14 Cooking Hacks That Will Make Your Life Easier

Make sure your hands are clean and dry and open the cracked egg into your hand. Open up your finger just enough to let the white fall through, leaving the yolk behind.

Cut the onion into uniform pieces once and don’t continue to hack at it. Crushing the pieces is what causes your eyes to tear up. Also, make sure your knife is very sharp.

Use plain (not minted!) dental floss to cut cakes or soft cheeses without making a big mess.

Put cloves (with skin) in a bowl. Then, top with another bowl and shake for 10 seconds. The skin should come right off. To peel, lay a clove on a cutting board, place the side of a chef’s knife on top and hit the top of the knife firmly with the heel of your hand (avoiding the blade). The clove should separate easily from the peel.

Instead of scraping the bottom of an almost-empty peanut butter jar, cook a serving of instant oatmeal and when it’s ready, pour it into the peanut butter jar. Then add toppings (walnuts, banana slices, a drizzle of agave nectar, a pinch of brown sugar) and mix it thoroughly together with a spoon. This way, you’ll get a taste of peanut butter with every bite.

Dip your scoop or spoon into warm water first and dry thoroughly between each scoop. This should soften the ice cream and make it easier to serve.

To start, don’t put them in the dishwasher. When you need to sharpen them, use a whetstone—not just steel, which doesn’t actually sharpen knives. If you’re not sure how to do sharpen your knives yourself, call your local hardware store; many will do it for a few dollars and some will even show you how they do it.

To get lemon juice without having any seeds in the bowl, use a juicer with a strainer or squeeze over a strainer. Be sure to roll the lemon on the counter before cutting it in half to extract the most juice.

Put them in a closed paper bag (bananas release a gas called ethylene that causes them to ripen, and bagging them traps this gas). This trick also works if you want to ripen other fruit: just put it in a bag with a banana.

Sprinkle some water on a loaf of stale bread and place it in a warm oven for 5-10 minutes. If you’re in a hurry, you can also wrap it in a damp paper towel and microwave it for 5-10 seconds.

YouTube user Jack Barwick uploaded a quick life hack video to show the so-easy-it’s-ridiculous way he peels mangoes. All you need is a steady hand and a strong glass! Check out the video below for his tutorial.

See video: How to Peel a Mango in 8 Seconds

To tell if an avocado is ready to eat, look under the stem. Green means it’s ripe, and brown means it’s past its peak.

To soften brown sugar, cover it with a damp paper towel and microwave for a few seconds.

Put fruit in the fridge—they’ll ripen faster at room temperature. For bananas, either separate them all from the bunch or wrap plastic wrap around the top of the bunch.

This article originally appeared on All You.

More from All You:

• 16 Ways to Cook Eggs
• 6 Surprising New Uses for Lemons
• Have Your Cake and Eat It Too With This Scientific Cake-Cutting Method