Kitchen hacks, we know them, we love them, we swear by them. No matter your skills in the kitchen, we can always appreciate a good tip, which is why we’ve compiled a list of our favorite kitchen hacks that will help you level up your skills in the kitchen, get more out of your ingredients, and save time.

1. Clean fruits and vegetables with baking soda

Clean your fruits and vegetables by adding two teaspoons of baking soda to about 30 ounces of water. Soak your produce in the solution for five minutes and rinse with cold water. This simple hack will help remove pesticides and dirt and protect the health of your family.

2. Disinfect fruits and vegetables with vinegar

Go one step further by disinfecting your produce in a solution of white vinegar and water. Use one part vinegar to three parts water to help kill any bacteria that might be present. Soak your produce for 10 minutes and rinse with cold water.

3. Shred meats the easy way

Shredding chicken or pork can be a long and boring process. If you want to take it up a notch, simply add your meat to a bowl and use a hand mixer at low speed. You’ll have shredded meat in no time.

4. Check if eggs are still fresh

Can’t remember how long your eggs have been in the fridge? To know if they’re still safe to eat, simply drop an egg into a bowl of cold water. Fresh eggs will sink, but bad eggs will float. It’s that easy!

Check out our blog post on understanding the difference between expiry and best before dates.

5. Keep your guac fresher for longer

Guacamole turning brown before you’re ready to use it? To prevent that brownish color from appearing, add a layer of water to the top of the guacamole, seal it in a dish with a lid, and store in the refrigerator. Once you’re ready to serve, drain the excess water and stir. Your guacamole will be as green and fresh as when you prepared it.

For tips on how to keep other fruits and vegetables fresher for longer, check out this post.

6. Peel ginger with a spoon

Ginger is one of those oddly shaped roots that can be tricky to peel with a peeler or knife. Since its skin is fairly thin, simply peel it by scraping a metal spoon over the grooves.

7. Quickly ripen bananas

Want to make banana bread but don’t have any ripe bananas? To ripen your bananas in a flash, all you need to do is cut them in half and place them on a foil lined baking tray. Bake the bananas at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, depending on size. This should leave your bananas soft and ready to be added to any banana bread recipe.

Take a look at our tried and tested banana bread recipe on the Flipp blog.

8. Peel garlic with a mason jar

To remove garlic skins quickly (and avoid having stinky fingers), all you need to do is divide up the cloves and place them in a mason jar with a lid. Give them a good shake and you should start seeing the skins slide right off.

9. Cut herbs with a pizza cutter

Shave time off your cooking prep by using a pizza cutter for more than just pizza, like cutting herbs, for example. Bunch up the herbs and wheel back and forth until you have your desired size and texture.

10. Keep ice cream fresh

Have you ever had a craving for some ice cream but have had to wait to indulge in your favorite flavor because it’s too frozen and impossible to scoop? Been there and don’t want to do that again. Keep your ice cream fresh and creamy by putting the entire container in a resealable gallon-sized plastic bag. This helps keep the cold air from making your ice cream as hard as a rock. The key to this working is pushing out as much air from the bag before putting it back in the freezer. It’s worth the extra step!

11. Soften butter quickly

Soft butter is needed in so many recipes, but it’s very easy to forget to take it out of the refrigerator and let it soften. Some ways to quickly soften butter are to either cut the butter into small cubes, roll out the block of butter with a rolling pin, or shred the butter. Check out this site for a step by step guide on how to soften butter quickly.

We hope you enjoyed these tips and found them useful. Let us know what kitchen hacks you use and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more fun posts.

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