12 Kitchen Hacks to Make Your Life Easier | GroupTogether

We're all about streamlining things so you can spend more time celebrating the joyful moments in life. So we've teamed up with the Dinner Ladies who have shared a dozen kitchen hacks - tips and tricks that our grandparents seemed to know.

1. How To Open A Tricky Jar

Having trouble with a tricky jar? Use a flat rubber band around the lid to help grip and try again. Pick up some wide rubber bands and they'll double as labels for your jars. Win-win!

2. Juicing Lemons & Limes

Microwave lemons and limes for about 10 seconds and roll them on your kitchen bench a little before cutting. They'll be easier to juice!

If you only need a squeeze, pierce it with a skewer and squeeze out the juice so you don't waste the whole fruit. Then keep it in the fridge until you need it again.

3. Garlic Press Hack

Next time you're using a garlic press, add a little piece of carrot to the top of the garlic. When you press down, you'll use the whole piece of garlic (less waste) and the carrot will be left in the press.

4. How To Ripen Avocado

If you're craving avo on toast, you can ripen your avocado a little quicker by putting it in a brown paper bag with a banana for a day or two. Store out of direct sunlight and at room temperature.

5. Makin' Gravy

If you're making gravy from roast meat and need to get rid of the fat from the roasting pan, simply remove the meat and add some ice cubes - the fat will stick right to them! Then just lift them out, fat and all.

6. Save Your Herbs For Later

If you've got too many herbs on hand, you can save some for another time by chopping/blending them finely then freeze them in ice cube trays with water, butter or olive oil. You can take your frozen herbs and drop them straight into your next dish! Magic.

BONUS TIP:

Your freezer can make lots of things in life easier! Freeze fresh ginger or chillies and they become easier to grate. Peel then freeze onions so you can chop them without tears (let them thaw a little first). Soft cheeses like mozzarella are also much easier to grate if you freeze them for half an hour. Freeze any leftover wine in ice cube trays and you can add them to your next casserole or bolognese.

7. Cooking Without A Kitchen

If you're travelling or renovating and you don't have access to a kitchen, pick up a sandwich press and you can easily fry bacon, eggs or hamburgers.

8. A Steel Wool Secret

If you rarely use steel wool and find it rusting next to your sink, store it in the freezer in a zip-lock bag and it will last forever!

9. A Makeshift Carving Board

Need to carve a roast (or anything juicy for that matter) and don't have a carving board with a runnel to catch the juices? Put a chopping board inside a large baking tray and your kitchen bench will remain mess-free.

10. A Brilliant Butter Tip

When cutting soft butter, fold a piece of baking paper to cover your kitchen knife. The paper will stay inside the cutter. No mess!

11. Quick-and-easy Steaming

If you want to steam something quickly, put a glass of water in the microwave with your food. Great for quick dumplings!

12. Limescale Be Gone

Remove limescale from inside your kettle by putting a piece of lemon in the kettle and bringing it to the boil. Then rinse well.

The best kitchen hack of all!

The best kitchen hack we know is chipping in with friends or family for a Dinner Ladies voucher. It's perfect for new mums or someone going through a hard time. You can collect money and create a beautiful card online with GroupTogteher, then gift them a voucher to order Dinner Ladies meals - delicious home-cooked meals delivered to your door. It's free and easy, like love should be.