Many kitchen hacks claim that they’re going to make cooking easier—but sometimes, these so-called shortcuts actually slow us down. Whether it’s peeling garlic by shaking it in a jar or freezing herbs, these tricks are more hassle than help. Here are fourteen kitchen “hacks” that might cost you time instead of saving it. Instead, it’s better to stick to simple, tried-and-true methods that get the job done efficiently!
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Peeling Garlic by Shaking It in a Jar
Shaking garlic cloves in a jar to peel them sounds like it’ll get the job done quickly—but it often ends up taking longer than just smashing them with a knife. You may spend extra time picking off bits of skin that didn’t come off while you were shaking them. In the end, sticking to the classic method with a knife will save you a lot of time & frustration.
Using a Straw to Hull Strawberries
You might’ve seen people talking about using a straw through strawberries to take out the stem, yet lining up the straw just right is rather tricky & time-consuming. You might spend more time fiddling with each berry than if you’d simply sliced off the tops with a knife! Instead, the simplest way is often the fastest way to get the job done so you should probably rely on doing that.
Freezing Herbs in Ice Cube Trays
Freezing herbs in olive oil in ice cube trays is supposed to keep them fresh but the prep work takes time. You have to chop the herbs finely, fill each tray compartment—and then later thaw the cubes when you need them, so you can’t just use them immediately! All of this might be more effort than just using fresh herbs or reaching for dried ones from the pantry.
Separating Egg Yolks with a Plastic Bottle
Despite what you might’ve seen on social media, sucking up egg yolks with a plastic bottle requires some skill—if you’re not precise, you might break the yolk or spend too much time trying to get the bottle to work properly. Often, separating the yolk using the eggshell halves or even your hands is quicker. It’s also a lot less fiddly so you might want to do that instead!
Peeling Ginger with a Spoon
Lots of people talk about using a spoon to peel ginger but such a “hack” is rather tedious. Any knobs of ginger with lots of bumps & knobs will be harder to peel because the spoon might not reach into all the nooks. You’ll have to spend extra time trying to get all the skin off so carefully using a vegetable peeler or a small knife is much more efficient.
Spraying Measuring Cups for Sticky Ingredients
Spraying measuring cups with cooking oil before measuring sticky stuff like honey seems like it’ll make pouring a lot easier—but it adds an extra step & makes cleaning up messier. You might have to scrub off the oily residue later so you’re better off just measuring and then using a spatula to scrape out the ingredient. It’s a lot faster and saves you from having to do any extra cleanup.
Rolling Citrus Fruits to Get More Juice
Many people swear by rolling lemons or limes on the counter to get more juice but doing so doesn’t usually get you much more juice and also takes extra time. You might as well cut & squeeze the fruit right away because it works just as well. Better yet, you won’t lose that much juice which is exactly what you want from these fruits.
Using a Potato Peeler on Hard Cheese
Using a potato peeler to slice hard cheese isn’t a great idea because it’s so awkward and the peeler might not handle the hardness of the cheese well. You could end up with uneven or broken slices so you’re better off grabbing a proper cheese slicer instead. Try using a knife to make the task easier and quicker with more evenly cut pieces.
Softening Butter in the Microwave
Putting butter in the microwave to soften it often causes it to melt by accident, which leaves you waiting for it to solidify again—that eats up more time. Planning ahead & letting butter soften at room temperature will help you avoid this problem since you’ll get the right consistency when you need it. So check the recipe in advance and get the butter prepared in time!
Making Bacon in a Waffle Iron
Some people think making bacon in a waffle iron is smart because it supposedly cooks both sides at once, although it’s not exactly easy. Fitting strips into the iron is a tight squeeze and, more often than not, bacon grease spills over and leaves you with a greasy countertop. Cleaning an appliance full of cooked-on fat also takes time you could’ve spent on something else—just stick to pan-frying bacon with a splatter guard or baking it on a tray.
Kneading Dough in a Plastic Bag
Kneading dough in a zip-top bag looks neat yet it usually traps pockets of air—you might open the bag only to find lumps of flour that didn’t mix well, which means you’ll have to dump it out. Then, you have to work the dough by hand and that puts you right back at square one! You also risk splitting the bag if the dough is too stiff so you’ll have a sticky mess and you might as well work the dough directly on a floured surface.
Using Dental Floss to Slice Cake
Using unflavored dental floss to slice cakes is more hassle than it’s worth because lining it up evenly gets quite tricky, especially with frosted layers. If the floss isn’t taut, you might crush the edges or get crooked slices and you also have to clean or replace the floss for each pass. That adds extra steps that you could avoid by using a long, thin knife.
Blowing Hard-Boiled Eggs Out of Their Shells
There’ve been many viral videos involving cracking both ends of a hard-boiled egg, then blowing into one side so the egg pops out the other. While it looks impressive in a video, it’s not guaranteed to work in real life and you might have to crack the shells perfectly, which takes a few tries. And when the membrane doesn’t separate cleanly, you’ll be stuck peeling by hand.
Hard-Boiling Eggs in the Oven
Some people place raw eggs in a muffin tin & bake them because they think it’ll help them skip the regular boiling method—but the trouble is that you’re more likely to overcook or undercook the eggs. It’s hard to guess exactly how hot your oven runs and you might pull them out, only to find that half have grayish yolks because they stayed in too long. Cleaning up baked-on egg drips in the muffin tin is also annoying so just use a regular pot of boiling water!
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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