Kari's Household Tips and Tricks

I was working in the kitchen this morning straightening up and it occurred to me that I shouldn't assume everyone already knows all the kitchen tricks that make life easier, that save you money and generally make cooking more fun. I certainly don't; but, I have picked up a lot along the way. I have spent a lot of time pregnant and nursing which has given me lots of reading time. So I thought I would share a few of my tips to maybe save some of you from reinventing the wheel thus you'll have more time to discover other things and maybe enjoy cooking more. So as not to stress out over it immediately, I recommend gradually implementing changes one at a time over a long period of time.

One money saving tip that I wish I had known sooner is that you can freeze bananas. There is no need to peel them, put them in a bag, or cut them up. You can just throw them in the freezer then pull one out when you are ready to make a smoothie or bake. When I have bananas that are going to go bad before I can use them, I just toss them in the door.

Yes they are ugly but they work great. As you can see I am getting low. I have a hard time getting rotten bananas around here. I think there are some monkeys that sneak in when I'm not looking. So to replenish my supply (conveniently Jewel had bananas on sale for $.39/pound this week), I grabbed about 5 pounds. Since the ones from the store are always green, I have a huge mound sitting on the counter to ripen before I freeze them. I think some have gone missing though.

I hope this tip helps save you time and money - buy a ton when they are one sale and you will always have ripe bananas on hand for baking and smoothies.