Useful tips for home and everyday life: for the kitchen, cleaning the house, washing and storing things, to save money. Tips, life hacks for every day for the home

Life consists of little things, for each of which we have to pay.

Household expenses eat up the family budget the fastest (and most unnoticed!). Have you ever calculated how much money you spend monthly on running your household? Meanwhile, many spend all their earnings on food, household chemicals, minor repairs and paying bills. And some still don’t have enough. And how, in this case, can you enjoy life, save for a vacation and increase your finances?

Very simple! Having scoured the entire Internet and gathered together other people's and their own experiences, the HoneyMoney bee team discovered many incredibly useful tricks. For example, how to save electricity; stop falling for the tricks of chain stores; reduce the cost of detergents tenfold...

From hundreds of tips for saving money in everyday life, we have chosen the most practical ones, excluding calls to give up taking a bath in favor of a shower or to replace all cosmetics with bar soap. After all, Smart Bees are firmly convinced: saving in everyday life should bring joy, and not turn into a feat.

Read, save and enjoy life!

Useful tips for the home: kitchen tricks

There are a huge number of ideas that can make your life easier. If you apply these tips in everyday life, you will be able to solve many problems much better and faster.

Everything ingenious is simple, remember this phrase? Completely insignificant things can bring you great benefits in everyday life. If you want to learn how to run a household efficiently and effectively and organize your life well, read on for useful tips for your home.

Important: The kitchen is the place where the average housewife spends the vast majority of her time. Therefore, our useful tips for the home may be useful to you.

Cooking tricks for eggs

Categories of chicken eggs

To beat the white of a chicken egg fluently, you need to cool it in the refrigerator and add citric acid or a few drops of lemon juice to it.
To make the yolk of a chicken egg beat easily, let it stand in a warm place and add a little sugar to it.
If you want to make a fluffy omelette, add a small pinch of baking soda to the ingredients.
If you add a little soda to the water while boiling eggs, the shells will come off quickly and easily.
Storing eggs with the pointy end down will extend their shelf life when stored in the refrigerator.

Cooking Tricks for Kitchen Tools

Kitchen counters need regular and thorough cleaning. This can be done by wiping the surface with a solution of water and vinegar. But if you want to clean your cutting board even faster, use half a lemon. Before doing this, sprinkle the board with salt.
To prevent water from escaping from the pan during cooking, place a wooden spoon on the open pan. It will trap bubbles and prevent water from escaping.
Regular clothespins can come in handy in the kitchen. It is convenient to use them to close bags of chips, cereals, sugar and other bulk products.
If you can't open the jar, place one rubber strip on the jar and another on the lid. Now the jar will open with ease .
If you have an oven without a thermometer , checking the temperature at 200° is easy. To do this, add a drop of sugar; it melts at a temperature of 186°.
Enameled cookware will last longer if you boil a full pot of water in it immediately after purchase and do not pour out the water until it cools down.
You can heat food evenly in the microwave This method is only suitable for solid foods, such as pasta, rice, etc.
To disinfect kitchen sponges and meshes, first wash them well with detergent and place them in the microwave for 1 minute, turning it on at maximum power.
Keep a list of necessary purchases on the refrigerator . You can add what you need to buy at any time.
If you want to heat two plates of food in the microwave at the same time, place one of them on top of a cup.

How to heat food in two plates at the same time

Culinary tricks for meat and sausages

To make the meat juicy when frying, salt it at the end of frying, but under no circumstances at the beginning.
To find out if the sausage is good or not, put a piece of it in vodka for about five minutes. If the vodka changes color, then there are dyes in the sausage.
Are you having trouble cleaning your sausages after cooking? Just pierce them in several places with a fork before submerging them in boiling water. As a result, the film will come off easily.
Have you decided to cook chops? Cover the meat with cling film and then pound it. This will keep the hammer clean and protect the kitchen from splashes.
When frying cutlets in oil, carcinogens are formed. It is better to steam the cutlets.
If you cook meat for broth, put it in cold water, if for a salad or as a main course, then put it in boiling water; the broth in this case will not be very good, but the meat will be tasty. The same applies to vegetables.
If you cook the broth over fast, high heat, it will become cloudy and lose its flavor. The most delicious broth is obtained by cooking over low heat using 500 grams of meat per 2.5 liters of water. We use high heat just to bring the water to a boil, then cook the broth over low heat under the lid.
Chicken broth can lose its aroma and taste from bay leaves, so we do not add bay leaves to chicken broth.

Culinary tricks for fruits

Freeze the grapes to cool the wine later. This is beautiful and convenient because, unlike ice cubes, water does not drain from the grapes.
To keep the jam longer after opening the jar, sprinkle sugar on top.
Bananas should not be stored in one bunch; separate them and pack them one at a time in plastic bags. When stored in a bunch, they release gas, which promotes accelerated ripening of nearby fruits, and this leads to a short shelf life of any fruits that lie nearby, and the bananas themselves in a bunch help each other ripen faster.
For better storage, the ends of the bananas are wrapped in foil or a plastic bag.
If you have cooked compote, but it has not cooled down yet, place the pan with compote in a large bowl with cold salted water.
In order for the orange to release as much juice as possible, you need to heat it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
A pineapple will ripen faster if you cut off the leaves, including the top, and place them cut side down on a plate.
To select a good ripe pineapple, tap it with your palm and smell it. A good quality pineapple has a delicate, pleasant aroma and produces a dull sound when tapped. Overripe pineapple has a strong smell with notes of fermentation and responds with an empty sound when tapped.
If you want to choose a sour tangerine, choose a medium-sized yellowish fruit with a thin skin, flattened on both sides. If you want a sweet tangerine, choose a variety with small round fruits of bright orange color with red spots. Large tangerines with thick skin and a moderate orange color will be sweet and sour.
If you rub a lemon with baking soda and then wash it in hot water, it will become incredibly shiny and free of germs on the surface.
To make the lemon more fragrant, pour boiling water over it.
Lemon in a bowl of fruit will add freshness to all the fruits that lie nearby.
Don't throw away orange skins. Collect them tightly in a jar and fill with vinegar. Let it brew for 2 weeks, then you can use this infusion to wash the bathtub, sink, and kitchen floor. There will be a clean surface without bacteria and a pleasant smell.

Cooking tricks for butter

If you fry in olive oil, it immediately loses its beneficial qualities.
Butter will not burn when frying if you first grease the hot pan with sunflower or olive oil.
To reduce the splashing of fat when frying, add a pinch of salt to the pan.
The quality of butter can be determined by dipping a piece into boiling water. If there is margarine or spread in it, then the butter will fall into pieces, and if it is natural from cream, then it will immediately melt.
If there is a need to reuse vegetable oil to eliminate previous odors, add a 5 mm thick piece of ginger to it and heat the oil along with the ginger. It will absorb all unnecessary odors.
To quickly soften butter from the freezer for spreading it on a sandwich, cover a piece of butter with a hot glass in which boiling water was previously poured.

Lifehacks for the kitchen

Cooking tips for cheese

Cheese stored in parchment paper is better stored than in cling film. For better storage of cheese, wrap it in parchment paper and then in a plastic bag with air access, or in a cheese pan.
To prevent the cheese from becoming moldy in the refrigerator, grease the cut side with butter. Then the top of the cheese will remain unchapped longer.
The cheese will be fresh and aromatic for a whole week if, when stored in a cheese pan, place a piece of sugar next to it and cover with a lid.
The best place to store cheese in the refrigerator is in the vegetable drawer, where it is not as cold as the cheese changes texture when exposed to extreme cold.
Blue cheeses need to be wrapped especially carefully and be sure to be placed in a container so that mold fungi do not spread throughout the refrigerator.
Brine cheeses (brynza, suluguni, mozzarella) are best stored in enamel containers, pouring salt water or cheese whey over the cheese.

Secrets of delicious soup and meat

Cleansing Items

Stains are unsightly. Any neat person, seeing them on any thing, strives to get rid of them. Well, this can be done simply. Here are some tricks:

An old, yellowed bathroom curtain will look like new if all its dirty and unpleasant areas are washed with a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide (1:1 ratio).
Toothbrushes can be cleaned of tea and coffee stains and germs by soaking them in vinegar for an hour.
It is easy to clean the bathtub until it is white by spraying hydrogen peroxide over its surface. After 30 minutes, it should be washed off with warm water.
You can also fill the bath with baking soda, and after a few minutes fill it with vinegar. After half an hour, any dirt can be easily cleaned with a brush.
Unwanted yellowness can be removed from any surface using a solution of citric acid (1 sachet per 1 glass of water). Apply it with a sponge for 20 minutes and then rinse with warm water.
Old plaque can be easily removed with a mixture of salt and vinegar (1:1).
Stains can be removed from washcloths by soaking them in boiling water diluted 1:1 with vinegar for an hour.

The best thing about these recommendations is that almost everyone has the above ingredients in their home. And if you don’t have them, then it won’t be difficult to buy them - their prices are low.

Other useful tips for home, kitchen, cooking

Cooking tips for salt and spices

If you do not need broth, but just need to cook the meat, lower the meat after boiling water and salt it before cooking.
If you need a strong, rich meat broth, add salt at the beginning of cooking.
Salt the vegetable broth as soon as the water boils.
Add spicy spices to soups at the end of cooking for 3-5 minutes.
When frying potatoes, salt them at the end of cooking, and not at the beginning, so that black spots do not appear on them.
Spices will become more flavorful if you mix them with salt, because salt stimulates the release of essential oils from the spices. This mixture should be stored in a tightly closed container.

Rules for salting different types of broths

Cooking Tips for Pancakes and Baking

If you decide to make pancakes, we recommend pouring the batter into a bottle . This way it will be much easier to pour it into the pan, and the leftovers will be easier to store.
Over-salted pancake batter will be pale, ugly and not tasty. Over-sugared pancake batter becomes rough and burns quickly.
It is better to heat the pizza in a frying pan rather than in the microwave, this will make it more flavorful.
To easily and evenly cut a hot pie, warm the knife in a stream of hot water before doing so.
A soft, fresh loaf or bread can be easily cut if the knife blade is placed in boiling water for a few seconds before doing so.
If you cannot remove the baked pie from the mold, then wrap the mold in a towel moistened with water or place the mold in a pan of cold water.

Why do you soak food in milk?

Cooking tips for salads

Add salt and vegetable oil to the salad just before serving. If you do this in advance, the salad will simply drain and will not be presentable.
To calculate the amount of Olivier salad, be guided by the number of potatoes added to the salad at the rate of 1 potato per 1 guest.
If you wash parsley for salad in warm water, it will intensify its aroma.
If you cook vegetables or meat for a salad or as a main dish, then put them in boiling water; the broth in this case will not be very good, but the meat or vegetables will be tasty.

Kitchen life hacks

Fishing tricks

The fish will thaw better if it is placed in film in cold salted water.
The fish will be easier to clean if you keep it in boiling water for 5 minutes and then in cold water for 5 minutes.
The smell of mud will go away from the fish if you wash it before cooking and keep it in a strong salt solution for a while. You can also remove the smell of mud by soaking the fish an hour before cooking in an aqueous solution of vinegar (1 liter of water and 2 tablespoons of vinegar).
The fish will not crumble during frying if you do not salt it immediately, but 15 minutes before cooking.
When cooking fish, place large pieces at the edges of the pan, and smaller pieces in the middle, and cover with a lid.
To eliminate the unpleasant smell of fish during cooking, add parsley or celery root to the water.
The fish will turn out incredibly tasty if you soak it in milk for 10 minutes before frying, then roll it in flour and salt and fry it in boiling vegetable oil.

An important rule for brewing black and green tea

Cooking tips for vegetables and herbs

Store the greens in the refrigerator, placing them in a glass of water in a plastic bag, which must be tied at the top to prevent air from getting inside.
If the greens have wilted a little, immerse them in cold water with vinegar for an hour (1 tablespoon of vinegar per 1 liter of water).
The bitterness of chopped onions will disappear if you pour boiling water over them through a colander.
To prevent potatoes from sprouting during storage, add an apple to them.
Vegetable dishes (stews, side dishes, soups) will be of better quality if they are cooked in an enamel bowl (without chips inside), covered with a lid. The same rule applies to cooking vegetables.
To help the potatoes cook quickly, add one tablespoon of margarine to the water.
To make mashed potatoes tasty, choose potatoes that have smooth, yellowish skin. Because potatoes with red and brown skins have a sticky consistency when cooked.
It is easier to peel boiled vegetables while the vegetables are hot.
To make boiled beets tastier, cook them without salt, and to preserve the bright color of boiled beets during cooking, add sugar to the water (1 teaspoon of sugar per 1 liter of water).
You cannot cook or bake beets on a metal baking sheet. Beets and metal are not compatible.
When pickling cucumbers, adding dry mustard or mustard seeds to the brine will add piquancy to the taste and promote better storage.
To make sauerkraut tasty and crispy, ferment it after the new moon when the moon is young.
If you cook fresh vegetables or new potatoes, always put them in water after boiling.

Culinary tips for food storage

Honey is stored in a cool, dark place in a wooden, glass or aluminum container, maintaining its healing properties for a whole year. Under no circumstances should honey be stored in galvanized containers containing copper or lead.
Spices do not tolerate light, high temperatures and dampness. The best conditions for storing them would be a place away from the stove and an opaque (ceramic, porcelain or dark glass) tightly closed container.
Fresh cucumbers are stored in the refrigerator in a plastic bag without air getting in there.

Place and shelf life for different products
Culinary tricks for milk

To prevent an open milk package from going sour, add a small pinch of salt immediately after opening. This way the milk will last longer.
When preparing sour cream sauce, add a little milk to prevent the sour cream from curdling.

If there are no scales in the kitchen - measuring food

Culinary tricks for preparing cereals, porridges, side dishes

To make the sauce pure white and crumbly, pour a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice into the cooking water.
If the rice is burnt during cooking, then place pieces of white bread on top of it over the entire surface for 7-12 minutes so that it absorbs the burnt smell, then immediately remove the rice from the pan without touching the burnt layer. Anything that is burnt should be thrown away.
Cool the water remaining after cooking rice, pasta, and potatoes and water your indoor plants. They will receive a lot of nutrients along with water.
To prepare a crumbly side dish of noodles, pasta or pasta, pour 1 tbsp into the water while cooking. spoon of olive oil.
You will get tasty porridge if you cook it in a tightly closed saucepan without opening or stirring, so as not to release the steam.
To make popcorn fluffy and cook faster with fewer unpopped kernels, you need to immerse the kernels in water for 10 minutes before cooking and then dry them.

Kitchen gadgets

Cook food

Nobody expects you to have Michelin-star-worthy dinners, especially when food delivery works so well. Nevertheless, it is worth having a few simple dishes from the most common products in your arsenal. Let it be at least scrambled eggs, cutlets with mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

Perhaps some people think that any fool would cook this. But here's a revelation: some are not able to heat even ready-made food for themselves. They will sit hungry and wait for someone to come with their hands off their shoulders and put a plate in the microwave.

By the way, the Lifehacker section “There is Time” contains recipes of varying degrees of complexity, including the simplest ones. If you follow the descriptions, you are sure to get something tasty.

Try it