Do you have a secret trick?

YoungBlueEyes

I sometimes put some crushed pistachios on top of rice, that's lovely. I've not done the turmeric thing tho, I'll give that a go next time

The freezing pesto one is good too. I often put wee bits of stuff (herbs, red wine) in an icecube tray so you've got it to hand for a stew/soup. Easy to pop one out straight into the pot. 

Mashed potato as a cornflour slurry, I've not heard of that before. That falls into himself's domain, I'll tell him that one  

If you're overrun with empty jars/takeaway cartons etc, see if your local charity shop will take them. I was in one the other day and they were selling them for 10p each. For crafters I presume (?), but they're useful in general.

Oh and I still haven't cracked the duvet roll thing so I'm writing it off as a bad job  

Green_hopeful

I use cornflour with a tablespoon of gluten free soy sauce to make gluten free gravy. Add it to some water from the veg or some juices from the roast and it’s instant gravy. I sometimes add a splash of wine as well. 

I also use it to make gluten free white sauce. 

Rosa_Damascena

kboss2010 said:

Organising:

- under your sink so you don’t cause an avalanche of products getting to the back: magazine holders. You just slide them out when you need something in them and it goes straight back in.

- “Junk” drawer - use old takeaway cartons as drawer dividers to organise your junk drawer into sections (we all have one lol)

- A multi coat hook rack to hang your ironing board, dustpan & brush, mop, apron etc in the kitchen. Put it behind a door so it’s hidden away.

- Add white miso paste to your tomato-based sauces for extra depth of flavour.

You inspired me to look at my collection of brooms and mops propped against the wall - and yes, without exception they have a hole in the end for this purpose.

I need similar to hold my electric hair stylers.

YoungBlueEyes

For hair dryers etc - I used to have mine on the back on my wardrobe doors. The hooks you get for tea towels are good for that

kboss2010

Rosa_Damascena said:

kboss2010 said:

Organising:

- under your sink so you don’t cause an avalanche of products getting to the back: magazine holders. You just slide them out when you need something in them and it goes straight back in.

- “Junk” drawer - use old takeaway cartons as drawer dividers to organise your junk drawer into sections (we all have one lol)

- A multi coat hook rack to hang your ironing board, dustpan & brush, mop, apron etc in the kitchen. Put it behind a door so it’s hidden away.

- Add white miso paste to your tomato-based sauces for extra depth of flavour.

You inspired me to look at my collection of brooms and mops propped against the wall - and yes, without exception they have a hole in the end for this purpose.

I need similar to hold my electric hair stylers.

My mum bought me a fancy coat hook and I didn’t know where to put it until I realised all of my brushes and mops had hanging holes! 

SHEIN is really good for specialised hooks you can’t get other places. I have cable tidy holders on the side of my desk to hold my cables off the floor, they’re just big enough to put one cable into each. I also have an electric toothbrush holder. 

kboss2010

YoungBlueEyes said:

I sometimes put some crushed pistachios on top of rice, that's lovely. I've not done the turmeric thing tho, I'll give that a go next time

The freezing pesto one is good too. I often put wee bits of stuff (herbs, red wine) in an icecube tray so you've got it to hand for a stew/soup. Easy to pop one out straight into the pot. 

Mashed potato as a cornflour slurry, I've not heard of that before. That falls into himself's domain, I'll tell him that one  

If you're overrun with empty jars/takeaway cartons etc, see if your local charity shop will take them. I was in one the other day and they were selling them for 10p each. For crafters I presume (?), but they're useful in general.

Oh and I still haven't cracked the duvet roll thing so I'm writing it off as a bad job  

I stopped using duvets because I hate changing duvet covers. I use a flat sheet or the empty duvet cover with a waffle throw blanket over the top. It’s just as warm because it traps air between the layers & the waffle pattern also traps air.

General_Grant

Rosa_Damascena said:

gt568 said:

kboss2010 said:

The “secret trick” to thicken sauces, especially those Chinese sauces & soups is a cornflour slurry (a spoon of cornflour dissolved in water). It gives you that takeaway sauce/soup consistency. 

Also works well for gravy.

I find the cornflour slurry gives the sauce/gravy a slightly odd consistency or viscosity.

The other alternative is mashed potato, but that does draw the taste from the dish (handy if you over salt though).

IF potato does "draw" salt from an over-salted dish, unless you then can remove the potato there is no advantage on the over-salted front other than it is diluted per gram of food because it is spread further.

Brie

Corn flour is used to thicken clear sauces, wheat flour is used for cloudy ones.  So for me that means wheat flour for a nice thick creamy gravy.  Corn flour if I was making a raspberry sauce for ice cream or similar.  

Have I mentioned my frozen vegetables before?  I like things like peppers, courgette, onion, to make stir fries. I like little tomatoes in my salad.  And I like things like carrots, beets, potatoes, butternut squash.  But not all things last well.  And because I'm cheap (but not easy) I tend to buy in quantity with the good intention of using it all up quickly - which of course doesn't happen.  So after a few days the left over pepper, carrot etc starts to look a bit sorry for itself.  So I go ahead and prep it, deseed, peel, whatever and cut into nice chunks appropriate for roasting.  These then get dumped into a plastic bag (I have the Ikea zip lock ones) and put in the freezer.  And the bag keeps being added to.  So I might start with a courgette, then find the little tomatoes are next (but left whole), pepper, potato, shallot....over a a couple of weeks.  And then comes a day when I need something to go with a lamb chop or whatever and I can pull out a selection of the mixed frozen veg, put in a roasting tray, mix in a bit of olive oil and mixed herbs and pop it in the oven for maybe 30 minutes to roast.  Lovely and no waste.  And if I manage to empty a bag I can either leave it in the freezer for refilling or wash it out for using for something else.

newlywed

Thanks @Brie we love roasted veg. I tend to have a roast everything day and the roasted veg keeps a while in the fridge but for the days I don’t want the oven on, I might do a bag in the freezer ready to roast as well.

cherry tomatoes always seem to catch me out and swap from firm to squishy when I’m not checking.

Brie

newlywed said:

Thanks @Brie we love roasted veg. I tend to have a roast everything day and the roasted veg keeps a while in the fridge but for the days I don’t want the oven on, I might do a bag in the freezer ready to roast as well.

cherry tomatoes always seem to catch me out and swap from firm to squishy when I’m not checking.

You can use the larger tomatoes cut in half or quarters but normally I'll fry those for breakfast if I spot them in time.   I agree that they suddenly "go".  

fyi - I do similar with bananas that I use for baking.  I like to eat bananas when they are quite green so once they get yellow and then begin to freckle I know I won't be munching them.  I let them sit a couple more days and then peel and pop in a bag and freeze.  My muffin recipe needs 3 bananas so that's the max I put in a bag, if there's less I try to ensure that it's obvious if there's 1 or 2.  And have begun to label so the OH doesn't mistake them for frozen sausages!  Takes a couple of hours out of the freezer to thaw and then they look disgusting but are wonderfully easy to mix into the recipe - just remember to use everything in the bag as the liquid separates out!