10 Kitchen Hacks to Make Life Easier

We all lead busy lives, right? That means when we do find ourselves in the kitchen, we should try to make our tasks as efficient as possible.

Here are 10 Kitchen Hacks to Make Life Easier:

1. No-Slip Cutting. Who loves a cutting board that slips and slides all over the countertop?  Not me! Keep it from moving around by placing a slightly damp dishtowel underneath.

2. Remove Yucky Food Smells from your Hands.  After chopping garlic and onion wash your hands while holding a stainless steel spoon to neutralize those nasty smells. How does it work? The molecules in the stainless steel bind with the stink-causing molecules and yank it away from your skin. If you want something a little fancier than a spoon, Amazon sells many brands of Stainless Steel Odor Remover Bars starting at just $3.

3. Store All-Natural Peanut Butter Upside Down. One of the biggest annoyances when it comes to opening a new jar of all-natural peanut butter is dealing with the massive collection of oil that accumulates at the top. You must stir…and stir….then stir some more to get the oil incorporated back into the peanut butter so it’ll be smooth and spreadable. (And when I take on that job, most of the oil ends up on my hands, the side of the jar and on the counter! Good times.)

Instead, you can avoid the headache and store your jars upside down. Then we you turn them over to open, the oil will be on the bottom and much easier to stir without making a  huge mess.

4. Cut a Mango Like a Pro. Mangos are awesome. But you wanna know what’s NOT awesome? Cutting them! A few years ago, I discover the easiest way to slice and dice this delicious fruit. Watch here for a step-by-step tutorial.

5. What the Hull?  I love summertime when we can regularly get strawberries for about $1.50 per pound…and that means I usually go overboard and buy 6-8 lbs on every shopping trip with plans to make lots of no-cook freezer jam.

To make the prepping process easier, I’ll use a straw to hull strawberries. Just slide the straw up through the bottom and it’ll pop the stem right off. So easy!

And when I want to cut up a bunch for dessert toppings or just to snack on, I pull out my handy-dandy Hampton Direct Mushroom Slicer. It’s one of my favorite Kitchen gadgets.  I use it for mushrooms and egss, too!

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6. Keepin’ it Fresh. If the party is over but there’s leftover cake, keep the edged from drying out by placing a slice of bread onto the exposed portions with toothpicks. This way the bread gets hard and stale instead of your cake. Genius!

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7. Just Chillin’.  Keep frozen grapes in your freezer to instantly cool down a glass of wine or a cocktail without diluting the flavors. Freeze leftover coffee in ice cube trays and use to cool down steaming hot cups of java.

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8. Regrow Onions.  Don’t throw away the last inch of your green onions (the white bulb and roots). Instead stick them in a glass with a few inches of water and place it on the windowsill. In 7-10 days, you’ll have a full harvest of green onion. Just trim what you need and they’ll continue to regrow. It’s like an Onion Chia Pet! (Note: Be sure to change the water ever few days.)

9. Make Your Own Veggie Wash.  Fruits and veggies come home from the store covered with hidden pesticides, insects and germs, not to mention that waxy coating to make them look all pretty.  To get all that junk off your food before you eat it, add a little natural disinfecting power by filling a spray bottle with 1T fresh lemon juice, 1T baking soda and 1 cup water. Shake gently to mix (do this over the sink because it will foam up a little). Store in your fridge. When you’re ready to eat your fruit, just spray a little on, rub with your hands, then rinse.

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10. Separate your bananas to slow the ripening process. Bananas begin producing ethylene gas as they ripen. By disconnecting them and storing them a few inches away from each other, the exposure to the ethylene production is reduced. The ethylene production is also said to be higher as a bunch. On the contrary, if you need to ripen bananas more quickly, put them in a brown paper bag. The ethylene produced by the fruit accumulates in the bag, and results in an accelerated ripening process.

Also, do you know how to peel a banana without getting all those strings? Watch below….