Pan greasers
A lady who lives next door taught me to save the butter and margarine wrappers in a bag in the fridge and when I need to grease a pan, get out a couple of the wrappers and rub the inside part of the wrapper on the pan bottom and sides. It works and uses up the butter or margarine on the paper.
Spatter-free frying
When frying hamburger, steak or even pork chops that spatter a lot, take your cone shaped colander and set it upside down over the pan. All the spatters will land back in the pan instead of all over the stove and countertop. All the steam will escape through the holes, but not the grease.
Bug-free vegetables
A reader wrote that she was washing vegetables one day when a friend arrived to visit. The friend told her to put a dash of vinegar in the wash water. When she asked why the friend told her that vinegar, or even salt, will drive the bugs hiding in the leaves to the surface of the water so you can get rid of them quickly. She said, “this is too good to not pass on.” So we did.
Pickle coloring
An old neighbor of mine taught me this years ago: She said if you run out of food coloring when making pickles just mix blue and yellow food coloring from the cupboard and you will get green. She said that we always use the red and green colors first and the others just take up cupboard space so why not use them?
Slow kitchen drain
If your kitchen drain gets slow, give this one a try. It works.
Put 1 cup of baking soda in your drain and let it settle for a few minutes then pour 1 cup of vinegar down the drain. It will bubble and fizz so you need to let it work for a good 15 minutes. Then get a pan or tea kettle full of water and get it to boiling. Then pour that hot, hot water down the drain. It will really fizz up, but it sure does clean the drain out and you didn’t have to buy a fancy drain cleaner either.
Road tar remover
To get road tar off of those good jeans, put a teaspoon full of solid shortening all over the spot and rub it in really well. Then rinse the spot in the sink with some water and the tar will come off and you can wash those jeans as usual.
If you have hints or ideas to share send them to PennyWise, Box 518, Kadoka, SD 57543; or email them to [email protected]. If you send me your name and address, I’ll send you a free copy of the PennyWise Newsletter. Please mention High Plains Journal when you write.
