7 Kitchen Hacks & Simple Solutions

Discover 7 different ideas and tips to make your cooking time a little bit more pleasant! When it comes to cooking, daily hacks and simple solutions are amazing because they make our lives easier, save time, and minimize effort.

1. Preparing picture-perfect peas

Stuffed snow peas make a pretty and fresh springtime appetizer, but neatly opening each pod, one by one, can be tiresome. A seam ripper borrowed from the sewing box can help make things faster and easier.

2. Exploiting the loophole

Many dish towels come with a loop sewn into the hem. Take advantage of this design by sewing a button into the waist of your apron so you can keep one of these towels at the ready at all times.

3. Cherry clipper

Half the battle of making a fresh cherry pie is pitting the cherries efficiently, with minimal bruising of their delicate flesh. One easy way is to use a paper clip.

1. Unfold one bend of a clean, large metal paper clip to create an elongated s-shape.

2. Holding the cherry in one hand, stick one end of the s into the stem end of the cherry, hook it around the pit, and flick the pit out.

4. Sharpen your own skewers

Next time you run out of skewers while making large batches of kebabs, try a new use for the collection of wooden takeout chopsticks lingering in your kitchen drawer: you can transform them into sturdy skewers for meat or veggies by honing one end with a pencil sharpener.

5. Homemade knife protector

Storing knives in a drawer is not only dangerous but also potentially damaging to the knives. Here’s a cheap way to protect your fingers and your knives.

1. Set a knife on a manila folder, placing the blade of the knife parallel to the bottom edge of the folder. Use a pen to mark ½ inch beyond the tip and ½ inch above the spine.

2. Using these marks as guides, cut the folder into a rectangle. Staple the top edge and front of the rectangle at ½-inch intervals, leaving the back end open to slide in the knife.

6. One rule for sticky pie dough

Few things are more frustrating in the kitchen than having rolled-out dough stick to the counter. Rather than dirtying a bench scraper, slide a metal ruler under the dough (a tool which also comes in handy for making sure dough is rolled out to the right size). The ruler’s thin edges pry the stubborn dough off just as well as a bench scraper does.

7. Securing slippery cutting boards

To keep a plastic cutting board from sliding around the counter as you chop, wrap a thick rubber band around each end, creating a stable nonskid surface for safe chopping. Want an even easier option? Just sprinkle a handful of rubber bands on the counter and place your cutting board on top, thereby preventing any slipping or sliding while you chop. If the bands get contaminated with juices from meat or poultry, just throw them out.