Posted on 03/24/2017 7:48:03 AM PDT by Jamestown1630
We’ve had requests for a thread on ‘kitchen problems’, so I thought we’d do it this week.
* I cleaned out my refrigerator a few days ago, and was reminded of something I used to do and must start to do again. No matter how careful you are, there are always drips and leaks, or mess from a forgotten, rotten vegetable, staining up your refrigerator – especially the little shelves on the door. A good idea is to cut craft paper – or a brown paper bag – to fit those spaces, and then just change the paper out a few times per year, when you do a complete cleaning of the fridge. The few minutes of work this takes will save you a lot more time later.
* I keep the cans that vegetables, tomato sauce, etc. come in – I rip off the labels, run them through the dishwasher, and use them to deal with the leftover fats and juices from cooking that I don’t want to put through the drain/garbage disposal (the dregs from a beef roast have seemed in my experience to be especially bad for the disposal system). I freeze these, and then they go easily into the trash the morning of trash pickup. If your neighborhood recycles, and you don’t want to dispose of the cans along with garbage, you can just pop the frozen stuff out.
* Sponges in the kitchen are great collectors of bacteria, but you can kill it by routinely microwaving your sponges in a MW-safe bowl or dish, for a couple of minutes. Make sure they contain no metal, and are WET when you do this; and be careful when you take them out, because they’ll be very hot.
* We never seem to have enough space in our freezer, and I’ve started taking prepared frozen foods out of the big boxes that they come in – the boxes take up much more space than the contents, and the contents are usually wrapped anyway. Cut out the part of the box that has the instructions and save it someplace convenient – you’ll only have to do this once for each item. If you have a vacuum packer (a great investment, by the way) use it to re-pack items that you will store long-term; otherwise, things can just be put into a plastic ‘baggie’ for protection.
* If you make a lot of soups, and your own stocks, another great space-saver is Helen Witty’s Chicken Extract – a way of reducing stock to where you can freeze a tablespoon in each section of an ice-cube tray, and then pop the cubes into a bag or container. Generally, you will reconstitute one of these cubes per cup of water, to make stock. You will appreciate the added space in the deep freeze, and the convenience of having the cubes of stock on hand. Here are the directions for this – it’s long and drawn-out process, but depending on your frequency of use, you only have to do it a couple or three times per year:
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-04-19/features/9001030683_1_chicken-broth-pot
* Save all the little plastic ‘twisty-ties’ from bread and other items, and keep them in the ‘everything-drawer’; you’ll always find a use for them.
* Invest in something like a Swiffer Wet Mop, or some other very easy to grab-and-use floor cleaning implement, and run it quickly over your kitchen floor EVERY NIGHT! This will save you a lot of work when you go to do your general kitchen cleaning (especially if you have a very ‘Exuberant’ cook in your family – like my hubby ;-)
* Finally: when you are cooking, clean everything *as you use it* - that way you don’t wind up with a depressing sinkful of stuff that has to be dealt with all at once, when you’re done. Cooking is much more pleasurable then.
-JT
The make tile to look lie wood flooring now, that could be an option as well.
The potato thing has never worked for me either.
Here’s my ‘kitchen’ problem: my produce drawers are too small.
For what? 108 bulbs. The other day I bought 12 bulb plants that had been horribly forced, with the foliage very leggy and long and sorry blooms, so nobody bought them. Got 12 for 12.99 including tax.
Now I have 36 hyacinth, 36 daffodil and 50 tulip bulbs @ $.10/each. They’re dirted in for the photosynthesis to finish, then I’ll cut the tops off and.... buy another fridge to house these bulbs or put them in the ground now?
I know, busted, guilty, not a ‘kitchen’ problem, and will cross-ask the gardening thread when it appears.
If the weather isn’t ready to plant, maybe you could wrap them up really good, in several layers of newspaper, and they could stand the shelf above the bin?
Good points. Be sure to test the Swiffer on a small area. I found that it knocked off the sheen of oil-based painted floors. I use diluted janitorial ammonia (non-sudsing)instead for damp mopping.
Have kept cottage cheese upside down on a plate for 30 years. Plate in case it leaks out.
Reconstituting brown sugar that has turned brick hard.
Place the [plastic] bag containing the brown sugar in a slightly larger ziplock bag. Dampen (but not to the point of dripping) a folded paper towel and place it in the area outside the brown sugar bag but inside the ziplock bag. Be sure that the brown sugar bag is open. Zip the bag and set it in the cabinet.
Within a day or two, the brown sugar will be softened. If the sugar has not softened enough, open the ziplock and check the dampness. If necessary, re-dampen the paper towel, seal the bag and let it set another day or two.
Try a teaspoon of sugar in a salty dish, Test it, Then maybe another. Works for me.
Or, if you need to use brown sugar immediately....
place in microwave safe bowl, cover with damp paper/regular towel and microwave....checking every 20 seconds, or so.
I put hardened brown sugar in the microwave, softens it right up.
Don’t you have a “seal” aka “stop vacuuming and seal now” button on your vacuum sealer? I reseal delicate stuff such as potato chips all the time, and I watch for when the bag starts to look like it might start crushing, and hit the “seal” button at that point.
You just got to make sure to pay attention and have a hand ready to hit the button. (unlike what did last weekend, holding the bag with one hand, and grabbing my coffee with the other, while the vacuum was working...)
Thanks for that. I threw away a box the other day :-(
I think this little guy does the same trick - it has good reviews and I’m thinking of getting one:
http://www.heloise.com/
I remember Heloise! I used to read her column in the Washington Star or Post - can’t recall which paper carried her here.
Re: diy wood kitchen countertops.
Since the advent of CAD drafting systems the old wooden drafting boards have been retired. Well constructed of kilned dried woods, perfectly flat and dimensionally stable. Standard six foot lengths and and 42” widths about an 1 1/4” thick. Spent many a late night laying down lead and ink on those.
You might be able to find some at a drafting supply store. If they don’t have them it’s likely they know who grabbed them up.
I still have one stored in my unheated potting shed. After 10 years it has not warped or lost its finish. Almost all were a blond wood with a durable finish which I can’t recall at the moment. Great for a project such as yours.
Thanx. Power Dissolver is awesome!
I have Prime, so the single bottle DPD would be great for me. The Carbon Off is overnight & not listed for glass. I like a lot less *dwell time*.
OTOH: I saw Goo-Gone on the *also bought* line. Gonna try that next time and see if it works.
The listing mentioned VOC. No odor or very little odor w/DPD. I like the citrus odor of Goo-Gone. When I’ve used GG, I have noticed it smears and needs extra detergent after.
Which leads me to wonder about home-made orange peel & vinegar cleaner. Never thought about it for baked on food/grease in tough places. May make some soon and give it a try.
Maybe I do and just don’t know about it thanks!
Easy-off and other oven cleaners are nasty lye based products.
Recently discovered Krud Kutter, my new go to heavy degreaser all purpose cleaner.
For heavy deposits, spray on, let the chemicals work for a few minutes, wipe off or scrubb with 3M green pads or brass brisle brush ( won't harm porcelain finish of stove top or enameled cast iron cook ware. Non-toxic and bio-degradable, comes in gallon jugs for re-fills.
Walmart and Wegmans carry it.
These products are a blessing for cooks. My aunt made a delicious peach cobbler. She used the same large glass baking dish each time it was made. She always complained that in order to really clean the ‘pan’ created more of a time consuming hassle than making the delicious creation.
Made a friend for life when my neighbor found her years old white enamel range was cleaned of the grease accumulated after years of cooking. She was thrilled when a bottle of the stuff was offered as a gift :-) LOL, suggested she might feel generous enough to remember me in her will put my name on the range when the time came. JOKING, of course!
Now in a nursing home, she’s not seen ‘her kitchen’ in over a year. In her 90’s and a birthday coming in July, racking my brain to give her a gift that would be something really special.
This product found at WALMART as well in the dish soap aisle. Spray squirt bottle.
With the solid shelving in refrigerators and those crispers, it’s almost impossible to completely clean up spills. I just bought a Frigidaire a month ago and ordered one that had those old-fashioned grill-like shelves. Spills easy to see and easy to get to before they congeal into a solid mass of disgusting.
Of course, the salesman shrugged and said “My grandmother has one of these in her garage.”
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