Wear an old sock while doing dirty scrubbing and cleaning jobs to protect your hands from abrasions.

It is best to defrost the fridge before making icecream, so that the base of the container is not jammed, as also the icecream will set faster and better.

For best effects of your decorative icecreams, sundaes, floats, etc., use plain transparent glasses with interesting shapes, like conical, balloon, stemmed, slender, etc. Opaque glasses will hide the essential decorative feature of these yummies.

Always buy transparent (see through) containers for refrigerators, freezers, etc. These being see-through allow easy visibility of contents and eliminates searching, opening & checking or labelling of containers.

Spend 10 minutes each morning (even if it is in the bathroom), to make a list of work to be done with approx. time required. Pin it on your refrigerator door. Your work will get much more organised and you will find a lot of time saved at the end. Beside none of it will be left behind due to forgetting.

When very finely chopped greens or chillies etc. are required in a recipe, use a pair of sharp Scissors instead of a knife. The job will be made faster, more efficient and safe to cut.

To clean the surface of vegetables like potato, radish, sweetpotato, carrots, etc. use a separate plastic scrubber or toothbrush kept for the purpose. Hold under running water and scrub.

To make an easy muslin pouch: Take 2 consecutive corners of a rectangular piece of cloth and knot together tightly. Repeat for other 2 ends. Hold like a hammock shape, pour in the curd and use the knots to hang the pouch. Halfway, close the opening with a plain clothesline clip. Hand on a hook or tap easily.

Always use a clean pair of kitchen scissors to trim edges of bread. Much neater and less messy edges as compared to those trimmed with a knife.

Use a pair of scissors instead of a knife for cutting hot vegetables like chillies and also leafy greens like spinach, celery, coriander, etc. Your work will get done much faster. Take care to use a clean, non-rusty pair used only for kitchen purposes.

To get crystal clear ice cubes boil the water before pouring in icecubes. Those made with plain water are usually foggy or opaque.

Lot of Housewives complain about the time taken in the kitchen as they are chased by the clock. The Tip is you can do the cleaning of kitchen and utensils while waiting for boiling, heating and lot of other activities over the stove. This will save lot of time and extra efforts.

To get crystal clear ice cubes boil the water before pouring in icecubes. Those made with plain water are usually foggy or opaque

Place a folded cloth under any vessel which you have to whip in. You will have a better grip of the vessel since it will not slip over the worksurface. This holds good while mixing cake batter, icings, whipping, etc.

Soak burnt pans with a weak solution of domestic ammonia and water. After an hour rub with used lemon peels dipped in salt. Wash with soap for a clean, clean pan.

Sometimes oil begins to foam on heating to deepfry and rises dangerously in the pan. To dissipate the foam add a marble sized ball of tamarind to the oil.

Line the bottoms of your kitchen cabinet shelves with old newspapers. Instead of tedious cleaning, just dicard and replace with fresh ones. Cheap and quick.

To allow free flow of sauce from a sauce bottle to a pourer, insert a drinking straw half way, into the bottle and hold it there lightly with one hand while pouring with the other.

This may sound funny, but when cutting lots of onions, to avoid burning of the eyes, if you have swimming goggles then wear them and cut. This will prevent the eyes from watering. Subbu Balakrishnan

Use a large semiboiled potato to make a quick flower arrangement if a flower holder is not available. Push sturdy stalks of flowers into the potato at the required angles. Do not keep for more than 2 days. Immerse in water to which an aspirin is added.

Rub a piece of lime (used) inside the lunch box to get rid of strong odours (like garlic) before rinsing off.

If a lunch box tends of leak from cover, seal with scotch tape. Teach kid to remove tape before eating.

Grated paneer, carrot, beetroot etc. is a good accompaniment in a lunch box instead of biscuits, junk food like fries, etc.

Use minimal of wrappers, foils, etc. which they may litter or make messy if wrongly handled.

Always use a clean pair of kitchen scissors to trim edges of bread. Much neater and less messy edges as compared to those trimmed with a knife.

Smear your hands with a little tamarind juice while collecting butter from churned cream. The butter will not stick to the hands.

To avoid stains and smudges on costly cookbooks while following recipes, slip them, open page up, into a transparent plastic bag.

If you write your own labels for kitchen or storage containers, cover the lables with transparent cellotape so that do not smudge.

If your cutlery is discoloured by egg stains, crumble a sheet of silver paper and one teaspoon of salt in a glass of water. Put the spoons and forks in this and they will come out looking clean and shining in a few minutes.

Put the container for setting curds in a large hot case to make the curds set faster and better