Kitchen Tip: drying ziploc bags Tuesday, Jan 24 2012

I buy good quality Ziploc bags, then I was and reuse them many times before disposing of them (when they get a hole). It has saved me much over the years!

The problem is in finding ways to dry them! If I just have one or two to wash, it’s not hard to hang it over a flower vase by the sink. But when I do bake sales, I end up with a LOT of bags to dry at all once.

That problem triggered the solution of hanging them up like laundry! 😉  My husband installed some ropes below a shelf in my laundry room so I could hang dry laundry. I have found them just as useful in hanging Ziploc bags, with a clothespin!

When you hang your bags, make sure to puff the inside so they air can dry them.

Is there a place in your house where you can install a mini clothes line? It’s perfect for drying out those Ziploc bags!

Shared at Kitchen Tip Tuesday!

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Kitchen Tip: Freezing Grated Cheese Monday, Jan 16 2012

When cheese comes on a really good sale, I love to buy a lot, grate it, and freeze it to last until the next good sale. The problem is that grated cheese often clumps together into one big chunk which is very hard to use later on!

A few years ago, a friend at church told me that she coats her grated cheese with flour so it doesn’t form a chunk! It works really well, and we’ve done it ever since!

Here are the simple steps:

1. Grate the cheese
2. Place it in a large ziploc bag
3. Generously sprinkle flour on top
4. Close the bag with air still inside
5. Shake to distribute flour all over the cheese
6. Take air out of bag and freeze

You may find it helpful to not overfill the bag, so the flour distributes easily.

Bonus tip: once cheese is frozen, you can combine 2 bags of grated cheese into one. It will freeze a lot easier if your bags are only half full.

 

Shared at Tammy’s Kitchen Tip Tuesday!

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Kitchen Tip: Toothbrush Monday, Aug 15 2011

I was cleaning the kitchen the other day, and realized that I just had to share how useful an old toothbrush can be in the kitchen. 🙂  Originally, it was my husband’s idea to use a toothbrush, and it has been helpful ever since! So, in case you never thought of it, how about “recycling” your old toothbrush in the kitchen?

My faucet has little cracks where various pieces of it meet up. These get dirty and are hard to clean. Except when using a toothbrush! It makes it a breeze to clean up quickly! Definitely a time saver.

It’s also very useful in cleaning various kitchen gadgets. Pictured above is my Bosch mixer (used to knead bread, mix up cookies and cakes, etc). My husband hates cleaning it because of all the cracks in it. I agree that all those little slots are a pain, but the machine is so handy and wonderful that it’s worth the bother of cleaning it! Especially since Josiah brought a toothbrush into the kitchen. It makes it a 1000% easier to clean! The bristles get into all those little cracks and easily sweep away the dough and batters. Just. Like. That. It’s genius!

There are many uses for an old toothbrush in the kitchen, and those are two of the main ways I use mine.

By the way, right after taking these pictures, Josiah got me a new faucet! the other one was leaking unless it was closed just right. Isn’t it a pretty new faucet (on a great sale)?!

Do you use a toothbrush in the kitchen? If not, how to you keep those hard-to-clean places?

Shared at Kitchen Tip Tuesday, and Homemaker by Choice!

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