Clean up with these kitchen tips, tricks

In this week’s article I thought I would share a few more tips of the trade with you:

• When storage space is limited in your kitchen; store your cookbooks, flat pans, cutting boards, baking sheets, etc. in an upright metal file cabinet.

Paint the cabinet to match the color of your kitchen.

• Empty tissue boxes work great for holding used grocery plastic bags.

• If you have a badly stained wood cutting board. Mix 2 tablespoons of bleach and 3 drops of Dawn dish soap into a 1 quart spray bottle. Spray the surface and wait about five minutes before scrubbing the board.

After the dwell time scrub the board and rinse thoroughly. If it’s heavily stained, it may take two or three cleaning cycles.

• To open stubborn jars, try turning the jar upside down in a hot pan of water for a few minutes.

The heat will break the seal and allow the jar to be opened easily.

• For sticky jar rims, place a piece of plastic wrap over the rim or wipe the rim with vegetable oil before placing the lid back on.

• When traveling or going camping, place sharp knives inside the role of paper towels.

You always know where your favorite knife is and it keeps you from getting cut or stuck by the knife.

• If you are making meals for a large dinner party or have a large family; keeping the dishes warm is a problem. Try placing your dishes in a dishwasher and turn it on to the drying cycle to heat the plates.

This trick works great when cooking steak because as the meat cools it becomes tougher.

• For some strange reason silverware trays always seem to move to the back of the drawer. To stop this from happening just place some florist’s clay on all four corners of the tray.

• If you spill cooking oil on your kitchen floor, try sprinkling a heavy coat of flour over the oil. The flour will soak up the oil making it easy to sweep up.

If you would like to share a cleaning idea or concept with the reading audience, call Ed at NWES (208-255-2266) or toll free at 1-877-311-NWES. E-mail them to nwees@hughes. net  or send them to Bonner County Daily Bee, 310 Church St. , Sandpoint, ID 83864, Attn: What Would Ed do?  For more information about Ed’s company, check him out at NWESINC. COM.

Copy written by Edmond E. Madan, certified forensic, fire, flood, mold inspection and remediation contractor. Ed is the president of  Northwest Executive & Environmental Services, Inc.