – Why go back to the drawer 80 times to get a teaspoon while you’re making cookies? Just pull out the measuring kit, use what you need and put it back when you’re done.
5. How To Chill Drinks In Minutes: The trick is a steel pot filled with the cans or bottles, enough ice to cover the drinks, fill with water and stir in a bunch of table salt (!). Put the whole shebang in the freezer and voila! chilled drinks in 3 minutes.
6. Southern Plate’s Handy Dandy Casserole Chart: It is meant as a handy helper, giving you ideas and a formula to create your own casseroles.
7. How To Make Vinegar From Leftover Wine: Who knew!
8. Chris’s Solar Food Dehydrator: Plenty of details on how to make your own solar dehydrator.
9. Scrap Yourself A Mini Kitchen Guide: Cool idea for creating little kitchen guides that can be kept at your fingertips.
10. Kansas A’s Egg Tip: How do you easily get out an eggshell that has fallen into your egg? Use an eggshell to grab it quickly!
11. Prevent Boil Overs Tip: Whenever boiling potatoes, it seemed that the pot always boiled over no matter how we tried to prevent it . . . until discovering this simple tip: simply put a little slice of butter into the pot!
12. How To Braid Garlic: Braiding garlic is easy – plus it’s the perfect way to preserve garlic and ensure that it gets proper air circulation.
13. Speed Technique: Freezing Ginger: An ingenious way to store grated ginger is to form it into a long, skinny cylinder in plastic wrap, and freeze it. When you’re ready to use some, just break or cut off as much as you need and return the rest to the freezer! Convenient for adding quick flavor to a dish that you’re cooking for a speedy lunch or dinner.
14. When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. (sent in by Ann, thanks!)
15. I just read about the bananas in the cabbage salad…for years I have made mine with raisins, apples and slivers of carrots…mixed with a tad bit of sugar and salt, then mixed with miracle whip…it’s always been a big hit at picnics and parties…delicious (sent in by Gloria, thanks!)
16. When baking chocolate cakes from scratch or using a box mix, substitute a cup of cold coffee or cappuccino (use your favorite flavor) in place of the cup of water. (sent in by Starr, thank you!)
17. I have an excellent recipe for fruit dip: 1 tub of cream cheese (I believe they come in 8 oz) and 1 jar of marshmallow creme (I believe it is 10 oz). Mix together. Cut up some apples or other fruit and dip! Sounds strange…but it’s delicious! Our favorite is granny smith apples, red delicious apples and cantaloupe! (Tip sent in by Jessica, thank you!)
18. A tip for you: I use glass canning jars for staples like flour, sugar, etc. and because I buy in bulk I usually have several of any one item. One jar lives in the kitchen but the others go downstairs. To remind myself that I DO have more I stuck labels on those thin, cheap magnets (the kind that you get in the mail or as business cards to stick to your fridge). I cut the magnets with the labels so they fit the canning jar lid and then wrote “more downstairs” on them. When I bring up the next jar I simply stick the magnet to its lid unless it is the last one of that item. This saves me and my feeble memory from many trips down those stairs to the reserve storage in the basement. (Tip sent in by Verity, thanks so much!)
19. Use a steamer basket to cook potatoes for mashing (instead of boiling them). The flavor is MUCH better, and you never have to worry about your potatoes being watery. Once I started steaming potatoes, I never looked back. (Tip sent in by Jennifer, thanks!)
20. When my daughter was young I would cut up her pancakes for her, but using a knife really didn’t work well (thin pancakes would roll up, thicker pancakes would get torn apart). One morning I spied the pizza cutter in the drawer and thought I’d give it a try. Success! Perfectly-cut squares every time, and it’s super quick. (Tip sent in by Sandi, thank you!)

*A few of the above tips were previously published as individual Quick Tips, they’ve been moved here for better organization–all bookmarks will forward to this page and comments have been moved below.

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