Home Hacks

I use half a teaspoon of baking soda in an 8 ounce peri bottle. I squirt some on my head and scrub, so the mixture lasts a few washes. Then for each wash I put a couple of teaspoons of the scrap vinegar in a bowl shaped container and add about a cup and a half of water to it while I'm in the shower and use it to rinse my head. Sometimes I'll put a little coconut oil on the ends of my hair once I'm out of the shower. I know some people who use coconut oil while in the shower which is obviously terrible for the plumbing! Finding the right mixture depends on your head and your water and requires some trial and error. Also, if your transitioning of shampoo for the first time it could take weeks or even months for your hair to stabilize and reach a new normal.

@Crystal Thrall thank you so much for this. We may be headed in this direction after several months of not going to the store.

2020 April Compost Made into Magic!

T-bone and chicken leg bones, broiled, added to the instant post with frozen kitchen box. A sealing container in my freezer that we pack with the ends for our weekly roast, soup or gravy mix. Today's offerings were garlic peels, yellow and red onion, carrot, celery, yam, fennel ends. Orange peels, rosemary, sage sticks (not the leaves), bay leaf and apple cider vinegar. Cooked 240 minutes on high twice, with a 12 hour slow cook after. Pin cooled for natural release between. It smelled like French Onion san thyme and wine.

I have frozen two cups to be used in toasted flour instant gravy. The boys and I had one cup each while it was hot. True Magic as it was free! Free nutrition!

@katylin Free nutrition is my absolute fave! I'm inspired by the sage stix. Will do next time with our rosemary sticks and bits and bobs from the garden like ugly parts of the fennel that would otherwise go to the hens. Ok, so putting it all in the instant pot is brilliant, rather than just boiling on the stove top, covered. We're almost vegan these days (except for the occasional chicken), so will try a total veg and herb version cooking on high for a couple hours. So, looking forward to making much of this, as our stash of veg broth is down to 1 quart in the freezer.

I wash & reuse my ziplock bags as much as I can! People used to give me a strange look when I said I did this back in the 1980s. Now I'm the one who has the last laugh!!

@Teri Gallagan-Horning I still get laughed at, a bit, for washing and reusing plastic bags. Over time, when people see how it can be an easy habit to get into, and saves on your budget, and your trash bill, and the environment, it feels like such a no-brainer.

Citrus is overly loved in our home. I rinse it on a wooden spoon under the instant tap and melt off the wax. It takes a few seconds on each side. I zest it, all of it, and then slice the head (near where the stem would grow) the tail off and carefully slice down the side. This makes a pith cuff. I roll the cuff up and slice it into think 1/8 slices and freeze. When we have enough oranges, I cover a whole ham before the instant pot, and even when it is cooked most stay on the ham for serving. I do make cleaners, (there is still enough essential orange oil in the pith) AVC pomelos cleaner makes me frankly happy. It is bright and kicks grease fast! Large fruit, grapefruit, and pomelos I cut pith stakes, large flat pieces, and cook fish on them like a cedar plank. You can, however, cook in a pan or bake in a glass dish and the fish does not stick to the pan. No oil needed. You can also do this with the pineapple skin. Pith roses are what we call these and we use them all the time. Lemon and lime are my favorites, but we add them to soup and fry. Orange is a great for seasoning coffee or hot milk. All of them are beautiful in water, pitchers of tea, let's not forget making marmalade. I added finger-limes shells, thinly shredded into my last batch of marmalade! WOW! Baby Mandarin, Tiny Tangerine, Mini Mandarin, and Kishu Mandarin are some of my favorites and as they are often priced just out of budget-ease and their skin makes up for half their weight I use it all. They make great jelly, but I also have used their skin by blending it into a paste and baking it into muffins, bread, adding it to soup, body scrub with coffee ground (previously used for cold brew). I figure I bought it, I might as well get to use it all. The cubes are also great in ice tea, pitchers of summer punch and carbonated water. All citrus fruit is used like this in our home. Lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges, pomelos- The zest is also used, pinch by pinch wet into baking, or in salads, pasta, cocktails anything that needs a sunshine boost, or dried it can be stored for the seasons when it is not as affordable. Yeah for the sunshine fruits! Yeah Citrus!

@katylin you need to live in a southern climate to avail of all the citrus! I love all of these ideas. Ok, so I have a few limes leftover from a costco trip where, sadly, 50% of them went bad in just a few days. Never again. What do you suggest I do with the ones that are remaining, but are about to go bad?? I'm a lime fanatic and so when things call for citrus, it's lime for us, especially on fish like salmon. Would love your insight.

@clarkliesl I take the citrus I over buy (lime usually) and juice them before they're totally lost to the compost, then freeze the juice in ice-cube trays for later use. Easy to pop them out and put them in a little bag in the freezer so more juice can be frozen. Then I use them in cooking, or to pop into the water jug with some mint for sipping on ...

Thank you for this reminder, I need to attack my faucets with this stuff! Our water is SO HARD here!