Based on the popularity of the dinner thread, I have the impression many of us like to cook and even more of us like to eat, LOL. It got me thinking we could share our kitchen tips, hacks, cheats and even dirty little secrets

I'll go first since several of mine were all this evening. Two of my favorite cheats are frozen chopped spinach and pre-cut butternut squash. A favorite tip is making double whenever I roast butternut squash then using the extra in a different dish the next night.

Anyone else?

Occasionally, I prepare large batches of fave dishes and freeze some for future use. We make small amounts of untested/untried dishes. My kitchen is barely noticeable, so I added nearby storage by re-purposing a bookcase and filling it with kitchen items. This is visible only when seen from the back porch, and it provides an illusion of actual space. I use few appliances because they require much space. Knives/techniques go far in my small kitchen.

Who's next?

I roast garlic, then squeeze and freeze cloves in an ice cube tray. Smell up the house once or twice a year. Similar with fresh basil, parsley or cilantro. For use in my garden's off-season, I chop each, add some olive oil, and freeze in an ice cube tray. After they're frozen, I pop them out of the tray and into freezer containers.

I use ice cube trays for everything but ice, LOL. On the occasions I make stock, which is not near often enough, I use the trays then pop out stock ice cubes and bag 'em up. To preserve fresh chives from my garden I chop and mix them with butter then roll it into a log and pop into the freezer. So yummy on baked sweet potatoes or added to scrambled eggs right before they are finished cooking.

I put my bone or chicken broth in ice cube trays and use as needed, also orange juice....I also take my coffee grinds and feed my outdoor plants, they need food too.

I opened this thinking it might be a Dave Pi spin off. Surprisingly surprised

I also use ice trays for chicken broth. Another fave is to run a knife under cold tap water before cutting onions to eliminate tears. Put packaged frozen meat in a big bowl of water. Place it in the microwave to defrost it. When making fresh fish, open a bottle of vinegar and place it on the counter. This will eliminate the odor.

I don't like butternut squash or sweet potatoes, so that did not get likes...

Bacon. I have an electric skillet that I can fit 2 lbs in at a time. I fry it all up at once, drain, and then portion it in ziplocks and keep in the back of the frig so that when I want to add bacon to a salad, sandwich, or topping for macaroni and cheese, or just have some with eggs, I just pop a few slices into the toaster oven for a minute to get warm and crisp up.

When frying foods (like bacon), I put the sales ads or a section of newspaper on a plate underneath a paper towel to absorb oil or grease. I use about half as many paper towels that way. This is an old trick from back home in Florida where one local newspaper was affectionately nicknamed "The Mullet Wrapper" because people used it when frying mullet (a type of fish species native to brackish Florida coastal waters).

My friend Shell uses a garlic press often, but that always seemed wasteful to me, as a lot of the good stuff gets thrown away. I know that chef's often smash the bulb with the flat end of their knives but you still have to peel the "paper" skin away from the cloves, and it sometimes gets stuck under fingernails. If you wrap a whole bulb of garlic in tinfoil and bake it for 5 minutes or so, then let it cool down, the skin of the bulb pulls off very easily and then you can just chop it up with your knife.

Since I buy ginger and garlic in bulk at Sam's or Costco, they tend to get moldy before I could use them up. To counter this problem, I store some of the fresh ginger and garlic in the freezer and shred the desired amount (peel and all for ginger) into soup, stir-fry, etc... when I run out of the fresh variety. This way none of the ginger or garlic goes to waste.

I've used the freezer for ginger, but never for garlic because it usually doesn't last that long. I will remember it next time the opportunity to buy in bulk arises.

I'm a garlic smasher Lately I have started occasionally grating garlic to save washing a cutting board and knife if there is nothing else needing chopping. It doesn't really work for everything.

I still love roasted garlic and it makes a yummy paste when you put it in the food processor.

We have an air-fryer and we love it. It is perfect for crisping up frozen snacks - tater tots, cheese stick, pizza, etc.. I use it to roast chicken breasts and pork ribs; and bake stuffed zucchinis, stuffed jalapenos wrapped with bacon, meatloaf etc... Plus, it does not heat up your kitchen during the summer. I think I will try roasting some garlic with it since roasted garlic paste slathered on everything does sound yummy.

I cook two pound bags of dry beans at a time, then divide them into plastic containers and store them in the deep freeze. I also keep a bag in the freezer for vegetable peelings (and bones back when I ate meat). When the bag gets full I make a batch of stock.

I take mashed avocados and roasted garlic and blend them with a touch of olive oil and salt, then use that on sandwiches in place of mayo.

I do that as well, very good for you (good fat). I'm out of wack due to not being able to eat, but lost 2 pds..
Soup for me which I make and always put Turmenic in for flavor, another healthy choice. I don't use salt
much and add herbs for my seasonings.

Turmeric is wonderful! I use it in rice and quinoa dishes a lot!!! I do like salt but I use it sparingly and I prefer sea salt or Himalayan pink salt. Sorry you can't eat, dental work sucks.

I've been using a lot of tumeric, too. Did you know it's more effective if you include black pepper with it?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Turmeric is wonderful! I use it in rice and quinoa dishes a lot!!! I do like salt but I use it sparingly and I prefer sea salt or Himalayan pink salt. Sorry you can't eat, dental work sucks.

Could you go to the receipes thread and give me a quinoa receipe ..thx in advance...

I grill a double batch of chicken, debone half and freeze in one pound increments for later meals (enchiladas, tostadas, chicken alfredo, king ranch chicken, etc). Make stock out of the bones. I do the same with leftover turkey. I never buy liquid stock at store, I use the little cubes, does not take long and so much cheaper. I buy meat when it's on sale and freeze.

Buy herbs in big containers (Costco etc), much cheaper. I grow some herbs in containers. I mix up spices for pies before holidays and label in baggies. If you do any cooking on vacation do as much prep as you can before you leave. I use crock pots and the grill often in the summer to eliminate turning on the oven. Grate carrots instead of buying the sticks. Same with grated cheese. It is fresher, cheaper, and healthier.

Yes Kathy, I did!

Irene I am working and on my phone. I'll post a recipe later.

I buy bulk Italian sausage (not in skins) and bulk ground beef, both on sale. I spend a couple of hours prepping these for freezing: start with the ground beef. Brown 3-4 lbs of the beef and drain on paper towels that are laid over newsprint ads (junk mail) to lower the fat content. Using the same pan (drained of fat and wiped) , repeat the process with 2-3 lbs Italian sausage (I prefer "hot." Drain and the wipe out the pan to remove most of the fat and seasoning from the sausage. Add a little olive oil and saute a lot of finely chopped onion and garlic. (Love my mini-food processor!)

I have a vacuum sealer so that I can freeze stuff for up to about 18 months, but you can also work with Zip Lock freezer bags. I then freeze three different mixes to use in future cooking: one of beef and onion/garlic mix; one of sausage and onion/garlic mix; one of beef and sausage and onion/garlic mix. The size of each combination that you freeze depends on how large the batches of stuff you expect to make on a regular basis. I freeze some 1/2 lb packets and some 1 lb packets (all estimated weights). If I am really ambitious I grab about 3 lbs of bacon (bought when on sale) out of the freezer and keep yet another frying pan busy making crisp bacon "bits" from chopped bacon. Those get tossed into ZipLock bags and into the freezer. That way I can grab a handful of bits to throw into scrambled eggs or a casserole, or whatever, as needed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2017 12:58PM by walesmaven.

I love the idea of real bacon bits in the freezer. I am not so ambitious with ground beef. It is either broken down in 1 lb packages to use for bolognese or made into 3 ounce patties and frozen individually for sliders. The small patties thaw very quickly so burgers can be a fairly last minute, quick dinner.

I am a big fan of freezing things individually on cookie sheets and regularly freeze biscuits, scones and homemade versions of brown and serve rolls.

My regular grocery store has a very large in-store bakery. Anything unsold goes into a bin at half price the very next morning. So, scones, sour dough bread, French bread, half a pie, coffee cake go into my freezer when available. (My sister is the family baker, aka "pie maven." You met her at IMSC/Chicago.)

Ah yes, I remember her well

Speaking of pies, I need to start on crusts for the holidays. One type will be a basic crust dough and the other is a sweet dough for my cranberry pecan tarts. I make large batches of each, roll them out to about seven inches then stack them in a pizza box with wax paper between. In one afternoon I will make enough to get through Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I did the same thing with hamburger when I ate it.

@walesmaven wrote:

I buy bulk Italian sausage (not in skins) and bulk ground beef, both on sale. I spend a couple of hours prepping these for freezing: start with the ground beef. Brown 3-4 lbs of the beef and drain on paper towels that are laid over newsprint ads (junk mail) to lower the fat content. Using the same pan (drained of fat and wiped) , repeat the process with 2-3 lbs Italian sausage (I prefer "hot." Drain and the wipe out the pan to remove most of the fat and seasoning from the sausage. Add a little olive oil and saute a lot of finely chopped onion and garlic. (Love my mini-food processor!)

I have a vacuum sealer so that I can freeze stuff for up to about 18 months, but you can also work with Zip Lock freezer bags. I then freeze three different mixes to use in future cooking: one of beef and onion/garlic mix; one of sausage and onion/garlic mix; one of beef and sausage and onion/garlic mix. The size of each combination that you freeze depends on how large the batches of stuff you expect to make on a regular basis. I freeze some 1/2 lb packets and some 1 lb packets (all estimated weights). If I am really ambitious I grab about 3 lbs of bacon (bought when on sale) out of the freezer and keep yet another frying pan busy making crisp bacon "bits" from chopped bacon. Those get tossed into ZipLock bags and into the freezer. That way I can grab a handful of bits to throw into scrambled eggs or a casserole, or whatever, as needed.

I portion out tablespoons of tomato paste and chipotle in adobo sauce (which I puree with an immersion blender), and freeze them.

I buy the tubes of tomato paste to have for things requiring small amounts. Something so small would probably be forever lost in my freezer, LOL. The tubes tend to be pricey at Dierberg's and Schnucks, but they aren't too bad at Trader Joe's.

I do puree the chipotle in adobo after opening a can. I should start buying larger cans and freezing. The smaller cans are usually get used up quickly enough. My favorite is to mix some with mayo to dip sweet potato fries

Made Cauliflower/Carrot soup yesterday, easy but messy. I can't even start to compare with Lisa's cooking,
so, that's my contribution to this thread...I do enjoy reading it.

It's my hobby and relaxes me. Plus, I was hoping some good cheats and hacks would be helpful whether someone cooks daily or just once in a while

That's an awesome idea. I never thought to freeze it like that. I use only a tablespoon or two at a time when I make enchilada sauce.

@LisaSTL wrote:

I do puree the chipotle in adobo after opening a can. I should start buying larger cans and freezing. The smaller cans are usually get used up quickly enough. My favorite is to mix some with mayo to dip sweet potato fries