7 Kitchen Hacks & Simple Solutions

A flexible plastic scraper is useful for scraping dough from bowls or scooping chopped vegetables for transfer from cutting board to pan. Make your own extra-flexible version at home with these easy instructions.

1. Draw a line along the edge of a plastic lid, such as one from a cottage cheese container, and cut along the line, leaving one-third of the edge intact for stability. You can also use an old plastic cutting mat—just cut it into 4 by 3-inch rectangles.
2. Use this homemade tool as you would a store-bought plastic scraper.

Give your pie or cookie dough the perfect texture by using an unopened bottle of wine as a rolling pin. It has just the right weight and shape for rolling out dough. Here’s a bonus for white wine lovers: refrigerate the bottle beforehand and the cold temperature of the bottle will help keep the butter in the dough chilled.

Most cooks don’t need a mortar and pestle very often. Instead of buying a heavy, expensive set for infrequent use, you can use a sturdy, shallow, diner-style stoneware coffee mug and a heavy glass spice bottle next time you need to grind something.

A heavy meat pounder with a tall handle, which probably doesn’t get used every day in your kitchen, can fill a different role when not in use: it makes an ideal base for a roll of paper towels. The weight of the pounder stabilizes the towels so they can be ripped off easily.

A. Try making your own ice pack out of the empty liner from a box of wine, which is made of thick, durable plastic. Start by squeezing out any residual air and wine from the bag and rinsing it out. Then fill the bag halfway with water and lay it flat in the freezer to freeze. (be sure the valve is closed when in use.)
B. You can also make your own ice packs with simple zipper-lock bags. Fill 1-quart or 1-gallon zipper-lock bags to within 2 inches of the top with water. (that way they won’t burst when the water expands as it freezes.) Then place the bags in the freezer, letting them lie flat so they can be stacked. When they’re frozen they can slide easily into a crowded cooler.
C. Flexible freezer packs are convenient, since they can be wrapped around containers to quickly chill the contents. Make your own by placing 2 cups water and ⅓ cup rubbing alcohol (the alcohol will prevent the pack from turning rock-solid) in a heavy-duty zipper-lock bag. Secure that bag inside a second zipper-lock bag. Freeze overnight before use; store in the freezer.

Whenever you need to open a bottle of wine, set the bottle on a folded dish towel placed in the kitchen sink. It’s easier to insert the corkscrew when the bottle’s at a lower level and the extra space provides additional leverage for uncorking, making the task a snap.

Forgot to chill that bottle of wine or champagne and now dinner is almost ready? Fear not! There’s a hack for that. Wrap the bottle in a wet dish towel and place it in the freezer. Since cooling occurs when heat is transferred away from an item, the water in the towel—a much more efficient conductor of heat than the air—will quickly freeze, dropping the temperature of the wine to 50 degrees in only 30 minutes. (note: when you remove the bottle from the freezer, the towel will be frozen solid. To release it, place it briefly under warm running water.)