- Kitchen towels can double as hotpads. Just fold them up very well.
- Turn a glass upside down and use it to cut biscuits and round cookies.
- Nobody needs a cake tester. A fork, toothpick, or a bit of raw spaghetti will each work just as well.
- In a pinch a bottle works as a rolling pin. It needs to be about the shape of an old glass soda bottle, so something like a bottle of ketchup, a bottle of worcestershire sauce or soy sauce will work. If you fill it up with ice water and put the lid on tightly you have a great rolling pin for keeping your pie crust flaky.
- While I vastly prefer a pastry cutter, you can cut butter into flour as for biscuits or pie crust by using two knives. I never owned a pastry cutter until I was nearly 30, and I made a lot of pies and biscuits in that timeframe. What works even better is your clean fingers. Wash your hands well, slice the butter into the flour and pick up a palmfull at a time and gently rub your hands together until all the flour and fat are mixed together.
- If you are crushed for space and/or funds, you don't have to have a spray bottle of oil such as PAM. You can spread oil on your baking sheets the old fashioned way, with your hands, or the other old fashioned way, with your children's hands. They will love it.
- A colander is really, really handy, but this is another tool I lived without for years. You can get by with a little coordination and a cooking pan with a lid. You just carefully hold the lid cracked a wee bit and tilt your pan to pour the liquid out (using your towel for a hot-pad, of course). It's a good idea to pour the liquid into a bowl inthe sink rather than directly into the sink, so that if you drop your pan the pasta won't go in the sink. If you have a steamer basket you can have that double as a colander- put it inside a bowl or pan and ladle the food from pan to steamer basket. Or- get a colander but make sure it's on that can also double as a steamer.
- A vegetable peeler can be used in place of a cheese slicer.
- A giant mixing bowl is a very nice thing for a large family to have, but you can also use a large, clean bucket.
- Eliminates clumsy soap and shampoo bottles
- top storage shelf
- Handy mirror
- mounts securely
White Plastic Liquid Soap Dispenser with mirror. 3 bottles will hold shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap. Mounts securely with pre-attached adhesive strips or optional screw mount (included). Visit www.amazon.com to order, they will ship into your house.