1. How to cook vegetables
Prepping vegetables can be daunting for many but there are many methods to do this. Some of the easiest are to blanch or roast your veggies, and there are plenty of videos available to help you understand the process.
2. How to defrost meat
If you are looking to defrost meat, the best and safest way is to do this in the fridge overnight. This should help it completely thaw. You can then keep ground meat, poultry and seafood in the fridge for an extra day or two. This can extend to 3-5 days for red meat.
3. How to ripen fruit
If you are looking to ripen fruit – perhaps for a banana cake – you can do this by placing the fruit in a paper bag and closing it, as it traps gas and speeds up the ripening process.
4. How to cook seafood
There are many different types of seafood with different methods of cooking, which can be found online. However, it is important to store these correctly. When storing fresh seafood, keep it in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
5. How to cook turkey
Again, there are various methods to cooking a turkey but there are some rules to remember. Try and choose a fresh turkey where possible, keep an eye on the oven temperature and timings and let it rest before serving.
6. How to tell if food is off
Nobody likes to waste food but there are some ways to check if food is still safe to eat. If your food has changed texture, smell or even colour, then it’s best to get rid.
7. How to chop an onion without crying
If you keep the onion cool, in your fridge, there will likely be less irritants that make you cry. There will still be some, but this should help.
8. How to peel garlic
One tip to peel garlic quickly is to pop individual garlic cloves in a jar and cover it. Give the jar a shake for up to 30 seconds and the outer layer should be easier to remove.
9. How to stop pasta from sticking together
Make sure your water is boiling when adding the pasta and stir for the first few minutes to make sure they don’t stick together or to the pan. Once drained, run the pasta with cold water to stop them from sticking.
10. Should you put eggs in the fridge?
If you want your eggs to stay fresh for longer, keep them in the fridge. But, to avoid fluctuations in temperature which can cause salmonella, keep them in the main section of your fridge.
Nutritional therapist Anna Mapson says: “If you’re not a stead of worrying about making complex impressive dishes or recreating Instagram photos, concentrate on making your meals more nutritious instead. This will give you the biggest improvement in health.”
