Cooking is an activity loved by many but hated by much more. Especially cooking under the pressure of a short time. You probably know that very well: you come back from work and you have no more than a few dozens of minutes for preparing the meal for yourself and your family. Here is the list of some useful tips which will make you an expert for reducing the time or difficulty of meal preparation. To incorporate the time necessary for cooking into your schedule will be much easier when using those! Ladies and gentlemen, the list of creative food hacks are here!

10. Freezing bananas like a pro

Image Credit: nuevamujer

Bananas are among very popular ingredients and it is always good to have some portion of them ready to use in your kitchen. At any time, you should have frozen bananas so you can make a smoothie or any other banana-based drink or food. However, the common practice is to freeze bananas as a whole. This is not very good idea. Rather than that, you should have them sliced into small 1-inch pieces. With a shorter time of de-freezing, easier way to use and better taste, this is definitely the best way! It is very simple and popular among DIY food hacks.

9. Measuring of viscous liquids

Image Credit: containerandpackaging

Sometimes, to measure needed dose of honey or any other liquid with high viscosity can be the real pain. To measure them, cups or spoons seems like the most appropriate way but with the stickiness of honey, molasses and other similar ingredients, this can be a tough job. However, the solution is one small step away. Try to use nonstick spray first and you will see the difference!

8. Opening jars

Image Credit: thesplendidlifestyle

Do you know that feeling of hopelessness when you can´t open the jar? Especially for women, this can result in precious minutes lost and break your carefully created time-management plan. At the dawn of man, our ancestors rose up over other animals by learning to use tools. So, don´t rely only on a strength of your arms and take something as primitive as a spoon for help. Is popping the top primitive? It is and that´s why it is among real genius food hacks.

7. Faking of a day-old bread

Image Credit: Butter Me Up Brooklyn

For some recipes, the bread you need must be a day-old. It won´t simply work with a fresh one. If you do not have a day-old bread at your hand, don´t panic. You can easily simulate it. First of all, you must slice your fresh bread into pieces you will need. Then, you will put them in a single layer on a pan. Pre-heat your oven to 350°F and insert the pan inside. After 15 minutes or so, you have your day-old bread. We like creative food hacks, and you?

6. Freezing the oatmeal

Image Credit: seriouseats

Do you like the taste of an oatmeal? No doubt you do, an oatmeal is a basic food. But let´s be honest, do you really like an instant one? Homemade oatmeal is playing higher league. Unfortunately, its preparation is little bit time demanding. That´s why you should cook some during the weekend, put it into some muffin form, freezer bag and put it into a freezer. Simple DIY food hacks at the best.

5. Don´t forget to salt while baking sweet desserts

Image Credit: Weekend Bakery

This one of creative food hacks is not about real sweet-salty desserts like Fleur-de-sel brownies. We want to talk about salting normal sweet desserts. In these cases, salting is often forgotten in recipes as people think that salting a sweet dessert is nonsense. It is not! The salt can enhance other flavors and you should not forget to add it in a surprisingly high amount!

4. Perfect iced coffee

Image Credit: tastykitchen

Iced coffee can be a perfect refreshing drink for hot summer days. However, when ice cubes melt, what you have is not a delicious iced coffee but a water diluted liquid which is pretty far from what you like and want. Is there a solution? Of course it is! Make your ice cubes not from a pure water but from a coffee itself. Simple but efficient. Another example of a genius food hacks.

3. Proper way to thaw meat

Image Credit: Food Network

Thawing meat properly is an important issue because doing it wrong way may have even serious health implications. The primary option is to move the meat from freezer to a refrigerator, except really big pieces, the meat will thaw in 24 hours. But in case you do not have 24 hours, you will need to do it another way. Leave the meat in an original air-tight pack or insert it into some sealable plastic bag, put it in some bowl and fill it with cold water. Change water every thirty minutes and do not try to use hot water! This is one of basic DIY food hacks.

2. Shortest way to a room-temperature butter

Image Credit: Design Mom

The texture of a butter can play very important role for the final product. And we have all been there – you are ready to bake but your butter is rock-hard. What now? Physics have an answer: for much faster process of butter softening, you need to increase a surface area of a butter significantly. And the easiest way to increase the surface is to grate it.

1. Fresh bread forever

Image Credit: What Megan´s Making

There is one among creative food hacks with a paramount importance. Question to the answer of how to keep bread fresh for a long time is the basic question in any kitchen. Once again, the solution is quite easy. You need to freeze it. But be aware, do not freeze the whole bread. Slice it at first. Why? Have you ever tried to slice the frozen bread? You would need some heavy machinery to do so…

In this chart, we have listed some clever and creative food hacks. Now when you have knowledge of these cooking tips and some interesting DIY food hacks, you should consider reading our top-10-recipes-your-guests-shall-love-eating

Don’t forget to read more articles here.