82
votes
Accepted
How do I fill a hot water urn that doesn't fit in the sink?
Here's a solution that my friend came up with:
Take a bunch of Styrofoam cups
Cut out the bottoms of the cups
Stack them up
Put the wide end of the top cup under the faucet, and the (cut open) ...
- 4,267
71
votes
How do I fill a hot water urn that doesn't fit in the sink?
Similar to @Shokhet's answer you can also use a clean dustpan, as shown below:
Source: Trupser.com
- 907
52
votes
Accepted
Tricks for opening very tight jars
Usually jars with stiff lids are fresh from the store and have been packed with the contents under lower pressure than the outside air i.e a vacuum. This pressure difference can increase the ...
- 953
43
votes
Tricks for opening very tight jars
You can wear rubber gloves and open it; usually, the extra grip helps.
Run hot water over the lid. The heat will make the lid expand temporarily and it'll be easier to open.
Put the lid on hot water (...
- 3,012
31
votes
How to seal the plastic bags airtight after opening without using rubber band?
Used plastic bottle which has lid will help to keep the plastic bag sealed and works as a container. This will seal the bags which has liquid also if used properly.
Cut the bottle above the body and ...
- 5,712
29
votes
How to clean inside of straw
Your best option is to use a pipe cleaner. Add some dish soap to the pipe cleaner. I like to dip the pipe cleaner in a bottle of soap, but you can pour soap on it. Now just push the pipe cleaner ...
- 11.2k
27
votes
How do I fill a hot water urn that doesn't fit in the sink?
Step 1: Get a smaller container which actually fits in the sink.
Step 2: Fill it up.
Step 3: Dump it into the larger container
Step 4: Repeat Steps 1-3 as needed.
- 839
27
votes
How can I remove the cork from a wine bottle when I don't have a corkscrew?
Shoe Method
One way to loosen the corkscrew is to remove your shoe, place the bottom of the bottle in the foot hole (to protect the glass), and then bang the shoe against a stone wall repeatedly ...
- 4,055
27
votes
Accepted
How to peel an orange?
That question has been asked on cooking.stackexchange before, and the answer by Jolenealaska (and originally by blogger E is for Eat) quite qualifies as a life hack:
Basically, you cut off both ends ...
- 576
23
votes
Accepted
How to make neat, round pancakes
By putting the pancake batter into a squeeze bottle, you can create any shape you like.
There are products made for this purpose but you can also use any old empty squeeze bottle you have lying ...
- 1,311
21
votes
Accepted
How to separate egg yolk from whites?
The Empty-Water-Bottle Method
Squeeze a washed empty water bottle.
Place the opening of the bottle over an egg yolk, still squeezing,
and slowly let go of your squeeze.
The yolk should get sucked ...
- 4,055
18
votes
Tricks for opening very tight jars
First, make sure the jar (and lid) are clean. A dusty jar can make it hard to maintain a firm grip. Then make sure your hands are clean, for the same reason.
If your hands are too dry, you may also ...
- 2,472
18
votes
How to remove a hard boiled egg's shell quickly, by hand, without damaging the egg?
The best trick I've come across is to put the egg(s) in some water in a closed container and shake it around. The water prevents the eggs from getting completely destroyed but the banging around ...
- 2,772
18
votes
Accepted
Cleaning a microwave
After watching me struggle with this a for a couple of weeks, the day-cook showed me a really simple trick for cleaning out the microwave:
Find a microwave safe bowl
Fill it half way with water
...
- 4,496
17
votes
Accepted
How can I confirm if meat is cooked without a thermometer?
The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat, by Elise on Simply Recipes
Raw:
Open the palm of your hand. Relax the hand. Take the index finger of
your other hand and push on the fleshy ...
- 319
17
votes
Accepted
How to open a bag of rice sealed with string
There is a "right" and a "wrong" side to start. Note that the seam is typically made with one string, which is exactly the reason it's so easy to unravel.
Look at the side with the loops. You'll ...
- 3,028
16
votes
Tricks for opening very tight jars
You can easily open tight jars lid with duct tape. DYI . I have personally tested and worked in first attempt itself.
TIP: Place the jar on flat surface and hold if it contains liquid.
Here are ...
- 5,712
16
votes
Accepted
How can I not burn my hands in hot water when doing dishes?
Lots of people have mentioned rubber gloves. I agree, but I found while doing dishes in restaurant quantity, (EG, for way longer than you may be doing dishes at home), It would get a lot easier if I ...
- 1,358
16
votes
How to peel an orange?
I really like the Tupperware Orange Peeler. It is used by dragging the hook end around the orange skin, which opens the peel up all the way to the flesh of the orange. Then it's a simple matter of ...
- 954
15
votes
How to make neat, round pancakes
I have a lot of old 60ml syringes lying around. These make great water guns, but you can also use them to make pancakes. Just be sure you either get all the lumps out of the batter, or cut part of the ...
- 4,110
15
votes
How can I not burn my hands in hot water when doing dishes?
The dishes will get clean if you use water that's the hottest you can handle. Eventually your heat tolerance will improve also.
One thing you can do is put the dishes into a sink full of super-hot ...
- 4,110
15
votes
Make suction cups suck
Put a little oil on the suction cup. Oil does not evaporate as quickly as water and also forms a better seal. In the kitchen, you should use an edible oil such as olive or coconut oil.
- 3,485
15
votes
How to clean inside of straw
Use denture cleaners. These create foams that smell clean and clean deep within the straw.
Also, use long Q tips. These may push the dirt further in some cases, so also use with soapy water and ...
- 8,612
15
votes
Accepted
Stained fridge from dry-erase markers
Isopropyl Alcohol
If the typical 70% rubbing alcohol isn't removing everything, try the higher concentrations (90%+ solution). The 70% solution works, but not quite as well as the higher ...
- 6,634
14
votes
How can I safely grate a small food item without cutting my fingers?
There are a variety of devices to solve this problem, my first thought would be thimbles if you don't want to buy one, but I would encourage just getting such a device, there's both rotary and flat-...
- 474
14
votes
Accepted
How to kill the stink in an unplugged refrigerator?
Most of the time when I am going to a long long vacation I just unplugged my refrigerator (making sure that it is empty first) while leaving only maybe 5-10 pieces of charcoal inside the refrigerator ...
- 1,947
14
votes
Accepted
Best method of getting a wine label off a wine bottle?
According to Popular Mechanics the most effective method was using baking soda and water:
Baking Soda and Water
Directions: Three bottles, 16 tablespoons of baking soda and 32 cups
of water, ...
- 4,496
13
votes
Accepted
How to make washed fruit last longer in the refrigerator?
Wash them in vinegar. This is for berries, but I use it on all produce.
Make the solution a very mild vinegar solution.
The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on
the ...
- 8,612
12
votes
Accepted
Any hacks for peeling garlic?
Take two large bowls.
Put the garlic cloves into one of the bowls.
Place the second bowl upside down on top of the bowl with the cloves.
Shake the hell out of it.
In about 10 seconds, all cloves are ...
- 1,509
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible