Why cook hard if you can cook smart, ya know?

There is absolutely no reason to toil over pots and pans all because you crave mac and cheese. Yes, mac and cheese can also be hard to pull off for some.

But hey, thanks to the internet, you don’t have to worry about that any more because folks in this and this Reddit thread have it all figured out, so open up your mind and scroll down!

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#1

Vanilla and garlic are measured with your heart, not a spoon

Image credits: FartzRUs

#2

If you can't put your finger on what's missing from a dish no matter how many seasonings you add, it's probably acid. Add the tiniest splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. You will not regret it!

Also, salt is the most important thing for seasoning food. Salt alone is better than 100 spices and no salt.

Image credits: Wise-Guarantee-7165

#3

If a meat recipe calls for water don't use water, use the same amount of unsalted stock of the meat you're cooking. Chicken Curry, use chicken stock, Beef stew, beef stock. Adds a lot more flavour to these dishes

Image credits: DrakonShade

#4

Butter. A lot of butter. It's the difference between the food you have at home, and the same dish you have at the restaurant that magically tastes way better. I've seen whole sticks of butter disappear into sauces at restaurants.

Image credits: Carrelio

#5

Getting and using a stick blender. I thought they were gimmicks until I got one (nearly 20 years ago). I've reached for that thing at least 20 times for every time I even thought about getting the full-sized blender out.

Image credits: Drinking_Frog

Let’s preface everything that I say here today with OP’s simple, yet effective words (oh, yeah, Bored Panda got in touch with the person who asked the question that started it all in one of the above-mentioned Reddit threads): “it’s not as hard as you might think.”

Yes, cooking is nothing difficult if you know how. And getting to know how is also not that hard. The internet is full of chefs, cooks, culinary connoisseurs, and other c-words (no, not that one) who can teach you a thing or two. If it’s a comedic approach you’re looking for, you have My Drunk Kitchen. If you want serious dishes, but want to remain funny about it, you have Uncle Roger. If you want angry cooking, bam, Gordon Ramsey. The list goes on and on.

#6

Cook your rice in broth instead of plain water. Total game changer.

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#7

Spend a little time once a week doing prep work such as chopping onions, carrots, celery, whatever, then store these ingredients in separate containers in the fridge. Cook and chop up a couple of chicken breasts while you're at it. Mustering up the energy to cook is so much easier when the ingredients just need to be thrown together.

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#8

Big cutting board

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#9

I keep frozen ginger, but never thought about grating it. Cool tip, OP.

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#10

If you are really new to cooking here are some red meat tips to remember: meat continues to cook when you remove it from the oven. Since most people like their beef a little pink remember to take it out before it hits the temp you want. Also, let it stand, don't cut it up right away, you will lose juices. Invest in decent quality sharp knives, you are far more likely to cut yourself using dull ones.

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Reddit user r/Degofreak turned to the r/Cooking community with curious intentions, asking folks to share their cooking hacks after having learned about the frozen ginger root trick. If you’re not aware, ginger root is hard and you might think it would be easy to grate it, but that’s not the case. You see, the stringy fiber kinda sorta makes the grater skip a beat when grating, and so it’s often more mashed than it is grated.

What OP learned and suggested was to freeze it. Not only does it mean you make it last longer and have it on hand whenever, but frozen ginger is also easier to grate, with the result being “the most pillowy ginger shreds that melt into the food.” And so this led to OP’s question “what trick did you learn that changed everything?”

#11

Sliced peppers and onions can go straight into the freezer fresh and come straight out and into the hot pan, no need for thawing.

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#12

Heavier seasoning and learning (or looking up) good seasoning blends. Also making my own salad dressing (so much better!)

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#13

Almost always put protein in an already hot pan rather than a cold one.

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#14

For me it was making the same dish over and over until you perfect it. You’ll understand how the seasonings, temperatures, sauces, and meats will change as you make mistakes and do things slightly different. After like 5x making a dish you’ll feel like you can do it in your sleep.

After you learn like 10 dishes like that you can just whip up meals based on the ingredients you have in your kitchen.

I’m also single so I don’t have anyone to complain about repeat meals.

Image credits: knovit

#15

I hate jarred garlic but every dish can always use more garlic, so I go through a lot. I buy the big bag of whole peeled garlic from Sam's club and chop it all up in my food processor to a fine mince. Then I put it in a freezer ziploc bag and spread it in a thin layer and press the air out, then just break off chunks when I need fresh garlic. Started this when a friend and I were doing a lot of batch cooking large portions and we needed over 40 cloves of garlic for various recipes one session.

Also take several knobs of ginger and do the same, but almost puree it. I don't even bother to peel it. So convenient.

Image credits: knkyred

Degofreak told Bored Panda that they adore cooking, and by proxy, hearing other people’s tricks is just fascinating to them. “I am the main cook for my family. I really enjoy the prep and then, of course, the eating.”

Once their question took off—garnering nearly 7,000 upvotes and over 2,200 comments—OP couldn’t stop reading through all of the suggestions. They explained that there were a lot of great hacks that are actual time savers when it comes to cooking.

OP noted that the community is full of people who love to cook, with varying degrees of skill level, and so sharing these tricks by means of AskReddit types of posts just adds to the helping atmosphere of the community.

#16

Salt the everloving S**T out of your pasta water.

Garlic burns quickly and tastes gross like that, put the fresh garlic in towards the end.

A pat of butter in almost anything makes it better. It is the secret to silky sauces.

If you are frying potatoes, soak them first in water so some of the starch comes out. Makes them less mushy or something.

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#17

1. I now freeze my left over tomato paste. I can cut off the amount I need for a recipe and throw it back in the freezer.

2. If you store asparagus in a mason jar of water, standing up with the heads out of the water, it can stay fresh for weeks.

Image credits: funkoramma

#18

This is something I tried on a whim, but it turned out so well I think it's going to become my new go-to method of making tomato sauce.

(For context, I make _large_ batches of tomato sauce at a time so that I can just portion out what I need later.)

My normal recipe calls for three 28-oz cans of crushed tomatoes. What I did this time was cook down two of them until the flavor was rich and the sauce was super thick, then add the last can and leave it on the heat just long enough to ensure it was all heated through. Combines that developed tomato flavor with the brighter freshness of uncooked.

Image credits: ParanoidDrone

#19

Knife skills in general, but learning how to chop onions properly was a game-changer.

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#20

For snacking on veggies instead of spending all that time chopping, getting a Mandolin slicer and cutting up cucumber, bell peppers, carrots etc is so much easier and they look great too.
Also, baking bacon on foil in the oven instead of standing stove side the entire time.

Image credits: Arimon92

Among the myriad of responses in the threads, folks saw more than just food things. But there were plenty of those too.

Top comments include mentions of the necessity to keep the kitchen clean as you go, as putting effort into cleaning as you prepare foods (washing knives, cleaning the counter top, that sort of thing) often leaves you with very little cleanup to deal with in the first place.

But the majority was still food-related, with the most epic comment being this one, where Reddit user r/Berkamin listed (listceptioned?) quite a number of hacks, including that boxed olive oil is a better value, boiling mushrooms in a bit of water before pan-frying improves both their texture and flavor, scalding chicken skin with boiling water helps it get crispy, and loads of other great tips.

#21

Keeping a lemon in fridge, adds freshness to many things. A little acid into soups, gravy, on veggies...

Image credits: justchecking2c

#22

I guess this counts: when I need minced garlic, I just smash the garlic with the flat of my knife and then give it a quick rocking cut for a few seconds. That's almost always good enough- I'm not spending minutes mincing garlic.

Either that, or I'll microplane it

Image credits: JeanVicquemare

#23

Best part of that ginger trick: you don't even have to peel it if you're going to grate it with a microplane (yeah, it's super easy to peel with a spoon, but not peeling it at all is still even better)

#24

Pizza dough – Measure by weight and let the refrigerator do its magic for 2-3 days to build a proper flavor profile.

Image credits: pastabysea

#25

Don’t add food to the pan until it’s the right temperature and hot. But cook bacon from a cold pan.

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#26

Not quite a trick but learning how to use salt properly has made the biggest difference in my cooking. I don’t know who said it originally (it could have been the author but idk) but I read in Anne Burrell s cookbook “taste your food. If it needs something, it’s probably salt.” And keeping that mindset has really helped my cooking without a recipe.

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#27

It may seem silly but using a whisk to make a rue

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#28

Realising I can make hollandaise sauce without having to use a bain-marie was a wonderful discovery for me.

Just slowly whisk in 50g of melted butter to one egg yolk, then add lemon juice and season. The consistency’s ever so slightly different, but I wouldn’t say it’s a bad difference.

Image credits: blwds

#29

Homemade bone broth takes time but isn't hard and is a game changer.


Learn to make demi glace. It's easy and delicious.


Towel under thr cutting board.


How to prep an onion (or any vegetable) to be cut makes you look like a bad a*s.


What seasons go with each other.


Red wine with beef and pork. White wine with chicken and pork.


Let your meat rest after cooking.


Let your meat reach room temperature before cooking.


Sharpen knives.


Wash knives by hand.


Buy fresh and local if you can because less preservatives.


Only buy for the next day or two if you can. A 15 minute shopping trip 3 times a week is better then throwing out food that went bad.


Freeze Sliced watermelon for refreshing snacks.


Want to learn how to make a different countries food? Check Instagram reels. People love showing off how they made a homemade dish.


Clean as you cook.


Put away and wash dirty dishes before starting to cook.



Cast iron is amazing.


Treat your cast iron properly but it isn't the Bible. You can be loose with it.



If it's mouth watering delicious, it's probably unhealthy.

Image credits: racked_weights

#30

Putting a damp paper towel underneath the cutting board so it doesn't slide around while chopping!!

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