30 Food Hacks That People Discovered And Couldn’t Go Back After

Beans or lentils. Add to just about everything to bulk up a meal to make it more filling and go further. And from a colon cancer survivor, fiber is your friend!

Using scissors instead of knives to cut meats. I began watching some Korean cooking and mukbang videos and noticed they often had a pair of scissors on hand when they were grilling meats. I gave it a try and I am sold on the idea! It is faster and requires less effort than using a knife and fork. I have even used scissors to cut homemade pizza and it worked like a charm.

Yogurt as a marinade for chicken. makes it so tender!

Cooking corn on the cob in the husk. I'll never shuck corn again. Told my 95 year old grandma, changed her life.

I'm the only one who eats a specific type of bread in my house. I always eat it toasted. I was getting tired of going through half a loaf before it molded so I started wrapping them individually and freezing them. They toast back up just fine and now I never waste expensive bread. .

As the only person in the house, when I buy bell peppers, I get one of each color then cut them up into pieces, freeze on a sheet tray in a single layer, then store in a baggie (color individually) until I need some. Throughout my life I had far too many bell peppers go bad after I used the original part I got them for. I just don’t use the leftover parts quickly enough.

Don’t do that with carrots, though. I learned to my sorrow that thawing raw carrots just turns them into glop. Disgusting glop, at that. You can parboil them and then freeze in a single layer. *Then* they will be fine when thawed.

Get big cans of tomato paste and freeze separately Ina single layer, big dollops in a size typically used, then freeze until needed

If sauces that come in cans/jars can’t all be used when opened, freeze in ice cube trays, until needed.

Crushing garlic with the flat of a knife blade rather than peeling them by hand.

- Food needs acid. Salt and fat isn't enough.
- Sugar goes in places you wouldn't think it belongs. Don't fight it 
- Brine your white meat and age your red meat.
- Dry your produce after you rinse it. Veggies cook WAY better when they are dry, it is a HUGE difference. (Same goes for meat, actually)
- Clean you area as you go. Seriously, do this.
- Mise en Place is everything. Get some little bowls for specifically this purpose. It might feel extravagant, but it is absolutely worth it. Prep and measure everything ahead and future you will thank you. I got my bowls at Daiso for cheap, and they are cute.
- Use a trash bowl to collect your garbage while prepping food. It's so much nicer than having to deal with the trash can.

Storing leftovers in rectangular containers rather than round. When there's limited space in the fridge or freezer its so much more efficient.

Keep a pot to replant green onion root ends in. You'll have a mix of newer regrowth that's thick and green onion like and older regrowth that's thin and chive like.

Stopping "sandwich leakage". I hate when I take a bite and stuff starts falling out the bottom of the sandwich. I like the large slices of deli turkey. So I place my bread bottom to bottom on the plate and put the slices of turkey across both slices of bread. Put on your normal condiments. Now when you fold it and eat it, the bottom gap is covered with that first slice of turkey and nothing falls out.

Frozen garlic cubes!! And using chicken/veggie/beef broth for most things that say water (cooking rice, soups, etc. etc.).

I make some really simple chicken/rice lunches and found keeping some of the drippings from the chicken and pouring it over the cooked rice right before you throw it in the freezer helps it steam a bit better when you microwave it and tastes great.

When making grilled cheese sandwiches I used to spread the butter on the bread before i grilled the sandwich. I got tired of bread tearing because the butter was too firm. So I just take a stick of butter. and melted as much as I need in the pan and dip each slice of bread in the butter and then fill cover one slice of bread with cheese and slap the other coated slice top. Faster and easier and the bread slices don’t get torn.

To caramelize onions a little faster add water and boil it off a couple times. Then turn to low when they’re brown. Half the time and great flavor.

Freeze root ginger. When you need some, grate it directly using a microplane, and stick it back in the freezer. Fresh ginger all the time!

AFTER my kids grew up and left home THEN I discovered I can BAKE bacon in the oven - the whole pound at once - even with strips overlapping - and after baking let them cool then freeze on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper then into a freezer bag. Now when I want or need bacon I just zap as many strips as I want in the microwave.

Similar thing with breakfast sausage except I purchase it in the one-pound log now (instead of patties or links back in the day). Pat the sausage out to about 1/2" thick onto a baking tray and bake in the oven. When done, cut it into 8 pieces and freeze.

I remember when the kids were young, spending my weekend mornings at the stove frying up bacon and/or sausage and it was a PITA not to mention bacon/sausage grease is HOT!

Making my own brown sugar substitute.

I don't buy brown sugar anymore. I realized that all it is is white sugar and molasses. Brown sugar always gets hard as a rock, and you have to do all sorts of tricks to keep it scoopable.

I always have white sugar on hand, and molasses lasts forever, so you just keep both and add molasses to the recipe. The nice thing about it is that you can also add extra to make it a more "dark" brown sugar and I like the extra deep/rich flavor that it adds.

Make your milk and butter hot before adding to mashed potatoes. I was making glue for years, so much so I used powdered potatoes because they tasted better. 😂😂.

I put the date (just the number of day) on the leftovers. This prevents science experiments from hatching.