10 Kitchen Hacks You Need to Know

As much as I love spending time in the kitchen and cooking, I am always up to hacks to save time and make cooking easier and fun, from stocking cooked and uncooked food to cleaning while cooking to freezing vegetables. It has made my life easier. These ten clever cooking tips and shortcuts can make your dish more delicious and time-saving. 

1. Bulk Cooking

Want to save time and always have food in stock? It is the best hack. Cooking in bulk and freezing it afterward in single servings is the best cooking hack. Always meal prep first, go for groceries with a list, and then cook in a go. Defreeze reheat in a microwave, and you can enjoy your meal. Also, storing the leftovers in the freezer is a great idea to have food instantly whenever you feel hungry. 

2. Freeze Your Comestibles

This is the easiest and rewardable cooking shortcut. Peel, shred, cut, and chop your veggies, fruits, and cheese at the size you normally prefer to use and freeze them. Having pre-chopped and frozen garlic and ginger cubes makes cooking much easier; having frozen fruit produce is the best for instant smoothies. Buying store-bought frozen and cut veggies is usually more expensive than buying whole, so you can save time and money using this tip. 

3. Freeze Before Baking

Baking is said to be an art that comes with practice. Here is a tip for perfect baking results always. Freeze flour, grated butter, and even baking utensils before baking for the perfect texture of cookies, cakes, pies, and other bakeables with flaky dough. All these steps keep the dough colder, which improves baking results. You can store the bakeables in air-tight canisters and enjoy them for up to 3 days. 

4. Must-Have Kitchen Appliances

According to experts, the most beneficial and must-have kitchen appliances are an Air Fryer and a Rice Cooker. Investing in a rice cooker is wise; you can prepare everything without worrying about burning. It can cook rice dishes, haleem, oats, hot cereals, and even ramen. An air fryer is also a great investment; the appliance provides easy cooking, baking, and roasting options without oil and even boils eggs without water. It’s the best investment for fitness freaks.

5. Stock Dry Staples

Keep your pantry stocked with dry staples that can last a long time. This hack saves a lot of time and greatly helps you while in a hurry. Having dry staples in stock can help you a lot in emergency dinners or guests. The staples you should always have in stock are Rice, Pasta, Flour, Legumes, Sugar, Spices, Snacks, Tomato canes, and Beans. This time-saver hack doesn’t come cost-prohibitive.

6. Don’t Skimp Basic Ingredients

The basic ingredients and spices bring up the flavor of a dish. Never underestimate the power of salt, pepper, sugar, lime juice, and olive oil. These ingredients enhance the taste, making the food delicious. Always look up to the quality of these condiments, and always buy the highest quality extra virgin olive oil. It’s a great tip to add fresh lime juice as it brings tanginess to the dish (a shortcut for more and easy squeezing is to microwave the lemon for 20 seconds) and brighten the dressings and sauces. 

7. Tip for Juicy Meat

How do restaurant chefs attain that perfect, delectable level of juiciness in the meat? The answer is really easy: they brine the meat before cooking. Soaking the meat in cold water with salt infuses it with juiciness and rich flavor even before you cook it. Yes, it is that simple. Brining the meat also helps safeguard it from overcooking and burning, giving it a shiny and crunchy texture. Also, you can soak the meat in cold water with soda, which makes it tender and juicy. 

8. Look Up One-pot Meals

The approach for looking up to one-pot meals is to make your life easier and neater. One-pot dishes can be a variety of pasta, rice dishes, steamed veggies, grilled chicken, salad, slow-cooked meat, and sandwiches. One-pot dishes are usually easy to make, comforting, delicious, and a little less messy. They are typically simple and hearty with little effort. It is preferred to always add veggies to your meal at last so they don’t turn soggy and dull. 

9. Give Stale Products a New Life

Those few breads of bread you always end up throwing? No more. You can always put them in a food processor and make homemade breadcrumbs, which can be used in many dishes. Stale bakeables can be baked for about 10 minutes at 300 F; after running them under water, the oven absorbs all the staleness and makes them freshly baked. This hack should be a priority instead of throwing food items. 

10. Clean as You Go

One of the most difficult tasks is cleaning the kitchen after cooking and dining. Cleaning side by side while cooking food makes it a lot easier. Wipe the scraps in a bowl, clean the cutting board, empty the dishwasher, clean the stove, and wash tools between the recipe steps. It is a great hack. Always try to wipe the microwave and baking oven after heating or baking any item to avoid cleaning afterward, making your life a lot easier.

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