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. Extra grip for tongs

We recommended the use of tongs to remove ramekins of custard from a water bath. Cooks who worry about the ramekins slipping in the tongs can try this tip: slip rubber bands around each of the two pincers. The sticky rubber provides a surer grip.

2. Jar-opening assistant

Many cooks have a drawer full of rubber bands. Those rubber bands can provide much-needed extra grip when it’s time to pry off a lid that is stuck to its jar. Simply slip the band around the jar lid and turn to open.

3. No-slip pepper mill

When your hands get wet during cooking, using a plastic or glass pepper mill becomes a slippery, frustrating task, but there’s a simple remedy: secure a thick rubber band at the top of the pepper mill. Grip the rubber band while grinding.

4. Ice water shake-up

When recipes like pie dough call for ice water, it can be a challenge to pour just the water, not the cubes as well. You can use a tool from your bar to ensure a controlled pour. Fill a cocktail shaker with the desired amount of water. Add ice and affix the lid. Shake vigorously, then pour the water through the strainer, leaving the ice in the base.

5. Improvised egg cups

If you’re a fan of soft-cooked eggs but you don’t want to invest in a whole set of tiny egg cups to steady them as you slice the tops off, try this solution from your liquor cabinet: a shot glass. Empty widemouthed shot glasses are the perfect size to keep the top of the egg propped above the rim of the glass.

6. Spicy tea for soups and stews

Spices and herbs are a must in soups and stews, but some (like bay leaves, whole peppercorns, and cloves) have to be fished out before serving. To make removal easy, create individualized spice packets.

1. Fill a tea filter bag made for loose tea with spices.

2. Tightly tie the packet closed with kitchen twine and add it to the pot.

3. When your dish is ready, simply remove the packet.

7. Tea twine

When you need a short length of foodsafe string to tie a spice bag or secure a bunch of herbs and don’t have any kitchen twine handy, try clipping the string off of a tea bag. The string is the perfect size for such small tasks. If a longer length is required, two lengths of string can be tied together.