I am LOVING these Life Hacks for the kitchen that Ray is sharing with all of us today! I tried a couple of them this week, and they really work!
After surveying, in total, over 800 people, I think I have now managed to collate all the kitchen tips that are possibly out there! Some were really interesting and some were outright bizarre. Anyway, have a read of the tips below and you decide.
Photo Credit kosheen/ Dollar Photo Club
Disclaimer: Any weird and wonderful kitchen tips that you read here and you decide to try are to be done at your own risk. If you would like to feedback after you have tried some then please feel free! This post has affiliate links.
Clean as you go along
This was by far the most popular kitchen tip. As basic as it sounds there are many different elements to cleaning as you go and the most popular tips that I came across are listed below.
- Just finished cooking bacon or sausages in a pan and the fat has really stuck to the bottom? Place some kitchen towels on your work surface, then place the contents from the frying pan on the kitchen towel to drain off and drain the fat out of the frying pan. Place a pint of water on the frying pan and put it back on the hob for a minutes whilst you prep the meal. You can quickly use a plastic spatula or something similar and stir the frying pan to ensure that nothing is stuck to the pan.
- Pour old flat cola in your sink to clean the drain and to help clear any blockages. If you are going to try this then take a leaf out of Peter Kay’s book and use Rola Cola, as it’s cheaper!
- When cooking a family lunch and you know you’ll be using every pot and pan in the house, (this seems to only effect the male of the species) fill you sink with really hot water and place items that you intend to wash later straight into the sink after you have finished with them. This helps them to soak and makes cleaning a whole lot easier later. This works really well with cooking utensils like knives and forks.
- Did you know you can get water out of a tap without even turning it on? Place a cloth or bit of kitchen towel in one hand and just dab it under the spout of the tap. The water that is trapped in the stem of the tap will be forced out as you start to dab the underneath of it. This is very handy if your hands are full and you want to wipe up a spill and just need a little water to do so. I prefer to use kitchen towel to wipe up any mess. I find cloths to be absolutely disgusting as they are full of germs, which you wipe back onto a clean surface. It’s a bit like blowing your nose with the same hanky for a month, its gross!
- Stainless steel looking a bit drab? Well, there is an easy solution and if you have a baby then you have what you need already! Baby oil. It sounds a bit bizarre but place a little baby oil on the stainless steel appliance, run it in then leave it for a minutes then wipe off with a clean dry cloth to get a brilliant shine that makes it look brand new! Some people even say that WD40 or sewing machine oil is even better.
- Have some newspapers laying around? Put some newspaper on the top of all cupboards so that any dirt and grease are caught and absorbed by the paper. Instead of cleaning just change the newspaper. Happy days!
- Want a kitchen floor that shines as good as your baby oiled stainless steel? Simply dissolve a dishwasher tablet in bucket of water and use it to mop your floor. It’s great at cleaning and floor dries quickly too.
- Don’t waste hours of your life scrubbing an oven. Buy a silicone oven liner to catch all the spills at the bottom and keep your oven clean when baking pastries or cooking a Sunday roast. There is no need to grease the liners as they do not stick.
- If the inside of your fridge has seen better days then use some bicarbonate of soda to clean it. It not only cleans but deodorizes too.
- To remove dried on splashes inside your microwave, just fill a bowl with water add a dash of washing up liquid and microwave for a few minutes and leave. All the steam produced will soften the dried bits to make it easy to wipe clean!
- Have your kitchen wall units reach flush with the ceiling, it saves a lot of greasy messy from building up and you never have to clean the tops of your Kitchen units again as you won’t have any!
Other weird cleaning tips
Here are some tips that I collated from the survey that made me wonder if they actually worked or not or if someone was pulling my leg? See what you think!
- If you have burnt on food on a pan etc, place some chopped onion in and then pour in some boiling water and leave 5 minutes and then clean.
- Boil Rhubarb leaves to make Oxalic Acid. You can then use the liquid to make the ultimate free cleaning solution.
- If you put a ball of spare tinfoil inside an onion or fruit net then it makes a great scourer for pots and pans and even work surfaces.
- To get rid of the smell of onions and garlic from you hands after you have been chopping them, simply wet your fingers and hands and then rub them on some stainless steel. You can use the kitchen sink but a cold kettle or a kitchen implement such as a ladle will do. Hum, be careful with this tip as if you used the baby oil tip above then you will put finger prints all over your clean stainless steel appliances!
Well there you have it. A selection of kitchens tips that should improve your efficiency in the kitchen!
Have you ever tried any of these? Which is your favorite?
This post brought to you by Ray Krzeminski on behalf of DIY-Kitchens.com!
Looking for more kitchen hacks? Check out these 14 more tips from the same guest -author!
and these tips to help you organize your house!
Becca @ The Earthlings Handbook says
Many of these are good tips! Rubbing your hands on stainless steel under running water really does remove onion and garlic odors, and it’s also true that a mesh bag from produce makes a fine scrubber–I have not tried it with foil.
I do want to mention two cautions:
Baby oil, WD-40, and sewing machine oil are NOT safe to use on food preparation surfaces. You could use them to shine the outside of a stainless steel appliance, but don’t use them on any parts that touch food.
The tip about dropping used cookware into a sink full of water is fine for most cookware, but glass or ceramic pans such as Pyrex or Corningware can EXPLODE if they are at oven/stove temperature and come into contact with even a small amount of water that is cooler. Let them cool to a temperature you can touch with your bare hands before soaking.
One of my favorite kitchen tips is to use baking soda as a scouring powder. It’s cheap, it’s versatile, it’s safe to use near food, and it has no odor. I made a cute shaker bottle for mine!
aTroutDude says
A small Kraft parmesan shaker works great for the baking soda shaker. I seals shut to keep the moisture out so it does not clump.
Jennifer says
Yay for cleaning tips! I can always use a few more.
Dawn from I Think We Could Be Friends says
These are great! I always have a sink full of dishwater when I am cooking or baking and everything goes in whether I have time to wash it then or not, makes it so much easier! And I love the tip for baby oil on stainless appliances, can’t wait to try :)
Stopping by from the Mommy Brain Mixer, Dawn from http://www.ithinkwecouldbefriends.com
Megan @ Our Pinteresting Family says
Such interesting tips! I found your link up next to mine at One Project Closer. I’ve also pinned this. ;)
Jann Olson says
Great tips! I always dump flat cola down my sink. Sometimes I let one get flat unintentionally. Didn’t know it was a good thing. lol! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Carrie says
Great tips… however not sure about the WD40 but that is good for getting crayons and marker off of walls (all thought the smell is a bit strong) put some of the WD40 on a rag and rub the places on the wall wherer the crayon marks are or marker. You can also use rubbing alcohol to get sharpie off of plastic folders when you want to reuse for school, this also works for getting off crayons on a wall too, but becareful and do a spot test.
What I learned from my grandfather who was a well known chef through Washington DC in the 60s up to the early 90s is that if you have burnt on food in a pan, once you have finished cooking put some water in immediatly in the hot pan a drop of dish soap and put back on the stove with the flame on…it will come to a boil and you can use a spatuala plastic or regular and begin to scrape it off… and in many cases it all just boils off..Very simple and works great. I like to drop the dish soap in the pan while it is hot and then add the water (I like to see how it sizzles up and doubles the suds)
Amber Neal says
Love these ideas! Stopping by from the Healthy Tuesday Hop, but I come here almost everyday!lol! Love your blog hop links too and all of your great ideas! I Just Love your site!
GiGi Eats Celebrities says
The cola trick just makes me cringe at the fact that we actually drink “edible” draino! lol
Rose says
Me too!
I quit drinking it some time back.
mfashforward says
Thanks so much for linking up at All Things Pretty. I hope to see you back on Thursday.
Sarah says
Love these, thank you. I once saw a piece of stainless steel shaped like a bar of soap to be used to get garlic and onion smell off your hands. I have always wanted one. It never occurred to me that I could use a pot! Genius and money saving.
Elisabeth says
I feel really bad for whoever tried the neon orange paint…. ARGH! LOL
Becca says
Good tips! I agree on the dish cloths. They are rather disgusting. ;)
Wilda says
1)-Shine is a wonderful product. I buy it at Walmart. It’s fruit acid in granule form. I draw 2 or so inches of water in my kitchen sink. I dissolve some Lemi-shine then place my copper bottom pots and pans in the solution. Leave for 30 minutes or so. Remove the pans and see the sparkling copper. They may have to be scrubbed a bit if they are in bad shape and then re-dip. 2) I use cheap olive oil on my stainless appliances. 3) I’ve always boiled a small amount of water in the microwave to soften the bits of dried food. 4) I use vinegar to remove hard water deposits from the spout and handles of my faucets, then rub with olive oil to keep spots from coming back. 5) I make my own fabric softener. 6) keep a few old toothbrushes to use in small hard to scour places, I clean them in the dishwasher. Use and re-use everything. Waste not-Want not.
Laurel says
For badly burned pans, soak in vinegar to remove the burnt food then scrape with spatula. If that doesn’t get it all you may have to use steel wool to get the last little bit.
LuAnn Braley says
Some of these I knew already from my mother, and she used to say she learned them from her mother. Some are new to me. Now it’s my turn to pass them along to my children!
Paula says
What’s the difference between the kitchen towel and a cloth? They are both made from cloth. The thing that people need to do is when you use your cloth to wipe your counters than wash your dishes. You use hot soapy water. You clean the counters first, then rinse the cloth with hot water and wipe the counters again to remove any soap. Now wash you dishes. Then rinse the cloth, squeese out all of the water and hang to dry. Sponges I don’t like, but my husband insist on using. So I will put in dish washer to get it cleaned. Saw that somewhere.
When cleaning greasy pans. Let it cool, wipe out grease with a paper towel. Put a little dish soap in pan (no water). Use a brush and scrub until all grease us covered with soap. Now add hot water while scrubbing. Now you can wash in your sink water. Now this doesn’t take as it sound and I don’t have a problem with stuck on food.
Naomi says
I always love cleaning my microwave. I make it a point to clean it after use. Food splashes and stuck on food in the microwave can be difficult to remove when you don’t attend to them immediately.
Efrain says
Thanks , I’ve recently been looking for information about this topic
for ages and yours is the best I have came upon till now.
However, what in regards to the bottom line? Are you positive about the source?
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