Hacking has become part of the popular culture, and the term has taken on a slightly different meaning from the idea of a hardened computer geek coding his way into your computer to steal your data. These days, hacking more often than not means finding a way to simplify a common task. And the idea has really taken hold.
People have found ways to hack all kinds of things – with time hacks, productivity hacks, and even fashion hacks. So of course some clever foodies, chefs, and bakers out there have come up with some brilliant food hacks to make cooking more efficient – and a lot of times way more fun! These eight food hacks are some of our favorite kitchen time savers.
1. Trade Your Cutting Knife for Dental Floss
This food hack is already pretty well known with the hard-core baking crowd, but it’s still worth a mention. Instead of dealing with cake bits and icing all over your knife when cutting cake or pastry, try cutting baked treats (or really any kind of soft food, for that matter) with a slice of dental floss. It cuts right through, and keeps your food getting messy while it’s sliced.
2. De-Stem Strawberries with a Straw
Anyone who’s had to slice strawberries for a recipe knows that de-stemming can be a bit of a hassle. Either you lop the top off and waste a good bit of strawberry in the process, or you have to take your sweet time cutting around the top. A quicker and far easier method of de-stemming is to take a plastic straw and push it up through the bottom of the strawberry. On it’s way through the top, it will enclose the stem and pop it right off! Job done.
3. Use Ice Trays to Prep and Store Herbs
Herbs can go bad quickly – especially if you don’t store them fast enough. We’ve talked about drying herbs before on here, but if you don’t want to dry them out, you can always freeze them for future use. Take a plastic ice tray and fill with chopped herbs of your choice. Fill in the remainder of the ice cube slots with olive oil. Put in the freezer and freeze them until they’re hardened. Keep in the freezer until you need one, thaw it out, and use it to cook with.
4. Slice Ice Cream in Pint Containers
If you’ve ever wondered how people end up making ice cream sandwiches and keeping the ice cream in the middle perfectly sliced, you’re not alone. But now the secret is out: they simply slice it with a knife. Instead of scooping out ice cream from a pint jar, turn the jar on its side (keep in mind: you can only use a cardboard container), use a sharp chef’s knife to slice off the top of the ice cream pint (keep packaging in tact), add to cookie or whatever you’re using as the outside of the ice cream sandwich, and then slowly peel off the packaging. You’ve got a perfectly even slice of ice cream – fit for a Pinterest feature.
5. Shake Your Garlic, Instead of Peeling It
To get rid of garlic peel without having to pick at it for hours, stick garlic cloves into a small bowl and nest another bowl inside and on top of the garlic. Hold both ends together and shake hard for a minute. Remove the nested bowl and the skin of the garlic should be removed from the garlic.
6. Grate Butter as a Topping
To add a small amount of butter as a topping, or to add butter into a mixture without melting it first, use a cheese grater (on the smallest setting) to grate butter on top of food before baking, or into a mixture for easier mixing.
7. Use Non-Stick Spray for Measuring
Few things can be as frustrating as having to measure out sticky substances like peanut butter, honey, and syrup. But before you start pouring, spray non-stick cooking spray inside the measuring cup you’re about to use. This will help the ingredients slide right out and not stick to your measuring cups.
8. Use Kitchen Tongs For Squeezing Lemons and Limes
If you need to squeeze the juice out of lemons and limes and don’t have a handy juicer around, grab a pair of kitchen tongs. Cut the lemon or lime in half, put one half inside the tongs and squeeze the outside to help get all of the juice out.
Have you ever used any of these food hacks, or do you have any special food hacks of your own to share? Let us know in the comments!
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