What is your best life hack??

happy12

Wed, May 13 2020, 10:59 pm

Is the garbage bag safe for food?im scared to use it because of chemicals.

Optione

Wed, May 13 2020, 11:07 pm

Boil all of your water for the week on Sunday and freeze. Then you'll have boiled water when you need it. Wink

yiddishmom

Wed, May 13 2020, 11:11 pm

Make double batch meatball mix. Freeze half in a loaf to be served another time.

Crockpot dinners!!

momof2+?

Wed, May 13 2020, 11:13 pm

Optione wrote:

Boil all of your water for the week on Sunday and freeze. Then you'll have boiled water when you need it. Wink

When I do that, I also pre-portion about ten pinches of salt (individually) so I have it when I need it. 👩‍🍳

Moonlight

Wed, May 13 2020, 11:15 pm

amother [ Teal ] wrote:

Close the zipper/ buttons when washing quilt covers...so that everything else in the wash doesn’t get stuck inside and not dry in the dryer!

OH! GENIUS!

Amelia Bedelia

Wed, May 13 2020, 11:51 pm

SuperWify wrote:

Speaking of challah... I let the dough rise in the mixer. No need to dirty another bowl.

Dirtying another bowl? I rise in a disposable tablecloth and have the challah bowl wash in the dishwasher meanwhile.

applesbananas

Wed, May 13 2020, 11:59 pm

My mind is blown from all this crazy challah talk
- make dough
- roll ballies immediately (I don't have patience to braid) I do my ballies as follows •:::• (one, two, two, two, one) in a rounded egde loaf pan
- clean the bowl right away
- dough rises in the pans
- comes out looking like neatly braided loaves.
-cheater cheater challah eater. Nom nom nom

Last edited by applesbananas on Thu, May 14 2020, 12:09 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Floralwhite

Wed, May 13 2020, 11:59 pm

Amelia Bedelia wrote:

Dirtying another bowl? I rise in a disposable tablecloth and have the challah bowl wash in the dishwasher meanwhile.

Same. My bowl is washed and kitchen clean when starting to braid challahs

amother

Magenta

Thu, May 14 2020, 12:09 am

Make rice crispy treats with no dishes to wash:
Place marshmallow fluff and margarine in 9x13 in oven for about 10 min til it melts
Remove from oven. Add rice crispies and mix right in disposable pan. Done.

soap suds

Thu, May 14 2020, 12:10 am

momof2+? wrote:

When I do that, I also pre-portion about ten pinches of salt (individually) so I have it when I need it. 👩‍🍳

Just defrost water, add salt, and Viola! Instant salt water!

amother

Khaki

Thu, May 14 2020, 12:11 am

Cooking in Disposable pans for everything!
(Regarding the debate that aluminum is not so healthy, My sanity is worth more than a penny).
I cook large pots of soup, than divide them into oblong challah pans or rectangle pans (with cover) and stack it in the freezer (pile 3 soups high for space saver).
Remove from freezer, place onto flame for a few minutes and you've got fresh yummy hot soup in an instant.
Cooked soup Noodles too, I cook in advance, place into containers/mini pan or plastic bag. Freeze, remove as need.

my mama

Thu, May 14 2020, 12:12 am

I buy meat every 2 weeks or so. I then repackage it into ziploc bags per meal. Some of them I pre-spice so I just have to cook it. I vacuum seal the ziploc bags by almost completely closing the seal and leave a small space for a straw, suck out all the air, and seal closed. It prevents freezer burn and saves a lot of freezer space.

Also, it's way easier to slice any sort of meat or chicken while it's half frozen, so that's just a bonus.

Amelia Bedelia

Thu, May 14 2020, 12:16 am

amother [ Magenta ] wrote:

Just did that today with peanut chews. Saw it on Between Carpools.

challahchallah

Thu, May 14 2020, 1:58 am

As challahchallah, I have to give my challah hack. If you only need a small batch and you work full time, put ingredients in bread machine Thursday night and set the timer so it’s done in the morning. Friday morning, quickly braid dough and put in fridge. When you get home from work Friday afternoon, add egg wash and bake. Boom, you can have fresh homemade challah every week even working Fridays!

*For early winter Fridays, I modify to make dough and braid Thursday night, let rise in fridge overnight, then bake early Friday morning before work.

amother

White

Thu, May 14 2020, 2:13 am

Optione wrote:

Boil all of your water for the week on Sunday and freeze. Then you'll have boiled water when you need it. Wink

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, May 14 2020, 2:17 am

Use Ziploc bags instead of storage containers for keeping food in the fridge. Great for things like pasta, some types of leftovers, cut up veggies
Saves you having to wash and put away containers. I buy the supermarket brand bags, which are a lot cheaper than Ziploc and work just fine

shmoosh

Thu, May 14 2020, 3:01 am

wipe down surfaces as you use them: When brushing teeth, make sure sink area is clean. Washing dishes, wipe counter with the sponge at the same time...
polishing silver: if you could, lacquer your silver.
If not, store somewhere without air contact. For example in your break front but make sure no air gets in (put soft side of Velcro on the insides of the doors so no air can seep through)
After using polish, let it dry then rinse and spray with windex to make it extra shiny. Rinse again and dry by softly parting with a paper towel. Looks GORGEOUS!
garbage: always have an extra garbage bag underneath the one you’re using- in case of leaks, so you don’t have to clean a big mess
Use a shopping bag in bathroom/bedroom garbage cans
recipes: have a loose leaf with Labeled dividers and lots of sheet Protectors on each section. Stick recipes in sheet protectors as soon as you pull them
linen: keep sets folded into pillow cases so parts don’t get all mixed up. Alternatively, fold everything neatly and place inside folded blanket cover
Laundry: fold laundry straight out of the dryer. It’s always quicker for some reason
Hand up shirts right away so they don’t get creases and you don’t have to iron them. Same goes for things you normally iron before folding... fold straight out and they won’t crease
Use the three section hamper so laundry is always divided
play music as much you can- it makes you happy Smile

dishes: any time you put a cup in the sink, rinse it so the drink doesn’t dry at the bottom and require extra scrubbing
If you wash dishes Friday night then fill up the sink with warm water and soap before shabbos
leftovers: use leftover meat, chicken, or fish in Caesar salad the next day. All flavors/sauces taste good with ceasar.
freeze leftover cholent and serve Friday before shabbos- if you’re cholent isn’t usually ready yet
challah: add a bit of sugar to the eggs when you egg them, makes the crust sweet. Don’t add too much though cuz you don’t want it to be sticky
cooking: use a carrot in the oil when you fry stuff so the food doesn’t burn
Try to fry in a nonstick pan whenever possible- so much easier to clean and the food doesn’t stick to the pan
Wrap meat in silver foil tightly or use oven bags for super soft and moist roasts
oil: use old covers from honey on top of oil bottles so they don’t leak all over
For recipes that call for honey, use a drop of oil on the measuring cup/spoon so it slides off easily
If you don’t like washing oily measuring cups/spoons, guesstimate the amount, it’s usually fine
baking: use 3/4 amount of sugar and it still tastes awesome but is a bit healthier
Keep brown sugar in a ziplock bag after opening so it doesn’t harden
lettuce: after opening, store in an airtight ziplock bag and out paper towels above and below the leaves to absorb the moisture. Makes it stay fresh for longer. If you check your own lettuce, layer with paper towels.
Buy all the same socks for boys in the same size if possible or a different sock for each size so they’re easier to pair and if socks get lost there’s always another one that’s bound to lose its pair too
Always check Amazon before going out to a store
Potato kugel: keep the potatoes in water til you grate them
Grate them with onions

Hope these are helpful, if I think of more I’ll post

shmoosh

Thu, May 14 2020, 3:02 am

You can also mix salads in ziplock bags and mash eggs in them and as someone else mentioned, store then that way too

Rappel

Thu, May 14 2020, 3:33 am

Nail clippers are the best tool for taking out splinters. If the head of the splinter is buried, you just clip away any dead skin on top of it, and then it's easy. And since there's no pulling of the skin, like there is with tweezers or straight pins, toddlers are totally fine with it.

1091

Thu, May 14 2020, 3:47 am

I’m not going to requote mpf entirely but that idea putting linen sets in the pillow cases to keep together is brilliant.

Another idea I got from here, put a disposable plastic on the table and peel veggies and fruit directly in that. Clean up us a breeze.