5 Favorite Kitchen Hacks

Good things come in…5? Not sure if that’s true but I recently released the 5 Things I’m Loving: October 2020 Edition, and now I’m sharing 5 favorite kitchen hacks so I’d say there’s SOME truth to it.

Now to this post. If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen like me, you start to pick up some things to make your life a little bit easier. I’m sharing five of my favorite kitchen hacks that I use semi-regularly.

Hopefully one or more of these shortcuts make your life a little easier too so you have more time for other fun things!

1. Microplane Zester = Versatile

Everyone has a grater in their kitchen, but do you have a Microplane zester?? These things are actually so useful for doing different things when you're cooking! I use mine to zest citrus when I'm baking or cooking like everyone else, but I also love using it to get tiny cheese flakes on my pasta so that it melts immediately and gets my pasta nice and cheesy evenly.

You can also use the zester to grate spices like cinnamon if you want just a little topping on your baked good or homemade latte. One thing that I want to try in the future is salting egg yolks and then grating these yolks over pasta or avocado toast for extra decadence.

2. Freeze Your Bread

I love carbs just as much as you probably do, but I'm just one person so finishing a whole loaf of bread takes a while! What I like to do to keep my bread from going moldy is just slicing it up and then putting it in a freezer bag. Whenever I want a slice, I can just pull one out of the bag and pop it into the toaster and it tastes just as fresh as when I bought it.

I haven’t tried this with too many other carbs, but it does also work with tortillas. We’ve kept a bag in the freezer for weeks before and they still tasted pretty good after thawing and getting heated up on the stove.

3. Steam Eggs in a Pan

Poaching an egg is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but, if you're doing a lot of things at once and want to cook your eggs while doing your makeup or something, try steaming them!

Just put a little drop of oil in your pan at medium heat, crack your egg into it, and then put a tablespoon of water in, and cover the pan with a pot lid. In just a few minutes, the egg whites will cook through but your yolks will still be nice and runny — the perfect topping for any dish.

4. Freeze Your Aromatics

Just like the bread, make your life a little easier by getting the prep work done way in advance. If you have scallions, garlic, ginger, or onions that you don’t plan on using anytime soon, chop them up and freeze them in freezer-friendly containers. I even use Ziplocs in a pinch because I usually use these frozen packs pretty quickly.

I haven’t done it myself, but I’ve seen plenty of blogs recommend freezing chopped herbs in olive oil too — you can freeze nearly anything!

5. Feel Bougie with Flower Cubes

With this party trick, I guess the takeaway from this whole post is that the freezer is your best friend 😂 If you want to jazz up your next glass of La Croix or lemonade, try freezing some flowers in ice to beautify your drink (and keep it cool).

Simply pick the prettiest looking blooms, rinse them off in some water, and then place them in an ice cube tray of your choice with some water. Pop them into the freezer for a few hours and, voila, you now have an easy peasy, eye-pleasing party trick: floral ice cubes! If you want even prettier ones, try getting whiskey ball ice cubes to encase your flowers in icy spheres.

Note: the flowers do not add anything to your drink other than pretty visuals. If you want to match flavors with visuals, try lavender ice cubes in lavender lemonade/ice tea and so on!