These 8 kitchen hacks will change your life

Why complicate something that can be so easy, especially when it comes to cooking? I have the 9 coolest kitchen hacks to add to your cuisine collection. Try these out and see how much more you can get out of your favorite foods! 

1. Make your bananas last longer

Brown, mushy bananas? Bleh! Unless you are a banana bread baking machine, a few brown freckles is the limit of ripeness. You can give your bananas a longer life by wrapping the stems in plastic wrap! This prevents the release of ethylene a natural gas that causes bananas to ripen faster. It's so easy, go bananas!

2. Keep your brown sugar soft

Avoid those hard clumps in your brown sugar by adding a peeled orange or a slice of apple to your sugar jar (make sure it's sealed). If the damage has already been done, mix the sugar with a small glass of water and microwave. The microwave's humidity will ensure that the sugar regains its smoothness.

3. Cut onions without crying

Cutting onions is never fun. Salty tears roll down your cheeks, your mascara drips into panda-eye form, and you almost chop off your finger through the curtain of tears. These are problems of the past. Before chopping, put your onion in the freezer for about 15 minutes. This way the materials that make you cry don't quite make it out of their frozen state while you cut so you won't be bothered!

4. Check if your eggs are still edible

Fill a glass with cold water and drop your egg in. If the egg sinks you're all good, if it floats you should find something else to eat. Why's this? Well, after a while the moisture evaporates from the inside of the egg through its porous shell, creating a gas bubble. So the more your egg floats the older it is!

5. Never waste your fresh herbs

If you've bought too many fresh herbs, just fill an ice cube tray with olive oil and place some herbs in each compartment. Freeze your herb-cubes and heat one up when you'd like to add herbs to your dish! Why haven't we thought of this before?!

6. Slice your tomatoes like a ninja

You might already be familiar with this one, and you might have practiced by playing Fruit Ninja. By placing your cherry tomatoes in between two plates, you can slice them like a pro all at once. From now on, you have zero excuses to not make your own pasta sauce.

7. Avoid fighting with friends over Ben & Jerry's

So you've just bought a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and you have the misfortune of having to share it with a friend. Blind panic settles in as you dread the other person eating just a little faster than you. Tell me this doesn't sound familiar! WHAT IF THEY EAT ALL THE COOKIE DOUGH PIECES? See the solution below; world peace is restored.

8. Clean your blender without a hassle

Making smoothies is almost too easy. You throw in your fruit, seeds, milk, or whatever else your favorite smoothie consists of together and turn on your blender. Very noisy magic happens and a moment later you're sipping on your silky smooth drink. Alas, this just sounds too perfect. Cleaning a blender is not such a pretty story. The hassle of getting your freshly-painted nails ruined by the blades at the bottom of your smoothie machine, not to mention having to pick out the pieces of fruit that get stuck down there. The remedy is simple, let the blender clean itself! Put a small drop (emphasis on small) of dish soap in the blender, fill it with water, and turn it on. Just rinse and you're all set!

Is your favourite kitchen hack not on this list? Share your secret tips below, we want to try them, too!