How-To Guides about Food Hacks

Difficulty: Novice Time: 15 minutes prep, 35-45 minutes baking Cost: ~$8

Got 10 minutes and a bread machine collecting dust? Here's how to turn it from kitchen counter decoration into your secret weapon for fresh, bakery-quality loaves every single week. The best part? Set it up before bed and wake to the smell of warm bread drifting through the house.

Difficulty: Novice Time: 5 minutes Cost: ~$0 (uses items you already have)

We've all been there, staring at that box of leftover pizza in the fridge, knowing we're about to commit the cardinal sin of microwaving it into rubbery submission. But here's the thing, you don't have to settle for soggy, disappointing reheated pizza anymore. Comprehensive testing of six different methods shows that some techniques can actually bring your slice back to life, and research shows that the winning technique takes just minutes using equipment you already have.

Difficulty: Novice Time: 3-5 minutes Cost: Free (using equipment you have)

Reviewed by Jame Jimenez

You've probably grabbed a box of mac and cheese during a hunger emergency, only to realize you're out of milk. No milk, no problem. Skip the watery plan B and the late-night store run. The trick is not kitchen magic, it is understanding what makes sauces creamy and which easy swaps beat the box directions by a mile.

Difficulty: Moderate Time: 2 hours (40 minutes prep, 1 hour 20 minutes cooking) Cost: ~$15-18 Yield: 6 servings (about 30 meatballs)

Difficulty: Novice Time: 10 minutes per order Cost: Saves $5-25 per order

4 Smart Fast-Food Hacks That Cut Your Bill in Half

Freeze Coffee Beans Like a Pro: 4 Easy Steps to Lock in Freshness for Months

Difficulty: NoviceTime: 5-15 minutes per hackCost: Free (using included cruise amenities)

Reviewed by: Jame Jimenez

Difficulty: Novice to Moderate Time: 5 minutes to 1 hour (depending on recipe) Cost: Under $15 for most recipes

Reviewed by Julianne Ngirngir

Difficulty: Novice Time: 20-30 minutes per hack Cost: $0-50 per technique

Ever wonder how to squeeze more flavor, value, and satisfaction out of your McDonald's breakfast run? Whether you're rushing to work or treating yourself to a weekend morning meal, there are clever ways to transform basic menu items into something spectacular. Former McDonald's Corporate Chef Mike Haracz has shared insider tips, and savvy customers have discovered ordering tricks that can save money while delivering better taste. These breakfast sandwich hacks range from simple substitutions to...

Difficulty: Novice Time: 5-10 minutes per order Cost: Regular menu price (no extra charges for most hacks)

Difficulty: Novice Time: 2-60 minutes per recipe Cost: Free with meal plan to $6 per serving

Got 15 minutes and a wallet that's feeling a little light? Here's how to slash your grocery bills while eating amazing plant-based meals. Research shows that switching to a whole-food vegan diet can cut food costs by 19 percent—that's about $650 in savings per year. The secret isn't complicated: plant-based staples like brown rice, potatoes, and beans are some of the cheapest and healthiest ingredients in the supermarket. Plus, inflation has hit meat at nearly twice the rate of vegetables,...

A friend asked me the other day what kitchen tool I most frequently use. After my chef's knife, I told him that it had to be my cast-iron skillet. He was a little confused and asked what I used it for other than pancakes and bacon. I told him this: everything.

Greek yogurt has always been in my regular snack rotation. Packed with more protein than plain yogurt, it fills me up and stabilizes my energy with its low levels of carbohydrates and sugar.

When I first started cooking, if I saw lemon juice or zest in a recipe, I almost always left it out. Unless it was a main component, I never thought it made much of a difference in the dish's overall flavor — but I couldn't have been more wrong.

I grew up in a rural town, which meant we dehydrated a lot of food. Even with a hungry family of five, there was no way that we could eat all the season's tomatoes before they molded, all the orchard's apples before they grew soft, or all the wild mushrooms we picked. And so our dehydrator was always getting a good workout.

Sushi rolls, known as makizushi in Japanese, are only limited by your imagination — and your ability to roll them neatly, of course. While it may seem like a lot of effort, rolling sushi is a snap if you have the right tools.

Many people rely on the date printed on an egg carton to decide when to toss the dozen, but sell‑by and best‑by dates are quality guidelines — not safety deadlines. If you've been pitching eggs solely because of the date on the carton, you may be wasting perfectly good food.

Kitchens smell, and whether you find the smell tolerable or revolting is entirely up to you.

I'm not a big fan of single-use tools, especially ones that aren't used particularly often. I'm especially not a big fan of seldom-used single-use tools that take up a large amount of space.

Everyone talks about how great sliced bread is, but there's nothing better than the taste of a just-baked loaf of crusty French bread. Like most beautiful things in life, however, the beauty of the baguette doesn't last. The next day, it's rock-hard and good for very little except for croutons or breadcrumbs. But there is a trick to make it taste fresh again.

Fish are delicate, flaky, and can be damn tricky to cook; more often than not, you end up with a hard, dry block of flesh that makes your taste buds sad. And the best ways to cook fish that you know of — c'mon, who doesn't love a fried fish — take way too much effort for you to bother with on a weeknight. Or maybe you're looking for a healthier way to enjoy fish that doesn't require batter or frying at all.

For those of us without rice cookers, conventional wisdom tells us that the stove is our only real option (unless, of course, you dabble in microwavable rice). However, if you're only using the stove for cooking rice start-to-finish, you're missing out on the easiest way to make perfect rice every time.

Instant ramen has been popular in the States for decades, and restaurants that serve the real thing in any variety you can imagine have been popping up everywhere in the last few years. But you don't have to go out or cook all day to have a gourmet ramen experience.

Fall is the time for comfort foods — and what is more comforting than crusty bread slathered in melted cheese? Owning a fondue pot is both convenient and wonderful, but not all of us have the luxury of space for nonessential kitchen appliances. However, there are plenty of ways to make an absolutely delicious, lump-free fondue without the traditional equipment.

There are few kitchen tools as elusive as the oyster knife. Many people—even seafood lovers—don't own one. If you own one, it probably gets used so infrequently that it gets sent to the back of the shelf, where it proceeds to get lost. Then you accidentally find the knife once a month when you don't need it, but you can't for the life of you find the sneaky little thing when you do need it.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner... which is the perfect excuse to ignite your inner cupid and bake a heart-shaped cake. If you have a heart-shaped cake or springform pan, you're all set. If not, don't worry—you don't need one! With a little ingenuity, you'll have a beautiful heart cake using the pans you already own.

Cake decorating is one of those activities that used to leave my hands sticky and my spirits dampened. No matter what I seemed to do, the final result always ended up looking like a preschool art project.