Easy Kitchen Hacks for the Busy Frugal Cook

Need some great kitchen hacks that really work? What are some cooking tips or hacks everyone should know about? Here are some that save time and/or money. Since you are most likely a busy person, you may be asking yourself, “How can I make my kitchen work easier?” What are some of my favorite easy kitchen hacks? Here they are, ready for you to peruse.

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Easy Kitchen Hack #1: Speedy Egg Chopping

How can I cook faster at home? One way is to use the right tools. I don’t do well with knives, particularly when the item that needs to be chopped is slippery. Hard-boiled eggs are notorious for sliding around once they are peeled. I can never get a good grip on one to hold it still enough to chop. My solution? Use a pastry blender. I briefly alluded to this method in my post about Seafood Salad.

Now, the best pastry blender to use is one you cannot purchase just anywhere. The most sturdy pastry blender I have found is the vintage kind with a wooden handle. Mine says ANDROCK on either side, and anytime I see one in a second-hand store, I snap it up. Other pastry blenders I have tried just fall apart. Some people might be horrified that I actually use a vintage item, but they are not that expensive. I recently saw one on eBay for $4.50.

Easy Kitchen Hack #2: Make Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

We happen to have a few chickens and enjoy eating colorful eggs. Since we have an abundance of eggs, I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with the best ways to cook them. Here is the best way I’ve found to cook hard-boiled eggs without having any of that unattractive grey color around the yolks. No one likes the look of that, especially if you are trying to put together a nice place of deviled eggs for a gathering. The trick is simple. Just place your uncooked eggs in a saucepan and fill with cool water (enough to cover the eggs). Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn the heat OFF. Set the timer for 10 minutes, and leave the saucepan on the stove. When the time is up, remove the saucepan from the stovetop.

Run cool water over the eggs to stop the cooking process. Remove the eggs from the water and set them on a towel to dry. When the eggs are dry, place them in a carton and refrigerate. When you peel the eggs to eat them, you will be amazed at the nice, thoroughly yellow color of the cooked yolks.

What an easy kitchen hack! No more guessing about whether or not the eggs are cooked. That’s a big timesaver right there.

Easy Kitchen Hack #3: Super Substitutes

Do you have any recipes that call for buttermilk? I do. My favorite scone recipe calls for buttermilk, but I never buy buttermilk at the store. Since my scone recipe (which I might share in a future blog post) only calls for 1 cup, I make a quick substitute instead. I mix in one tablespoon of lemon juice with just under one cup of milk. You will see small chunks form on top. Use as directed in your recipe in place of the buttermilk and no one will know the difference. One other quick substitute I use in baking is powdered milk. Honestly, I’m not a fan of drinking powdered milk, but when you mix it up and use it in baking, just as with the buttermilk noted earlier, no one will know the difference.

Easy Kitchen Hack #4: Cook Your Meat Ahead of Time

Of course it’s great to have leftover turkey or ham to add to a recipe to make a quick meal. Another one of my favorite kitchen shortcuts is to cook a few pounds of ground beef mixed with some vegetables ahead of time to make a ground meat mix. The mix can be used in pasta sauce, soups, casseroles, tacos, and basically any other recipe that calls for cooked ground beef. Here are the details:

Ground Meat Mix Ingredients: 

3 or 4 pounds ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 green, red or yellow bell pepper, chopped

Directions:

Brown the ground beef with the chopped vegetables in a large skillet. When meat and vegetables are cooked, drain fat and divide into small containers or plastic zip bags,

and place in the freezer for use in a future recipe.

This recipe is flexible. If you don’t have celery or a pepper on hand, the onion and ground beef will be just fine. Also, I tend to freeze about 1 to 1 and 1/2 cup portions of the meat mix. To save money, whenever I buy ground beef, I try to purchase the large, family-size packs. Adding the vegetables stretches my budget even further.

Easy Kitchen Hack #5: Cook Bacon with Less Mess

Oh, bacon. I enjoy eating it but cooking it can be a big mess. After experimenting with many different methods, I finally found a cooking method that saves time and mess. Some people like to cook bacon in a skillet, but there are splatters. Others like to cook bacon in the oven, but the splatter problem is still there. When I first heard about cooking bacon in the microwave, I was skeptical. Would it be crispy? Tough? I liked the idea and tested it out. But what would I do to prevent splatters? Paper towels! The paper towels we use are the kind you can easily tear into half sheets, which is the perfect size for this easy kitchen hack. You will also need an 11-inch by 7-inch glass pan. Place a paper towel in the bottom of the pan, then layer three or four slices of bacon, followed by another paper towel. Repeat the layers until you have placed all of your bacon in the pan.

Cover the final layer with a paper towel and microwave on high for about six minutes. The bacon on the bottom tends to cook faster with this method, so after the time is up, grab the edges of the paper towels and quickly flip the layers over in the pan. Cook for four more minutes (or until bacon reaches your desired doneness). Remove bacon from pan with tongs (it will be very hot) and place on paper towels to drain. When the cooking process is finished, I like to place all of the greasy paper towels inside the plastic bacon bag, so all of the mess is confined to one place.

Need More Easy Kitchen Hacks and Fabulous Foodie Tips?

Here on the FluxingWell website, you can get organized and create a free, editable meal planner. Learn the truth about air fryers and how to use one effectively. Get the scoop about some amazing kitchen tools that will save you time and money. Want to make some healthy snacks? Find out about some fabulous foods to dry in a dehydrator.

More Food Inspiration

It’s always nice to have a plan when it comes to meals. If you’re looking for a way to get more organized with your meal-planning efforts, I’ve got something for you. Free, editable meal planners! The templates can be used over and over, as often as you need them. You can make as many duplicates as you like, and you’ll be able to save old meal plans for future reference. I hope it simplifies things for you.

 

Get my digital, editable, printable templates!

Have a fabulous day, and enjoy trying these easy kitchen hacks!

 

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