EC Mailbag Reveals Great Ideas

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Mary Hunt in Tips 16 Comments

Each week I rummage through the mail bag at DPL Central and find all kinds of things from my dear readers. You’d never believe some of the letters and messages I find in there. Some are silly, others mind-boggling but always I find great new ideas, tips and tricks that will either save me time or money.

SPRITZ AWAY THE BROWN. Avocado halves often get brown if not used immediately. I quickly spray the inside with cooking spray, which is more effective in preventing the brown than lemon juice. Tim, California

MAKE EVERYTHING FIT. If you like to rearrange your furniture from time to time create on your computer or draw a floor plan of your house and pictures of your furniture drawn to scale. This way you will at least be able to see if things will fit in a new location before moving them. This is especially good if you don’t have much space, and it may keep you from a real dilemma as when friends of mine discovered on moving day that their queen-sized bed wouldn’t go through the door of their new flat. Roger, Ukraine

SKIP THE MESSY STEP. When baking a cake, skip the messy instruction that says to dust the greased pans with flour. Instead, cut and place a round of wax paper in the bottom of each of the pans. Now grease the pans as normal. The finished cake will come out easily when inverted. Simply peel away the waxed paper. Gail, Washington

PHOTO FABRIC SWATCH. I am redecorating and realized that I never got a fabric swatch when I bought my couch three years ago. It has no removable cushions or armrests that I can take with me to the carpet and home improvement stores, which made it difficult to match the color. I solved the problem by taking a picture of the sofa’s upholstery with my digital camera. Using photo software, I adjusted the color until the printed picture matched my couch perfectly. Now I have a “swatch” of the fabric to carry with me. Angela, Wisconsin

VITAMINS FOR YOUR NAILS. Several years ago, my fingernails were in very bad condition and a friend suggested taking flax seed oil capsules. Within several months my nails were beautiful and in great condition, and have remained that way. I take one 1000mg capsule a day. V.G., Iowa

GET A GRIP. I hate having to hunt for those rubber disks whenever I can’t open a jar lid. My rubber dishwashing gloves work just as well and I always know where they are. George, Iowa

PROCESSED SHREDDED CHICKEN. I like to poach chicken for soups and tacos, but shredding the chicken by hand is often time-consuming. I discovered that the cooked chicken shreds perfectly in my food processor using the plastic dough blade. Jamie, Arizona

Question: Do you have a favorite kitchen trick that saves you time? Share it here. 

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Posted on February 13, 2013 by Mary Hunt in Tips 16 Comments
  • Beck

    When you make baked potatoes make a few extra. The extra ones can be chopped up and fried with an onion or peeled then chopped for potato salad. If you have leftover roast you can put the peeled and chopped potatoes with that and make hash.

    I often make extra baked chicked then make chicken salad out of it the next day. When chopping up veggies for soup I make an extra container to put on salads for the next day. Always think ahead like you are making more than one meal.

  • Q

    I use cooked extra cooked potatoes for breakfast home fries.

    Also, when I put vinyl shelf liner in, there was extra when I cut it to size. I use that extra piece for opening jars. Folds easily in a drawer in the kitchen for handy use. Can buy at the dollar stores if available at yours.

  • jan jones

    you can also use you mixer to chop chicken if you do not have a food processor. i use my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment on bonless breasts that have been baked or boiled.

    • jan jones

      boneless

  • Craft crazy

    I used to use the rubber disc for hard to open jars. They wear out and don’t work so well after while. I started using the wide rubber bands, we receive them everyday on our mail so I have plenty. Items that remain hard to open such as glue tubes and the like, I just put the rubber and on it and leave it for quick handy opening.

  • Maryann

    I’ve found the perfect way to have my egg salad sandwich without going through the time and hassle of mashing the eggs up. Instead of folding the mayo into the chopped egg mixture, I spread my bread with it first, then slice a hard-boiled egg and arrange it on the mayo, sprinkle with salt and pepper, top with the other slice of bread and eat!

  • Diana Brannan

    Instead of greasing the pans and dusting with flour, I dust with sugar. Leaves a nice little invisible crusty appearance and no flour sticking to the finished cake. Prettier and less messy than flour and the little bit of extra sugar after coating simply gets dumped into the bowl I am mixing the cake in. I also warm my frosting slightly (I must admit to using container frosting as a rule) in the microwave a little bit until very workable consistency and use a spoon to drizzle the frosting on without frosting the entire cake. Looks great, tastes great, and I can usually frost several cakes with one container of frosting. Just store the rest in the frig until next time. Works well to show off the little crusty finish on your cake (dusted with sugar above) and works well on those baked and left in your oblong pans. Pour it on and smooth out with a spatula and still have lots of frosting left for next time.

  • Mictros

    Greasing and flouring? I leave that to the Pam that does it for me in one step. They do make one that does this. Some things are worth paying convenience for. This is one.

  • Anita

    Last year our favorite brand of salad dressing stopped using the caps with holes in them. To avoid pouring too much, I now save the tops off ketchup bottles and put them on the dressing bottles–perfect fit!

  • k

    tapping the side of a jar (etc) with a tight lid often will break the seal and be easy to twist and take off the lid

    • k

      the side of the lid on the jar

  • Janet O.

    When wiping crumbs off the counter while cleaning up, rather than brush them into my hand or into the sink, I just open my dishwasher a bit and push them inside. That way I do not risk dropping them on the floor or lodging them under the metal strip around my kitchen sink.

  • Peggy, California

    Many people don’t realize that when a jar is hard to open, all it needs is to pop some air into it. I never struggle with it anymore using all the “tricks” to open it. Simply use either a simple hand bottle opener or spoon, catch it under the lip of the lid and lift up until you hear the “pop.” Now the jar opens like a charm, and it only takes a second.

  • Janet

    I like to shred cooked chicken with a electric hand mixer. I can shred 6 boneless
    breast in less than a minute, and I don’t have to burn my fingers to do it.

  • Dyvonne

    I always save those small wide rubber bands that are wrapped around stalks of broccoli and some other vegetables. They are perfect for wrapping around jar lids to make it easy to open them.

  • EileenD

    Being a frugal widow living alone, I often found I was wasting a lot of milk by not using the gallon size fast enough. I bought some gallons of milk that were on sale (yes!!!) and divided them up in freezer bags (some in quarts and some in gallon sizes), filling them up about halfway. I removed as much air as possible by allowing them to sag, then simply put the bags in the freezer. Now I have plenty on hand when I need it. BTW, I learned to take an appropriately sized container that would keep the bag somewhat upright and open when pouring in the milk, which you can measure if you choose. Also, double check and then double check again that you’ve sealed the bag completely. In some cases, I put a number of the filled bags in a plastic tub so they would sit upright and froze the collection in the tub. This has saved me a lot of money and wasted milk. And there is no change to the taste that I can tell.