Household Hints and Tips

As the saying goes - The home is where the heart is. Here are a few nifty household tips that you will find useful, or just interesting, that you can store away in your comp, or take a print-out and stick it up somewhere in your kitchen or some other corner in the house, to glance over whenever you need a tip to fix a glitch around the house.

Use Rubber Bands For Your Eggs
Don't eggs have a habit of rolling off the counter and splotching on the floor? Well, just use a thick rubber band to nest them on the counter.

Hazelnut Peeling Made Easy
You can make hazelnut peeling less of a chore by toasting them in an oven, heated to 350 degrees, for 10 minutes or so. Then, after cooling them, put them in a mesh bag, the type you buy your oranges or onions in. Then, securing the bag, just rub the nuts with your hands, making sure to do it over the trash, or you'll end up with a mess you will have to clean.

Make Ice Cubes In A Jiff
If sudden guests are coming over and you find yourself with no ice cubes, here is a real nifty thing you can do. Just fill the ice tray with hot water, and not cold, and you'll get your ice in a jiff.

Unstick Stuck Photographs
Are those photos from the cruise abroad you made a few years back stuck together? Well, don't try to yank them apart; you'll just tear away the surface. Use a hair dryer to heat them for a couple of seconds or so and they will get unstuck nice and easy.

Are Your Eggs Still Fresh?
To find that out, all you need to do is immerse them in a bowl of salted, cool water. If the eggs rise to the surface, they are not fresh, if they sink, go ahead and devil them up.

Make Your Veggies Last Longer
If you want your vegetables and fruit in the crisper drawer in your fridge to last longer, all you need to do is use paper towels to line the drawer. It absorbs the moisture.

Has Your Brown Sugar Gotten Rock Hard?
It happens to all of us sometimes, accidentally leaving open the bag of brown sugar, only to find it has turned into a brown piece of rock. To soften it back again, just put a slice of bread in it.

Faster Ways To Ripen Fruits
If you want to ripen fruits like bananas, avocados, and tomatoes, just put them in a brown paper bag along with an apple for two or three days. The ripening process is speeded up by the nitrogen gas that is given off by the apple.

Don't Throw Away Old Bread
Got a loaf of leftover bread? Don't throw it away. Instead, store it in the freezer. You can use it later in soups or other recipes that need breading. It's a good idea to slice it up before storing so that you can take just the amount you need without needing to defrost the whole loaf.

For Juicier Lemons
To extract the most juice from your fresh lemons, just roll them on the kitchen counter with your hand before you squeeze them. You could also insert a fork into the lemon and twist it while squeezing.

Garlic Peeling Made Easy
There is nothing like fresh garlic to enhance the aroma of food... as long as you can first peel it, of course. Just zap the cloves of garlic in the microwave for fifteen seconds - the skin will just slide off.

Egg Peeling Made Easy
If you hate eating those gritty bits of eggshells, just stick a small needle into the eggs before you hard-boil them. Also, to prevent the shells from cracking when boiling them, add a pinch of salt into the water.

Has Your Meringue Gone Soft On You?
Well, all you need to do is put it right back in the oven, on low heat, and it will come out nice and crispy.

Keeping Left Over Ice Cream Fresh
If you have ice cream left over, before shutting the container, press a plastic wrap firmly down on the ice cream. This does not allow the air to come in contact with the ice cream, which is what causes the ice crystals and gumming.

Oops... Too much salt in the soup?
Yeah, it happens so many times, forgetting that you had already put salt in your soup or stew, putting in an extra dash, and ending up with an unpalatable dish that is too salty. Well, don't fret. Just add in a raw, peeled potato cut in halves, and it will absorb all the extra salt up.