Almost close to your insight. But I got tired of separating ground beef for frozen bags. Decided one day to cook pounds of it at once and divide. Now I can just thaw it and make quick meals like tacos, etc. Just add the seasonings. Also, pasta too. All you have to do after it is frozen is run hot water over it and just like it was from the pot. Probably more for someone like me who only has two people.

I also saw a chef use a bread mixer for meat loaf and thought how easy. But your idea is much cleaner.

Keeping veggies fresh is a problem for me. I'd have to go to the store every day to cook. Bought frozen chopped peppers and was floored how much better they taste in cooked recipes. They are actually cheaper too and of course no chopping to get done.

I keep a box of powder free medical latex gloves in the kitchen and use them for handling fish, mixing meatloaf and other stinky or messy food prep. After handling fish, I wash up while I still have them on, dry and use again, but after greasy things they just get tossed.

you are a genius Pesky, I also detest putting my hands in cold meat !
great ideas everyone, keep them coming, I'll try and share something ,
if I can come up with anything, I haven't been cooking much lately.

That's a great idea. I use gallon freezer bags when I pound chicken breasts--pounding makes them a more uniform thickness for broiling. Then toss the bag--I don't re-use any bag that's held raw meat.

I usually use the Kitchenaid to mix meatloaf, just until everything is combined. One advantage is that the fibrous 'strings' get stuck on the paddle. When I'm finished mixing, I scrape those off and give to the dog for a treat.

No gloves or plastic bags. I enjoy getting my hands in the mix whether it's for meatballs, meatloaf, or bread dough. It's an organic thing for me ... like gardening (typically done sans gloves).

My "brilliant" idea is not cooking related, but relieves a lot of frustration. I use a seam ripper to open the practically impenetrable plastic packaging on so many products these days. I just poke it with the sharp point and then use the blade to zip around the plastic.

A food processor works well for meatloaf too when using the mixing blade. Kitchen-Aid also makes a special paddle with silicone sides that is good for mixing things like meatloaf. I actually like the squishy feeling but now handling cold stuff like that sends shooting pains up my arms so more often than not, I use one of my kids instead.

To me, some of the brilliant ideas that I have quickly adopted have been using the side of a spoon to peel ginger (that one was in fine cooking) and the other was slicing the sides of a ziploc bag and using this pouch for rolling tortillas and flat breads. It works much, much better than plastic wrap as it is more sturdy.

I use a big fork (serving fork?) to mix my meatloaf and have no trouble. I use oatmeal instead of saltines or bread crumbs. I don't mind getting my hands in dough, etc. but not meat/poultry. I also wouldn't reuse a bag or gloves used with raw meat/poultry.

I rarely use gloves (other than for cold weather!). I just don't like the feel!

Hmmmm, guess I got off topic, but sadly, I can't think of any brilliant ideas I've come up with. LOL

tina

I use empty cereal bags instead of plastic wrap for pounding out my chicken. They are thicker than plastic wrap and I don't mind tossing it afterwards since it's already being re-purposed/re-used.

When my kids were little and I had to cut everything up I discovered kitchen scissors by accident. My *favorite* sharp knife was in the dish washer so I grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors to cut up their cheese pizza. Wow - made it so much faster and easier than using a knife and dirtying a cutting board. My dad was still alive then and had a stroke and lost the use his left arm/hand and needed help cutting up his food. I bought him a couple pairs too. Might sound dramatic and may seem like a small thing but it was life changing how a pair of scissors that he could use with one hand gave him back a big chunk of independence.

Now, I have several pairs and use them for all kinds of things. I do a lot of salads and it's quick and easy to throw one together kinda chunky and then run the scissors through it to for a free form chop. Use them to cut up food for the dogs, they are great for cutting dough -- all sorts of tasks.

Literally thought 'why didn't I think of using kitchen scissors like this before'.

Some great ideas! I don't have a kitchenaid mixer (it's going on my wish list when I finally can redo my kitchen and have a place to put/store it). I do have a food processor, but it's such a pita to get it out and set up, coupled with the STUPID cabinets that are too low to the counters to set it up properly...but I digress.

Love the cereal bag idea! And I've been a fan of kitchen scissors for a while, but need to get some more, some dedicated for meats and another for veggies. I keep several pair in the kitchen for a bazillion other uses.

Funcolors and Pesky...I found the scissor trick too. Oddly, some friends thought it was for the old or disabled and let me know verbally. Never underestimate our tricks. Four kitchen scissors here to always have handy and throw in dishwasher. Even use them for cutting steaks and other meats, plus pizza...the list can go on.

I have 5 pair of scissors in the kitchen. Three are for food ... the other 2 for packaging.

I care for my 2 year old grandson several days a week and he sleeps in my bed upstairs. I had a baby monitor that died and I hated to pay for a new one. I figured out my 3 station cordless phones have an intercom feature, so I put one on intercom, call the 2nd one, put that one next to the bed and take the first one downstairs with me. I put that one on speaker phone so I can hear everything upstairs and also hit the mute button so he can't hear me putzing around while he sleeps. It's a great way to keep track of what's going on in a room. You can use it for a sick child, or spouse, etc.

Some folks I know use Skype as a baby monitor. The wee one has her own Skype account and a spare smartphone or computer.

Olychick, I bought a cheap baby monitor last Christmas to try and catch Artie late at night when he sneaked under the Christmas tree to get a drink from that "big bowl", lol. It had too much static. No way I could sleep.

Out of curiosity I tried your method just now, but I got horrible feedback noise. How do you avoid that?

Hmmm Natal, I'd just give Artie a glass of water on his side of the bed...

I think the phones have to be far enough apart to not cause feedback. Mine only does that when I am holding them both to get them set up for the intercom...one calling the other. Once I get them a few feet apart they are okay. It is way clearer than any other baby monitor I've used.

Oh, that makes sense. I'll have to try it again. Sadly, Artie won't be sneaking under the tree this year, but we're adopting again in a couple months and I'm sure your trick will come in handy in the future. Thanks!

Oh, so very sorry about Artie...a beautiful kitty...but the image of your husband sneaking out to drink under the tree was just too much for me to resist.

I thought that's where you might be going and I almost posted a picture of the two of them so you'd see dh's beverage of choice. Oh, WTH ...

gotta love a guy who loves cats..and Canadian beer.

I had one of those moments about 5 minutes ago! I was wanting to hang some ribbons/ornaments under the kitchen cabinets but didn't want to put any nails in them.

Straight pins (I use those on walls) won't go through solid wood.

I've been looking at Christmas decor how-to websites tonight and someone said use a thumbtack behind the rim of the cabinets and it will be hidden, and any hole will also be hidden. DUH!

I'm going to buy a box of those surgical gloves for the kitchen. I keep forgetting though. Great for meatloaf, chicken and hot peppers.

Terriks-- that's a brilliant solution! Sure better than buying those cutting gizmos they make just for that kind of packaging.

I just had one of these moments yesterday. I plug my welcome lights in my bathroom into the outlet on my side of the vanity. So during Christmas season I have to alternate my blowdryer and tooth brush plugged in. Yesterday it came to me...powerstrip...now everything is plugged in and I can plug my flat iron in if needed. I have lived here 20 years and it took me that long to think of a power strip.

Another moment happened last month when we mounted a tv in the same bathroom...great for news in the morning....really a great idea

I love the meatloaf idea! I adore meatloaf, but hate mixing it. So... problem solved! Thank you.

Doh! The seam ripper! I have at least three, don't like 'em for ripping seams.....but boy, it sure worked on that blasted wrapper this morning! It wouldn't have occurred to me in a million years to use it for something so useful! I'm going to get mine out of the sewing room and put one in the bathroom, the kitchen, the laundry room. Hmmm. I think I'll give seam rippers to everyone I know for Christmas this year!

What else have you folks got?

This is pretty lame, but I have a paperclip on a string tied to the laundry room cabinet handle. I use it on zippers that are missing their pull tabs.

It's not a lightbulb idea but I sort the laundry as it goes into the laundry basket, not all over the laundry room floor as I've seen other people do. I have 2 pull out bins in my vanity area - one darks, one lights, a zip lingerie bag for bras, another for delicates - and I keep a 3rd lingerie bag hanging in the closet for trouser socks. I've seen friends handle and rehandle the dirty stuff to get it into color appropriate piles. Why not just give every family member 2 laundry bags and they can separate it as they take it off?

I also hang all my tablecloths on a hanger (helps eliminate creasing) with a tag indicating their size. It helps since I have many (some for fully extended, some for no extension, some for the patio table) and I don't always remember what is what. But lately I'm sick of tablecloths and have been giving them away with each thrift store pick-up.

We always sorted the laundry as we went along, too. Each kid had two baskets in their rooms, and towels only went down the shoot. Much easier that way. Never thought of hanging tablecloths. I always iron them just before I put them on the table.

I do not like this darned android keyboard on my new tablet!

Have used kitchen scissors for years but recently bought a pair of herb scissors (I use a lot of herbs) that don't bruise the herbs as much as the big ones do. We also love the cereal bags for marinating meats and in the microwave. You can just slide your bowl inside, and it doesn't stick unless you overcook.

I almost hate to post this because it's so dumb, but I will share. We have a laundry sorter with bags, and we also had upright hampers. Either I'd put clean laundry into the bags and it would get wrinkled, or I'd struggle with the upright hampers on stairs (I am short).

Finally, it dawned on me to get the normal/horizontal baskets to bring up laundry. Easier to carry, easier to fold and put away things, etc.

Thanks for all of these ideas . . .had not thought of them!

Shoot! That's "chute," not "shoot." Laundry chute! What was I thinking? Sorry...

Here's a great website/blog with tons of "why didn't I think of that" ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Daily Buzz

I found this on the discussion thread about holiday decorating
Posted by roarah
I store my ornaments in Christmas decorative boxes and when they are emptied, after ornaments are on the tree, I put them around the skirt like presents:) Super easy and when it is time to take the ornaments down again all the storage boxes are right there for me!

And from tobyt on the cooking forum
I think it came from the Cake Central website.
When you are making cut out cookies that require you to refrigerate the dough before rolling it out, roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment or wax paper before you put it in the fridge. The soft dough rolls much easier and never cracks. Once you have your sheets of dough rolled out, stack them on a cookie sheet and refrigerate until they are firmed up.
I took it one step further, and had my husband cut me strips of wood about 18" long, 1" wide and 1/4" thick. He also made me a set in 1/8" thickness. I lay these on either side of the dough and run the rolling pin over them, giving me perfectly consistent thickness.

terriks,
That's a great link with so many clever ideas. Now if only I could remember to do those things.

Like roarah I recycle boxes ... in my case hinged lided boxes that formerly held Christmas cards. They're used to store some of the ornaments and placed under the small artificial tree once it's decorated.

terriks, thank you. Many useful ideas there. I really like the apple one. I have tried lemon juice (kids hate the brown apples) but this looks much better! And fun!

PS Artie is gorgeous, natal. I can only imagine how much you miss him.