Quick Questions on ANYTHING part 2. Please read first post for links to other threads

wssla00

Thank you that looks good!

flutterbyuk25

Hey peeps

I have a store bought spice jar of Garlic Salt which has hardened. Any ideas on how to loosen it? At mo I'm sticking a knife in when I use it but this is annoying and it's getting hard to do now!

TIA

x

Savvy_Sue

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

I have a store bought spice jar of Garlic Salt which has hardened. Any ideas on how to loosen it? At mo I'm sticking a knife in when I use it but this is annoying and it's getting hard to do now!

I have no idea if this would work, but I often find that if I make a 'thinking aloud' suggestion, someone comes along with a better one.

So, if it's a glass jar, how's about putting it in the oven ON A LOW HEAT OR EVEN ONCE IT'S BEEN SWITCHED OFF AND COOLED DOWN A BIT! Without its lid on, to let it dry out a bit. If it's a jar with an 'inner ring' you can usually get those off with the back side of a sharp knife (but do watch out, we don't want to add to the list of 'creative ways to damage your finger tips' now!)

And actually I don't think the 'inner ring' would come to any harm, it's just to be on the safe side, because if I'm wrong, the smell of melted plastic will haunt your oven forever, or at least until the vinegar brigade come along, and even THEY won't be much help if the plastic melts over the bottom of your oven!

I would stand it in an ovenproof dish, just in case the glass shatters. Because shards of glass and garlic salt will haunt your oven forever too, see above. And don't forget to use oven gloves to remove it.

Although I'm fairly sure this would work, because you put jam-jars in the oven to warm them prior to putting jam in, don't you? Otherwise they may shatter, and can you also sterilise them that way too?

If that works, and you are then able to get it out through an arrangement of holes (which I presume is how it started out), you could stick a few grains of rice in with it as they absorb any excess moisture but can't get through the holes.

And here's another 'thinking aloud' thought: my SIL told us last time we met that she keeps the little bags of silica or whatever which you get in new handbags / suitcases etc, and I was trying to remember what she did with them, although I was sure it was something tremendously useful. Then on Thursday I had to wash my walking boots (yes, wash, not just clean, the close encounter with the barbed wire was an attempt to avoid wading through calf-deep mud!), and TODAY I remembered, I think, that she pops them into damp shoes to help them dry out. Quicker, cleaner and easier than stuffing them with newspaper, especially if the day you wash your walking boots is the day the recycling is collected, and it's already gone!

So (if you're still with me!) if you have any of those little sachets lurking somewhere, take the lid off your garlic salt container, stand it upright in something with a tight seal (biscuit tin?), add the sachets, put the lid on, and come back later. How long? No idea. Maybe check every 24 hours? Will it work? Absolutely no idea. :rotfl:

But in theory ... and I'm sure we can rely on you to report back!

flutterbyuk25

Thanks Savvy Sue!

I'll try the silca sachet option first, just gotta find some......or buy new shoes/handbag! :rotfl:

x

Savvy_Sue

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

Thanks Savvy Sue!

I'll try the silca sachet option first, just gotta find some......or buy new shoes/handbag! :rotfl:

x

I refuse to be held responsible for the urge to buy new shoes / handbags! Sticking it in the oven would be cheaper! :rotfl:

Agapanthus

Just a thought, but if sugar has got hardened in a jar, the solution is to moisten it slightly, not to dry it out more. I had a jar of onion salt that had had gone hard and eventually (after about ten years!) I scraped it all out, but I hadn't heard of the sugar thing then. I think if I tried moistening onion or garlic salt, I might refrigerate/freeze or use it very quickly afterwards.

I don't think that a low oven would crack the jar, but I'm not sure it would solve the original problem.

Savvy_Sue

Agapanthus wrote: »

Just a thought, but if sugar has got hardened in a jar, the solution is to moisten it slightly, not to dry it out more.

Well I never knew that! Although I don't usually find my sugar dries out in a jar, it's when it's in a packet in the cupboard, even in a plastic container, that it goes a bit hard. I usually thump it gently.

Agapanthus wrote: »

I don't think that a low oven would crack the jar, but I'm not sure it would solve the original problem.

No, nor am I. I can follow the reasoning behind moistening it slightly too.

flutterby, can you get a biggish lump or preferably two off, and moisten one lump and dry the other one off? See which one works ... I am nothing if not experimental!

holly44

Can I ask what the frozen pack lunches are about ? is this sandwiches and if yes what are people feezing, as would love to be more organized for work lunches .

zippychick

Hi Holly44

Here is a whole thread with loads of ideas on freezing sandwiches. P ersonally i don't eat them enough to need to freeze them, so can't advise.

Hope it helps

Zip

holly44

Thanks off to check it out