Simplify Your Life with These Kitchen Hacks!
Do you feel like every time you shop online or in a store, you discover a new kitchen gadget? Of course, most are overpriced while others seem to promise the world, but under deliver. Well, before you spend another dime on one check out these helpful kitchen hacks to see how you may be able to take advantage of living with things you already have (or items you can pick up at a fraction of the price of a trendy gadget).
File Boxes for Wrap and Foil – You probably have at least one of those wire mesh file boxes in your home office collecting dust. If not, you can often pick them up for less than a dollar. Use short screws to fasten them to the inside of a cupboard door to hold your aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and boxes of sandwich bags.
Muffin Tin for the Drawer – Whether you have far more muffin tins than you will ever need or you have an old rusted one in the back of the cupboard that’s been replaced, put one in your junk drawer. Each individual space can hold something different to help keep your drawer organized.
Shower Caps – Plastic wrap is far from durable and quickly wasted. Shower caps are perfect for covering bowls of food or a plate of leftovers. You can wash and reuse these.
Makeshift Funnel – A funnel can come in handy for refilling spice jars or salt and pepper shakers, but they take up so much more room in the drawer, you probably don’t even want to buy one. Use an envelope instead. Just snip a hole in the corner for dried goods to flow through, and you’re set!
Rake Wine Glass Holder – Remove the handle from a rake, mount it on a wall, and hang wine glasses between the teeth. You can leave it natural or spray paint it.
Cutting Board Counter – If you are lacking counter space (like many of us are), open a drawer, lie a wood cutting board across, and you have an extended work area for prepping.
Waffle Iron Panini Press – Once very few months, you may get the itch to splurge on a panini press simply because you are craving a panini. No need to add another small appliance to your cluttered kitchen: a waffle press works just as well.
Wine Bottle Rolling Pin – If you baked a lot you would probably have a rolling pin, right? Well, for those few times a year you want to make a homemade pie crust or cut and decorate sugar cookies, a wine bottle will double as a rolling pin. Now you have an excuse to keep an extra bottle on hand!
Cheesecloth Juice Press – No need for a gadget to squeeze lemon juice. Cut the lemon, place it in a cheesecloth or nut milk bag, and squeeze. The cloth will hold the seeds and pulp.
Ketchup Bottle Pancake Batter Dispenser – If you spoon your batter, your pancakes likely have weird shapes and varied thicknesses. A cleaned ketchup container is perfect to use to squeeze batter in perfect circles.
Using what you have around the house to make your life easier in the kitchen saves you from buying gadgets you don’t need. Plus, it gives those items a longer life before they end up in a landfill, so kitchen hacks can be good for the environment, too!