Obscure Kitchen Tips (and other strange stuff) Updated

Kitchen
Add a teaspoon of cooking oil to the water in the noodle pot to prevent it from boiling over.

An egg slicer is also wonderful for slicing strawberries or mushrooms.

Love those quarter pounders? 1/2 cup raw hamburger meat weighs about 1/4 pound.

Hate frying bacon? Bake it ! Place individual strips on a foil covered deep cookie sheet, place sheet on middle rack of pre heated oven, bake at 350 degrees 18 minutes. Place cooked strips in a baggie in the freezer. 30 seconds in the microwave and they are ready to eat.

Irritated sore hands? Before kitchen work, cooking etc... work a dab of Crisco solid shortening into your hands for about 3 minutes then wipe dry with paper towels.  There is no greasy feel left.  I am allergic to rubber gloves and I did not want to prepare food with medication on my hands.  Crisco also works wonders for diaper rash.

The best pot scrubber I ever had is an outdated credit/debit card.  Let your pot soak then add your detergent and use the side of the card as a scraper.  For those of you from colder climates use it like you were scraping ice off car windows.  (That's also not a bad idea either in an emergency)  You will never toss those outdated cards again. 

Bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days of the week and each day of the week has a different color twist tie or plastic clip.

Monday Blue
Tuesday Green
Thursday Red
Friday White
Saturday Yellow....... Notice the colors go alphabetically.

This is supposed to be a universal code to aid in removal of out dated product. It should work for all brands. Put a post it note next where you write out your shopping list so when you shop you will know what color tag to look for when you check the bread twist tie or plastic clip.

ALSO Save those plastic bread clips and use them to tag your electrical wires.

FREEZING:
You can freeze grapes. Wash, dry and freeze in individual serving size baggies.
You can leave them on the stem or not. Fabulous for salads. They thaw quickly. Delicious!

You can freeze marshmallow's. Right in the bag, just toss in the freezer. They thaw quickly.

You can freeze pancakes in single servings. Make them about 4 inches across, cool, pack 2 or 3 to a baggie. No more wasted pancake batter. Microwave about 30 seconds on each side and you are ready to eat.

WHITE VINEGAR  (BUY IT BY THE GALLON)

In the dishwasher: To eliminate those spots, fill rinse agent compartment with white vinegar.

In the Bathroom:  destroys mildew and mold.

Per cousin Claire
You know those pesky little fruit flies that show up?  Fill a tea light cup with white vinegar add a drop of dish liquid.  Place in general area.  It works !

LIQUID HAND SOAP  Make your own

What You Need
A bar of soap
A knife or grater
Water
A sauce pan or pot
Empty soap dispensers

Grate or finely chop a bar of soap (about four ounces of soap).
Bring four cups of water to a boil.
Turn off the heat, and add the soap. Stir to melt the soap. Continue stirring until the mixture is fully combined. At this point the mixture will be very liquidy.
Allow the mixture to cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, stir again. At this point, the soap should be slightly thicker.
Allow to cool for another several hours or overnight.
Stir to check the consistency. If it seems too liquidy, reheat and add more soap. If it seems too thick; reheat and add more water.  When satisfied pour into your soap dispensers.

Tips:
To make a bigger or smaller batch? Just use one cup of water for every ounce of soap.
This recipe stores well. Make up a big batch, a few times a year.
Results will vary depending on the type of soap used. Tweak the recipe until it meets your needs.
For a super-smooth consistency, run the finished soap through a blender before pouring into dispensers.

Save soap bar ends, too small for the shower in a clean wide mouth container like an empty peanut butter jar. Add just enough water to cover soap chips and store under your sink. When the jar is full you will have a thick paste. Use for spot treating laundry or to make liquid soap for your fancy soap dispensers.

LAUNDRY

THE ONLY SPOT REMOVER YOU'LL EVER NEED:

As I surf the net I kept running into posts stating  "The Only Spot Remover You’ll Ever Need !" how could I not check that out?

The posted recipe:

1 part grease cutting, liquid dish washing soap such as Dawn    (NOT Dishwasher Detergent)
2 parts ordinary hydrogen peroxide

As for myself I use dollar store detergent and peroxide.  I have tried this on all types of washable clothing and it does work.  It is cheap, effective and does not fade colors.

I dug up the worst stains I could find, which mean some of the clothing used for yard work and I was amazed.  I have cleaned "ring around the collar" stains,  nasty, set in, yellow underarms stains, grass stains, pet stains, and food stains like greasy food and baby food stains.  This stuff really works.

One really amazing example was my husbands white cap.  Sorry I do not have before and after photos but I really did not think it would work so I did not bother.  Too soon old, too late smart.  

The hat was a mess with ground in stains where he would grab the brim to remove his hat.  Sweatband stains all around the liner.  Grease and grass stains acquired while mowing and just a general yellowed appearance.  Still it was his favorite hat and he refused to give it up.  I tried washing it.  I even bought a hat frame that you can toss in the washing machine and I also dared to add bleach, but the hat did not come clean.  In desperation I made this recipe in a spray bottle.  I put the hat into the frame and really saturated it with the detergent and peroxide mixture.  I scrubbed the really bad spots with a toothbrush and let it set for about an hour.  I then machine washed it in regular detergent, no bleach and set it on top of the dryer to air dry.  I could not believe my eyes.  The hat looked new.  It was the most amazing transformation I have ever seen.   I have even used this mixture for general cleaning and on my furniture and rugs. 

Here I must caution before using it on rugs or furniture which are made with different fabrics and chemical treatments that clothing does not have, always, always test it on a small inconspicuous area first.  It is a small matter to risk a garment you cannot wear anyway but a much different matter to risk an expensive hard to replace item.

Murphy's 100% Vegetable Oil Soap

Dog Wash:  I bath all my dogs with Murphy's 100% Vegetable Oil Soap. Avoiding their eyes. They have No skin or coat conditions, like hot spots or dryness and No fleas. I had 4 Maltese dogs, in full coat, and I have used this method for over 27 years. For those who may not know, Maltese dogs are white and have long hair. They each got a bath once a month. I now have a Chihuahua and I bath her the same way.  I use tearless puppy shampoo on the face still avoiding their eyes.