Cooking at home can be rewarding, but it’s even better when you know the right tricks to save time and effort. These 12 kitchen hacks will not only make meal prep easier but also help enhance the flavors of your dishes. From clever shortcuts to expert techniques, these tips can take your cooking skills to the next level. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced home cook, keeping these tricks in mind will make a noticeable difference in your kitchen.
Freeze
Freezing food will help you save plenty of time during the week. But what can you freeze safely? Some of the ingredients you can put in the freezer without worrying are cooked pasta and rice, butter, and bread, just to name a few.
Peel your eggs right
Peeling boiled eggs can be challenging if you don’t know how to do it properly. When batch peeling, you can save plenty of time by tossing your boiled eggs in a container and shaking it vigorously.
Make your broth
Throughout the week, you will probably get lots of food scraps, such as potato peels, onion peels, and broccoli stems. Instead of throwing these away, keep them in a bag in the freezer. At the end of the week, take all your scraps, boil them in a pot of water, and then remove the scraps with a sieve. There you have it, the perfect homemade broth!
Make your spices mix
Why buy already-made spice mixes when you can make your own? This will not only help you save some bucks, but it will also allow you to customize your mix based on your personal preferences.
Keep herbs fresh
Fresh herbs, such as parsley or basil, can be difficult to finish when bought in little bunches. To keep your herbs fresh for longer, put them in water as if they were a flower bouquet.
Freeze herbs in olive oil
Here is another tip to make the most out of those fresh herbs you just bought. Chop them finely and freeze them in small portions with olive oil. Now, you have ready-to-use aromatic olive oil cubes safely stored in your freezer, perfect for all kinds of recipes.
Cook your beans
There is no way around it, homemade cooked beans are completely different from canned ones. Despite what people think, cooking them is extremely easy. Soak your beans in water the night before, rinse well in the morning, and boil them for a few hours with salt and olive oil.
Buy the right tools
Cooking is way more difficult and time-consuming when you don’t have the right tools. A good mixer and sharp knife are fundamental if you want to maximize your time in the kitchen.
Food prep smartly
Nobody wants to eat the same food every evening. Instead of preparing five portions of the same dish, focus on the ingredients. For instance, at the beginning of the week, spend a few hours preparing fresh hummus, cooking grains such as rice and barley, and making homemade pesto. Store these in your fridge or freezer and use them throughout the week to put together different dishes.
Make your mayo
Mayo is incredibly easy to make if you have an immersion blender. Simply blend one egg with sunflower oil, salt, and a spoonful of lemon juice. Not thick enough? Just add sunflower oil. Try this recipe, and you’ll never buy mayonnaise again.
Take off pits with straws
Do you need to remove pits from a bunch of olives? Get a metallic straw and push it through your olive to get the pit out as quickly as possible!
Don’t cry
We’ve all felt the burn in our eyes when peeling onions. If you can only chop one, you can easily endure the pain, but what if you have to chop 20? You can avoid crying by refrigerating your onions in advance or using eye protection.
This post was originally published on Spatula Desserts.
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