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In Africa, we place twigs or leaves at the bottom of the pan to prevent the food from burning and sticking to the pan. What other hacks have you got?

I might have many but I can’t think of any off the top of my head. To avoid burning I usually just add water and everything comes right off the bottom of the pan. I’d love to see others’ responses though.

One of the hack/s to prevent food from burning is to frequently stir up the food in the pan. It makes the food not to stick in the pan and will make the food not burn from each side. You can also add cooking oil to prevent the food from sticking to the pan.

We have a farm with chickens so we always have eggs on hand, plus I like to meal prep so I have food on hand during the week to be able to grab quickly. So one of my kitchen hacks is to boil two dozen eggs on Monday and peel them to have on hands for things during the week- like breakfast, with toast and tea, to put in salads, to have as egg salad for lunch, etc.

I recently learnt that to defrost chicken, you put it in the microwave and when it defrosts it comes out not mushy and firm. Comes out nice actually.

Do not wash your eggs, they last longer.
Use an ice cube in very oily food to have the fat stuck to it and removed.
Sugar or coffee becoming very stiff in the jar? Just add a piece of bread and close.
Butter stick frozen? Put hot water into a glass or cup, empty it and immediately put the butter in it and turn it upside down, it melts almost like it is in room temperature... Just faster.
Food too salty? Add a few blocks of potatoes and the salt will be absorbed into the potato...

There is a lot I could mention... I love food and learning about some tricks everyday!

If you have too many eggs to eat before they expire, make a batch of pannu kakku, cut it into pieces and freeze it for later. You can add berries during the cooking process or add diced meat and vegetables if you decrease the amount of sugar.

Every morning, I fry a piece of bacon and then use the grease from that to make an egg or hashbrowns. I used to use a huge chunk of butter, but then figured this would be cheaper. Healthier? I don't know about that!

If you are canning and don't have a basket, you can use a collapsible vegetable steamer instead.

If you want to decrease the amount of sugar in something, soak some stevia leaves in water and use the water instead of sugar. I personally would rather use sugar because I think the taste of stevia is a little strange, but this might work great for someone who has to or wants to decrease their sugar intake.

When cooking rice, especially if we will not use a rice cooker, we will put a pinch of salt on the lid. It helps the rice not get burned and be cooked perfectly. This is indeed a hack that is substantial in many ways.

While cooking rice porridge, or jollof rice as we call it in my country, we cover the rice with a light cellophane wrapper before covering it up with the lid. This helps it to cook faster and evenly and also prevents burning.

If you burn your food and want to get rid of the smell real fast, boil water with a pot and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, leave the pot open while it boils, and it will absorb the stench from the burnt food and give off a beautiful vanilla aroma.

When frying food, tissue paper has helped a lot. Everytime I fried I will put first the fried food in the tissue to absorb Its oil. Its purpose is to lessen the fat and the cholesterol in the food.

One of my kitchen hacks is skinning a kiwi. This trick works best if your kiwi is ripe. First, slice the ends off of a kiwi. Slide a spoon under the skin, and run it all the way around the kiwi, keeping it as close to the skin as possible without breaking through the skin.

Using vinegar and oil to wax the wood in the kitchen

Awesome kitchen hack is to clean and organise as you cook. Makes life easier.

Instead of cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot all day, sometimes I just buy a broasted chicken from the store. I debone it[ and chop it up. Then I add that in to my recipe. It is always nice and tender.