Check out my top 3 favorite kitchen hacks to use what you have without running to the store. Love to cook but don’t always have what you need on-hand? Keep reading.
I love to cook and I love to bake.
But I hate going to the store.
Especially to purchase overpriced, oversized items that I know I don’t use on a regular basis. So instead, I make sure that I have certain items on hand in order to be able to hack these “specialty” items.
Kitchen Hack #1: Cake Flour
Have you seen how much cake flour costs?? And who uses it often enough to keep it around in the pantry. Unless of course, you bake for a living. But I don’t… and I don’t know a lot of people who do.
Instead, just keep all-purpose flour and corn starch in your pantry.
How to make cake flour:
Measure out 1 cup of flour into a small bowl. Now remove 2 tablespoons of the flour. Replace with 2 tablespoons of corn starch. Mix well.
Viola!
Cake flour!
Absolutely perfect for my Chocolate Angel Food Cake!
Kitchen Hack #2: Buttermilk
Who keeps this in the refrigerator without it going bad? I very rarely use buttermilk unless I’m making pancakes, but I can’t imagine buying an entire carton when I only use half a cup or so.
Instead, keep around whole milk and distilled white vinegar.
Measure out a smidge less than a cup of whole milk in a glass measuring cup. Top with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Wait for about 5 minutes. The vinegar ferments the milk just enough to create a buttermilk replacement.
DO NOT DRINK!
I know some people who love to drink buttermilk. If you do, then having buttermilk around makes sense. I can’t stomach it. But don’t use this hack for anything but baking. It just doesn’t work out the same.
Kitchen Hack #3: Heavy Cream
I always have real butter. I don’t think I could cook without it anymore. Having real butter and milk onhand saves me each and every time that I want to make homemade alfredo sauce.
Simply melt 2 tablespoons real butter in a glass measuring cup. Let cool slightly so that you don’t curdle your milk. Once cooled, pour in your whole milk to equal 1 cup total. Whisk together.
There’s your heavy cream!
Now just simmer and add cheese to make your homemade alfredo sauce.
There you have it. My top 3 favorite kitchen hacks to keep your pantry stocked with necessary items but not wasting money on things that you don’t really need to purchase.
Have a kitchen hack you love and can’t live without? I’d love to hear it. Drop me a comment below.
