Life Hacks for Foodies

For all my fellow food lovers, I am going to share with you some of my life's experience around food. Much of this may be common knowledge, but hopefully you'll learn a trick or two.

Making food last:

Brown sugar. It dries out so easily, and when it does it's impossible to work with. The solution? Don't let it dry out! Use a piece of bread or a marshmallow and keep it in with your tightly sealed brown sugar for softness. This won't work if the brown sugar isn't sealed off completely. If, however, it does dry out, chunk some of it out and put it into a bowl, put the bowl in the microwave with a cup of water and heat it up. Microwave time will vary.

Cheese. What to do about that mold? First off, I will mention that sometimes cheddar cheese will crystalize (it's all part of the aging process, a good sharp cheddar is aged for about 5 years). When it crystalizes, it can look like mold because there will be little white spots all over. If they're not fuzzy looking spots, it's probably crystallization, and it's ok to eat. The nice thing about cheese mold is, you can cut off the mold, and the rest of the cheese is still good. How do you keep it from molding? Aluminum foil. That's right, wrapping your block of cheese in foil will prevent mold. When handling the cheese, do not touch it with your bare fingers, the oils on your hand react with the cheese and it will mold much faster in the areas you touch. The same goes for bags of shredded cheese, so you're your hands out and pour or use a scoop. Shredded cheese freezes well. I buy shredded cheese in bulk for a more affordable price and freeze ¾ of it as soon as I get home.

Bread. This can also go in the freezer, but won't make as good of sandwiches. Frozen bread taste good toasted, but if you don't use it for toast, keep it in the fridge. The cold will prevent bread mold for a longer time than just having it in the cupboard.

Apple Slices. If you're packing a lunch, and pre-slice the apples, add a couple drops of lemon juice. This prevents the apples from turning brown, so they still look and taste fresh when you eat them. The lemon juice also adds a nice tartness, if you like tart apples.

Cleaning up:

Broken glass. Ouch! Don't step on that. Pick up the larger chunks carefully, then instead of trying to sweep it all into a dust pan, grab a slice of white bread. It's spongey and small particles of broken glass will cling to it. Just make sure the dog doesn't get into the trashcan and eat the piece of bread.

Clogged sinks. Sprinkle in your baking soda, and now add vinegar. Feel like we are going back to elementary school volcanoes? We are. The fizzy, foamy, frothy chemical reaction is great at cleaning out those pipes. Side note, dump boiling water down the drain first to loosen up the gunk. The vinegar is alkaline (a strong base) and is a better replacement for drain-o. If your sink is just smelly, throw a few lemon slices down the disposal and whirl them around a couple of times.

Sanitize. Mix 1 part water with 1 part vinegar. Put it in a spray bottle and it's a pretty hefty cleaner. Assuming you don't mind the scent of vinegar in your home for a bit. I use vinegar water to mop my hardwood floors with, too.

My personal "everything else" cleaner. Baking soda. They put it in toothpaste to whiten your teeth, throw some in the laundry with your whites for a brighter look, mix it with water and make a paste that will clean the oven. This stuff can do anything!

Do you have any other foodie hacks? Comment below! I'd love to hear them.

Sources:
  •   https://pixabay.com/p-74375/?no_redirect
  •   https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Cheese_43_bg_060106.jpg
  •   https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Sugar_Brown.jpg
  •   https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7269/7543297990_68b18fb638_h.jpg

    Mary Hildebrandt
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! maryh@dvo.com


blog comments powered by Disqus