12 Simple Kitchen Tips To Save You Time, Effort and Money

We spend a lot of time in the kitchen...cooking, washing the dishes and other kitchen chores. Three times a day we prepare meals and have to deal with all the cleaning that comes with them. Oftentimes, we are faced with spoiled food. Some kitchen tips, which will save us some money, save us time and make the kitchen a safer place, come in handy. Here are some which anyone can adapt.

Preserving Food

It's always good to know of ways to prolong the life of and preserving food, cooked or raw. It will save you money and trips to the grocery or market because you can buy in bulk.

1. You can save yourself trips to the bakery if you buy bread for several days. Keep it fresh by storing in the freezer. It won't harden. Take it out of the freezer and allow it to reach room temperature before consuming. You'll find out that it's just as fresh as when you bought it.

2. Flour can also be kept in the freezer to prevent weevils from growing in it. It won't harden or become lumpy in the freezer.

3. When storing vegetables in the refrigerator, keep them fresh by wrapping them in towels. The towel will absorb the moisture which makes vegetables rot easily.

4. Keep onions in the refrigerator to avoid shedding tears when slicing them.

5. You don't have to throw away left-over tomato-based pasta sauce. Keep them in the freezer and they won't get spoiled. You can just heat it in the microwave when you want to serve it.

Cleaning

Cleaning all those kitchen utensils, gadgets and tools can be tedious; techniques that can hasten it provide relief.

1. Baking soda is a great aid in cleaning those greasy pots and pans. Add some to your liquid soap and see those grease dissolve.

2. When preparing a large amount of vegetables, spread old newspaper on your work table. Once you're done, you can just simply roll up the newspaper and save yourself some cleaning.

3. Fine sandpaper is a great way to remove stubborn stains from stainless steel pots and pans.

Safety

The kitchen is a place where accidents seem to always wait to happen. Keep it safer with these safety tips for cooking.

1. When frying food that will make the oil splatter, turn off the heat first before putting in the food. Turn it on again once you have placed the food in. I've had burns on my hands and face due to oil that splattered all over.

2. Overheated fat or oil is dangerous. Never heat oil in the pan for too long or leave and do something else if you don't want a flaming pan. Fires have started from burning pans.

3. If you got yourself a burning pan, the first thing to do is to turn off the heat. Never throw water into the pan. Cover the pan with its cover or a wet rag or towel.

4. Do not use a round-bottomed pan for frying because it is prone to tipping.

The tips given here may be simple but they can make kitchen chores a little easier and buy you some time for yourself or other matters that need your attention.