Are you a foodie looking for ways to step up your game in the kitchen? If yes, the following are five great food hacks that everyone should know.
Snack Subscription Box
Food subscription boxes are becoming more and more popular with new companies with different concepts popping up all the time. If you love exotic foods, signing up for an international snack box is a great way to taste weird and wonderful snacks from all corners of the globe. You can enjoy caramel corn from Japan, fried chicken skins from Thailand, platanitos from Nicaragua and the famous Tim-Tams from Australia. It’s a great way to get a sample of other cultures and the flavors that the locals love.
Cooking Eggs in the Microwave
This is one of the first hacks college students learn when they move away from home. And it works – you can cook pretty much any egg style in the microwave with ease and they taste pretty good. Soft boiled is probably the hardest to perfect but, with a little research on Google (you can get the right cooking time by knowing the wattage of your microwave), you will be able to cook the perfect soft egg. The easiest is scrambled eggs, as you just need egg mixed in a microwavable container and any additional items you like in your eggs (seasoning, butter, milk etc.). Stick it in for thirty seconds, mix and repeat until fluffy.
Section Ground Mince Before Freezing
If you get a freezer bag and smooth out your ground mince on a surface you can take the handle of a wooden spoon and section your meat out before it goes in the freezer. If you have an ice tray section to your freezer (or any other narrow shelf will do), you can lay your meat out to freeze and then move it to your meat section once frozen. This way, when you need to use the meat to make a single burger or you need enough for two portions of meatballs – for example – you can easily break off the bits you need to defrost without defrosting the entire pack.
Reuse Pickle Brine
If you don’t like pickles or pickled items then skip this section. If you do love pickles, you’re going to love the fact that you can reuse pickle brine to make your own pickles using cucumbers (aka the vegetable it is before it becomes a pickle) or any other vegetable. There are also international takes on this kind of recipe with Korean kimchi being a version of pickled cabbage so if you want to make your own mukbang this is definitely worth keeping in mind.
Other Uses of an Egg Slicer
There are so many things that an egg slicer can be used on other than an egg. Mushrooms, strawberries, soft cheese – even avocado. Basically, if you want to slice a golf ball sized food object that is intentionally soft in terms of texture then you may find this a better alternative than a knife as it can ensure consistent thicknesses without accidentally slicing open a finger in the process.