Whether you’re a home cook, professional chef , or an expert at burning toast, your cooking game can benefit from food hacks!
These life-changing hacks save time, make clean-up a breeze, and deliver some amazingly delicious results.
So, from keeping avocados fresh longer to the secret to the best-grilled cheese ever, here are 19 food hacks to step up your cooking game.
Use the air fryer to make frozen pizza
For the days where you don’t want to cook a whole frozen pizza (it happens), cut an uncooked pizza into slices and throw those slices in the air fryer for a few minutes.
Store onion with avocado in the fridge to keep avocado fresh
“Any acid keeps avocados from oxidizing as fast. You could store it with lemon, lime, peppers, all of them create a slightly acidic compound once they hit the moisture avocados give off. Onions make sulfuric acid when mixed with the moisture in your eyes (crying),” wrote this Reddit user.
Brown buns with a toaster
While you could broil buns in the oven, you risk the buns coming out a little too toasted (read: burnt). Use a conventional toaster instead to get browned buns that are perfect for burgers!
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Pre-portion your bacon
“I cut bacon in half and freeze in individual pieces,” this Redditor wrote. “Then I pack them into bags. When I want a little bacon I can pull just what I want and not have to find a use for the whole pound. “
Use bacon and twine for meat
This is a perfect solution for when you run out of cooking twine! Everything is better bacon-wrapped. Simply wrap bacon around the legs of a chicken or another food item.
Use this hack to make Sour Patch Kids grapes
“Make ‘sour patch’ candy grape snacks by tossing grapes in lemon juice and different flavors of gelatin mix, chill or freeze (black cherry, lemon, and lime flavors pictured),” this Redditor wrote.
Use empty ketchup bottles to make a pancake dispenser
The hardest part about making pancakes isn’t whipping up the perfect batter. It’s dispensing the batter into a perfect circle shape on your pan! This hack solves just that.
Make less of a mess with icing sugar
“When sprinkling icing sugar over pastries or cakes, balance your wire tray over the sink (make sure the tap is out of the way!), dust liberally and any excess sugar can be easily rinsed away. No sticky counter/cloth!” this Redditor shared.
Use a mason jar to shape burger patties and eggs
No more making a burger that doesn’t fit onto your bun with this hack. You can also use it to make eggs into a perfect round shape to fit your breakfast sandwich.
Use a hole punch to stop a chip bag cut
“Accidentally tore the side of your bag of chips? Use a hole puncher to keep it from spreading,” this Redditor wrote! Well, there goes our excuse to eat all the chips…
Use lettuce to keep your sandwich toppings in place
Tired of your sandwich toppings falling out with every bite? Keep things secure by creating a lettuce wall on one side of the sandwich or burger. Genius!
Cook bacon on a rack for perfect crispy bacon
“Elevating the bacon keeps it out of the grease and allows hot air to circulate around the strips, so they cook and crisp evenly,” this Redditor wrote .
Cleanup is likely easier afterward, especially if you use tin foil underneath to catch the grease.
Upgrade your morning cup of Joe with iced coffee cubes
“Pour some coffee into an ice cube tray. Freeze your ice cubes and use them in your ice coffee instead of regular ice cubes,” this Redditor wrote .
Use a binder clip to store your beer
Since drink storage containers can be super expensive, anyone will enjoy this cheaper alternative.
You simply attach a binder clip to the rack of a fridge. This allows the beer to be stacked into a pyramid shape.
Freeze butter, garlic, and ginger
When a recipe calls for shaved butter, garlic, or ginger, freezing these ingredients — even for just 20 minutes — will make the process so much easier (and help you make less of a mess).
Place lemon slices underneath your fish to prevent burning
As delicious as barbequed fish is, it’s annoying when the fish sticks to the grill. To prevent this, place lemon slices underneath the fish and then cook as normal.
Use mayo instead of butter on grilled cheese
“Secret to the best-grilled cheese ever: spread mayo instead of butter on the outside of the sandwich,” this Redditor wrote. You could experiment with different kinds of mayo, such as garlic mayo. Yum!
Use old Tic Tac dispensers to store spices
This is a great hack if you live in a home that’s short on space. Or, if you’re going camping and want to bring your favorite spices with you. Simply add the spice and shake to disperse.
