Everyone likes to eat good food. Some people enjoy the process of preparing food and others just want to finish with the process so that they can get on to work, errands, family activities, SlotoCash online casino gaming relaxation and other life events. Regardless of your relationship with your kitchen, SlotoCash Casino wants you to benefit from some experts’ top kitchen hacks.
Organization
The more organized your kitchen is, the more efficiently you can work. Some helpful organization tips for your kitchen include:
- Containers – everyone needs to store leftovers but often, managing the storage containers is more trouble than it’s worth. Even if you already have a supply of containers on hand, it’s likely that they are a mish-mash of different sizes, shapes from different suppliers. Put a few dollars into investing into a set of containers that match so that you can easily stack them in your cupboard. You can also organize your container lids by putting a cooling wrack over a shallow container and sliding the container lids between the rungs.
- Trash bags – tired of searching for trash bags? Store a bunch of trash bags at the bottom of your trash can.
- Cutlery – keep your utensils and cutlery tidy and organized by laying mason jars on their sides. You’ll have to find mason jars that fit into your drawer but once you do you can slide the utensils and cutlery in them to keep them organized.
- Turntable – have turntables installed in your pantry so you can easily access everything that’s in the cabinet. Especially useful for corner cupboards and cabinets where things can often get shoved into a hard-to-reach corner. User turntables with turned-up sides so that things don’t fall off as you swish them around.
- Hooks – you can use hooks to hang pots and pans and free up cabinet space
- Hanging baskets – hang wire baskets from the ceiling to store perishables, herbs and spices, etc. You can get a wire basket with several layers to save space and make it easy to access items.
- Tops of cabinets – use the tops of cabinets to store appliances and big pots that you use rarely to free up space within the kitchen
- Magnets – install a magnetic strip under your upper cabinet and use it to attach jars of spices and herbs that have metal tops. A magnetic knife rack can also be handy to help you keep your knives ready.
Save Time
Even if you’re a professional chef you can use time-saving methods to allow you to do more of what you love.
- Plan out your meals – Before your weekly shopping expedition, make a list of what you intend to prepare that week. Not only will it create a more efficient shopping experience but you can double up on food preparation. For instance, if you’re planning on making a few dishes that require chopped onions, you can chop them all at once and then use part while freezing the rest for the 2nd dish. Or if you plan to make lasagna and chili during the same week, you can prepare one big batch of tomato sauce and use part of it for your lasagna and then add chili spices and other additional herbs to the second part for your chili later on that week.
- Batches – part of planning out your meals involves cooking in batches. One healthy option is soups……make a broth and freeze it in batches. Then you can use it as a base for multiple different types of soups – lentil soup one day, barley soup the next day, etc.
- Bulk – buy food in bulk so that you don’t constantly need to run to the supermarket. This doesn’t work for everything – fruits and vegetables, spices and herbs, etc, shouldn’t be bought in bulk. But many things can be purchased in bulk and you can fill in the rest on your weekly shopping trips.
- Freeze – your freezer can be your best friend. So many things can be frozen for later use, especially baked goods. Freezing grains and legumes is a good idea in warm weather so that they don’t become infested with bugs.
- Cleaning – clean up as you work. Tidy a bit every step of the way so that, when you’re done, you’re not confronted by an overload of mess. It’s easier to prepare food and cook when you have a clean space on which to work and you’ll have a more manageable kitchen when you’re done.
Substitutions
If you learn how to substitute ingredients, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and aggravation in the kitchen. You can always to an Internet search to find out what some of the most-used kitchen substitutions are but you can also try to remember these oft-used substitutions to save time as well.
- Buttermilk – buttermilk is called for in many recipes but not necessarily enough for you to keep a container of buttermilk on hand….especially since it goes bad after a week or so. One often-used buttermilk substitution involves 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon of milk with an added tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to substitute for 1 cup of buttermilk.
- Margarine – margarine is loaded with trans fats which raise your bad cholesterol and lower your good cholesterol. Different food items can be substituted for margarine, depending on the dish – you must try them out to figure out what substitution works for which dish. Some margarine substitutions include softened cream cheese, vegetable oil spread/olive oil spread, tofu, unsweetened applesauce and baby prunes.
- Stock – cooks are reminded to keep soup stock on hand because it can be used for so many different dishes. But if you find yourself stock-less, you can use water seasoned with beer or white wine, milk (dairy, nut, soy or coconut), miso paste, olive oil, soy sauce, tea, liquid from soaked dried mushrooms, melted butter or some type of fruit juice.
- Herbs – herbs are, often, interchangeable. Figure out whether your recipe calls for an herb that’s in the tender, bright category (dill, basil, parsley, tarragon, mint, cilantro, chervil…..) or a woody-type herb (bay leaves, rosemary, sage marjoram, oregano, thyme…..). Then you’ll have a better idea of what your options are for substitutions.
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