Grandma’s 20 Best Home Hints and Hacks to try Now

If “live and learn” is a thing, grandmas, by virtue of longevity, should be plenty smart. So here are my 20 best home hints and hacks. Comment below to share your own!

Cooking and Baking Hints and Hacks

• Tip #1: If you forgot to take butter out of the freezer for baking, grate the block on a box grater; it will soften in no time.

• Tip #2 It’s easier to extract the juice of lemons in a hand-held juice press if you cut away the hard rind first. Bonus move: grate the rind before cutting it off and use it to add bright flavor to vegetable and rice dishes or desserts.

• Tip #3 To peel a clove of garlic, stand the clove upright between your thumb and index finger and press until the peel breaks from the pressure. A trick I learned from a garlic grower.
• Tip #4 If you want to add umami to a broth in a hurry, cut one or two dried shiitake mushrooms into small pieces with kitchen shears or a knife. (Be careful–dried mushrooms can be hard to cut.) Just toss mushroom bits into the broth while simmering.
• Tip #5 Toast nuts in a microwave to save time and energy. Set nuts in a single layer in a microwave-safe plate and microwave 1 minute at a time, stirring in between. Time will vary depending on the type, size, and quantity of nuts, and the power of your microwave. (Anticipate about 3 to 6 minutes.) The nuts will turn golden and smell fragrant. Plate will be hot; use mitts.

Food Storage

• Tip #6 Store mushrooms in a paper bag to keep them fresher longer. To freeze, extract moisture first (they’re 95% water) by finely chopping and sautéing mushrooms in oil or butter until they give up their juices and get dry. Use in omelets or stuffings.
• Tip #7 Freeze leftover Thai chiles, lemongrass stalks, or ginger–ingredients you can’t usually buy in small quantities for a single recipe, such as for Kra Prao. The texture will get flabby when defrosted, but it won’t matter in most dishes.
• Tip #8 Store nuts airtight in the freezer and they will keep for a year or more.

Kitchen Equipment Hints and Hacks

• Tip #9 Your food processor may have exposed openings in the bowl and lid where the unit locks into place. Block the openings with blue painter’s tape when you wash it to keep water from seeping into the handle.

• Tip #10: Remove the ring that holds measuring spoons together; now you can use just the spoons you need for your recipe. No more dangling spoons as you measure and fewer spoons to wash. Always have a back-up set on a ring, though, in case you can’t find the spoon you need in your drawer.

• Tip #11 If clean food containers retain food smells, fill them with crumpled-up newspapers to absorb the odor. This works in the fridge, too. For Thanksgiving, I pre-chop onions for the stuffing and refrigerate in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Since the onion smell can permeate, I wrap the bag in several thicknesses of newspapers. If the fridge begins to smell like onion, I crumple wads of newspapers and stuff them on the shelves.

• Tip #12 Save takeout sauce containers. Use them to freeze small amounts of lemon juice, grated lemon peel, tomato paste, cream, coconut milk, and more. Store all the containers in a bigger plastic container so they don’t get lost in the freezer. A sauce container of frozen lemon juice and grated lemon peel is enough to make Lemony Kale Salad with Apple and Nuts.

• Tip #13 Good tools make cooking easier. Some of my favorites: a slotted spoon from Joseph Joseph for sautéing, stir-frying, and most every cooking need; a one-piece silicone spatula, two baby spatulas that can get into the tiniest spaces and scrape out every last bit of sauce or batter.

Home Hints and Hacks

I love, love blue painter’s tape. It adheres tightly; yet releases easily and it’s perfect for so many applications. So the first few home hints and hacks demonstrate some uses for this wonder product.

• Tip #14 Showcase grandkids’ art by taping their artwork prominently in your house. Blue painter’s tape holds the kids’ creations securely in place without damaging walls.

• Tip #15 After folding freshly laundered sheets, label them with blue tape: flat or fitted; twin or queen, so you never have to guess again.
• Tip #16 “Hem” a tablecloth in a pinch. Use painter’s tape to fold up the excess fabric of a too-long tablecloth.

• Tip #17 Keep a watering can in the shower to capture water that’s normally wasted when you run the shower for hot water; use the water for plants–especially critical in drought areas.
• Tip #18 Clean a clouded glass vase by adding a tablespoon of raw rice and a little water to the vase. Simply swish the grains around vigorously to make vases sparkle again.

Household Storage

• Tip #19 Save plastic zipper bags that blankets and sheets come in and use them to organize little-used linens. I store linens for visiting houseguests in them, as well as extra potholders, and other miscellanea. Label contents with label tape. Also, invest in vacuum-sealing bags that suck the air out of and flatten the contents. Great space saver for comforters, pillows. and blankets.

• Tip #20 Expand your storage capacity for bulky items using attractive baskets. These cotton rope baskets (currently $25) can hold extra blankets, grandkids’ toys, or outdoor cushions brought indoors. I have three of them throughout the house.

What are your favorite household hints and hacks? Please share below.

Sign Up!

Don’t forget to sign up for my email newsletter. Every Wednesday, I’ll give you a new idea for an activity or insight to nurture the little ones in your life.