16 Handy Tips for Everyday Life

How many times a day do you go into the kitchen? Cooking, cleaning and dozens of other chores fill every 24 hours. So instead of putting up with the little annoyances they cause, today VN Cooking brings you 16 tips to fix them. Take a look!

1. Slice chilies without burning your hands.

Rub a little of your everyday cooking oil on your hands before slicing chilies. The oil stops your skin from absorbing the chili heat.

2. What to do with leftover bread?

Store it with a fresh stalk of celery in a sealed container. Having fresh celery next to it keeps the bread's texture stable.

3. Stop potatoes from sprouting.

Here's a little tip: storing potatoes together with apples keeps them from sprouting.

4. Revive bread that has gone stale.

Just moisten the bread with water and bake it again.

5. Banish fishy smells.

Vinegar works wonders on that nasty fishy smell. Simply soak the fish in vinegar water (25ml vinegar to 1 liter of water) for about 10–15 minutes, then rinse it with clean water before cooking, and the smell will be gone without a trace.

6. How to tell fresh eggs from old ones

Fill a glass with water and drop the egg in. If it sinks to the bottom, the egg is fresh; if it floats, it is old.

7. Boil eggs without cracking the shells.

Just add a little salt to the water when boiling.

8. How do you get rid of bad smells in your fridge?

Kumquats will save your fridge! Slice a few kumquats and leave them in the fridge for about 2 hours.

9. Remove coffee and tea stains from porcelain cups.

A mix of baking soda, lemon and toothpaste will remove those stubborn tea or coffee stains.

10. Burnt rice and how to fix it.

Breadcrumb: place a little soft bread (the inside of a loaf) in the pot of burnt rice for about 10 minutes to reduce the burnt smell.

11. Storing bananas properly

Bananas should be stored on their own, away from other fruit. They give off a lot of ethylene gas, which affects other fruit and makes it ripen faster.

12. Thaw meat quickly without the long wait

Sprinkle a little vinegar over the surface of the frozen meat. The vinegar makes it thaw very quickly and also helps tenderize it.

13. What to do when salt clumps

Just put a few grains of rice in the salt jar. The rice soaks up all the moisture in the salt.

14. Get rid of the gamey smell of beef

Roast a few shallots until well cooked, mince them with garlic and mix into the beef before cooking; this greatly reduces the gamey smell.

15. Keep porcelain shiny

Wiping with a cloth dipped in a little vinegar keeps your porcelain as shiny as the day you bought it.

16. Oversalted your soup?

Potatoes will rescue the soup you worked so hard on. Add a few slices of potato and let them soak up some of the salt!