Sometimes it’s the simplest things that can make your life easy with saving time and money! Add today’s easy cooking tips to your kitchen routine to make every day easier!
15 Cooking Shortcuts To Save You Time And Money
Here are 15 easy cooking tips to make your time in the kitchen easier and less frustrating. Some of these are kitchen organization tips so that you spend less time looking for the things you need. It is important to organize your kitchen so that you have to spend as little time as possible looking for things or traveling around the kitchen to get the things you need for a recipe. These cooking shortcuts are some specific ideas you can use to cut your time in the kitchen a lot!
- If you often use powdered milk in your baking, keep a small container of it at your baking center.
- Make an all in one salt and pepper shaker: Place 1 part pepper to 6 parts salt in a old spice jar or salt shaker. (I actually also keep a separate shaker with my homemade seasoned salt since I use to so much.)
- Add some honey and apricot preserves to your regular barbecue sauce and brush on your meat for a delicious change.
- If you have leftover baked potatoes, make hash browns with them by cubing or grating them. Then fry in bacon grease or oil.
- To make a quick vegetable soup, use a can of vegetable juice for the base and then add the vegetables and other ingredients. For chili, use a can of tomato juice for your base.
- If you are like us, you probably end up with lots of little dabs of leftovers after you make tacos. To make good use of these, make a taco pie the next day. Here’s an easy recipe. I did not include amounts for the ingredients so you can improvise with whatever you have left over.
Taco Pie
1 can refrigerator biscuits or crescent rolls
leftover seasoned taco meat
beans, cooked and seasoned (optional)
onions, sliced or chopped (optional)
grated cheese- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Press biscuits or crescent rolls into a 9 inch pie pan. (You can also use a square pan, a pizza pan or, if you have a lot of leftovers, use a 15x10x1 inch pan with 2 cans of biscuits.)
- Sprinkle with leftover seasoned taco meat, beans and onions, if desired.
- Bake until golden brown.
- Remove from oven.
- Sprinkle with grated cheese.
- Return to the oven and bake long enough to melt the cheese.
- Serve with lettuce, tomato or any of your other leftover taco fixings.
- Add a half cup of sour cream to your banana pudding (the large box) after it has been mixed for a different twist.
- Use kitchen shears. If you don’t keep a pair of kitchen shears (scissors) in the kitchen, get some and store them where they are easily accessible. Use them to cut green onions, chives and all kinds of herbs. Cut chicken breasts into strips and cut thin cuts of beef into cubes for stew. Next time you cut anything with a knife think, “Can I cut this faster with my shears?” and then try it.
If you cook things like vegetables and herbs, you can rinse the shears and use again. If you cut meat, toss your shears in the dishwasher or sanitize them before using on other items to prevent contamination.
- If you need to cut boneless, skinless chicken, it cuts easier if it is slightly frozen.
- If you burn yourself on a regular basis while cooking, keep a bottle of aloe or burn ointment in the kitchen. If you have limited space in your bathroom, think about keeping your first aid supplies in the kitchen (things like band-aids, ointments, tweezers, etc.). Most of the time when someone gets hurt, mom is in the kitchen or someplace other than the bathroom, so it is handier to have first aid supplies close.
- Note: Be sure that you keep medications where they won’t fall in the sink if you knock them over.
- To make clean up easier, always spray or grease your crockpot with oil.
- Use crockpots to make things like hot beans or cheese dips.
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I really like the salt and pepper mixture added to the same container idea, and adding honey or apricot jam to barbeque sauce, and adding sour cream to banana pudding. All great ideas.
Having first aid items available close in the kitchen is very wise. If I suffer a burn on my hand, finger, etc. I try to run cold water over it for a few minutes. Then I fill a glass or pan with water and a few ice cubes. I dip the burned area in the cold water off and on for about a half hour. It really helps with the pain and any swelling.
I have read that you shouldn’t keep medication in the bathroom. The high humidity causes the medication to lose potency. :o)
Yes I have heard that too. I don’t usually keep mine in the bathroom because I have never had any cabinet space at all so have to keep everything (meds, towels, toilet paper etc.) in another room. Real handy – HA!HA! but I will live.I do dream of some day having a bathroom where I can store a few things in it. :) :)
a good burn remedy that i learned years ago working in the college snack bar and grill was to apply mustard to the affected area…it really works!
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Great ideas here! I love the one-shaker idea, but for me it would be 1 part salt to 4 parts pepper…if you cook with canned/boxed/processed ingredients, you certainly don’t need to add more salt! There’s so much salt in our food now, we can’t really taste what natural from-the-garden food tastes like anymore. Just my humble opinion, though!
Forgot to add, that taco pie works for me, but instead of canned biscuits, I’d just use some corn bread batter in the bottom of the jelly roll pan. I’ve made it before in a wide flattish pan, and it doesn’t rise much, so it made a great pizza crust.
I had a small dab left of some homemade peach jam. I knew if I put it on the table, the fight would be on between the kids of who would be getting it for their biscuit or bread, so I mixed it in with some bbq sauce last night and basted some chicken with it as I grilled. Oh my goodness was it good! My family kept asking where I got the new sauce. I think it might be time to open another jar of jam. Another tip that probably a lot of people do is to use a dollop of jam or preserves on their ice cream for topping instead of buying the expensive toppings “designed” for ice cream at the store. Yum!
You are so welcomed Julie. I am glad they they are working for you.