20 Ineffective Cooking “Hacks” That Are A Pure Waste Of Time, According To Folks In This Online Group

Every once in a while, we want to take our cooking skills to the next level. Perhaps, you want to learn new cooking techniques. Maybe, you want to simplify your cooking process. Possibly, you want to learn a new recipe entirely.

If that’s what you’re looking for, then you’re not in the right place. Instead, what we’ll be having today is the opposite – bad cooking hacks. In this article, we’ll learn 20 things not to do in cooking. I assure you that the information below will be as useful in your cooking as some real cooking tutorials out there!

More info: Reddit

#1 5-Minute Crafts Food Hacks

Image source: Educational-Fan-8475, Stephanie

Food hacks that show up on 5 Minutes Crafts

#2 Using A Straw To De-Stem Strawberries

Image source: QQcumber, Fried Dough

Using a straw to de-stem strawberries by poking a hole through the bottom of the berry.

Just rip it off

#3 Saving Veggie Scraps For Broth

Image source: secret-snakes, citymama

I’ll go first. I hate saving veggie scraps for broth. I don’t like the room it takes up in my freezer, and I don’t think the broth tastes as good as it does when you use whole, fresh vegetables.

Honorable mentions:

Store-bought herb pastes. They just don’t have the same oomph.

Anything that’s supposed to make peeling boiled eggs easier. Everybody has a different one–baking soda, ice bath, there are a hundred different tricks. They don’t work.

Microwave anything (mug cakes, etc). The texture is always way off.

#4 Peeling Ginger With A Spoon

Image source: gustriandos, Kjokkenutstyr Net

Peeling ginger with a spoon. I just use a knife and square it off. I’m okay with losing a little bit of it if it means not grabbing a spoon and spending twice as much time prepping it.

Also, a new one I’ve seen is using a cooling rack to dice avocado, mango, egg, etc. whoever came up with that has either never cleaned a cooling rack or doesn’t own a knife.

Agree with the veggie scraps one.

#5 Useless Kitchen Gadgets

Image source: Match_Specialist, Chris Hoare

I hate any gadget that a decent knife and a modicum of coordination can replace. I cook multiple times most days but my wife couldn’t make a wish sandwich if you stacked to pieces of bread on a plate for her. So she always shows me videos of kitchen gadgets she thinks I need. 99 times out of a hundred you can do the same thing with a knife in less time and don’t have an extra hard to clean gadget.

#6 Pulling Stems Of Cilantro Through A Hole To Get The Leaves Off

Image source: okokimup, Jason Bachman

Pulling stems of cilantro through a hole (in a microplane, grater, colander, etc) to get the leaves off. Has never worked for me. It’s much faster for me to just pull the leaves off by hand.

#7 Using A Garlic Press For Ginger

Image source: MrReynevan2, Joe Hall

“Use your garlic press to quickly press ginger as well”

Would not recommend.

#8 Microwave Plate Or Tray That’s Supposed To Cook An Item Better

Image source: atombomb1945, wEnDy

Any microwave plate or tray that is supposed to “cook” an item better. Anyone remember the “Bacon Wave” that came out in the 80’s? It was a tray that was supposed to cook bacon crisp in the microwave and drain the fat at the same time. Problem was that it splattered grease all over your microwave and took about the same time as it does to pan fry it.

I’ve seen these for every type of egg dish, bacon, coffee, ramen noodles, steaks, and just about anything else. A pointless waste of money.

And Foreman Grill types of presses. It’s an over glorified sandwich press and only good if you have no other cooking options. (I admit I had one when I lived in the barracks and had no access to a kitchen.)

#9 Putting Cream In Risotto

Image source: NorthernAphid, Herry Lawford

Putting cream in risotto

#10 Using Mayo Instead Of Butter On A Grilled Cheese

Image source: waitthissucks, Joel Kramer

For me it’s people saying to use mayo instead of butter on their grilled cheese. Mayo just doesn’t provide the flavor or crunch I want. Butter is the way

#11 Cooking Things In The Dishwasher

Image source: TheLadyEve, Joanna Bourne author

Cooking things in the dishwasher. That started in the 70s, now it’s a tik tok thing, but it’s always stupid.

#12 Random Hummus Hacks

Image source: Rabaga5t, Whitney

Not that I hate them, but I’ve tried loads for hummus that don’t work.

Blend with ice, blend when chickpeas are hot, used dried/ canned chickpeas, cook them more, take all the skins off, blend the tahini and lemon juice on its own first, soak with baking soda, etc.

Just blend everything together, and make sure there’s enough liquid in the blender that it blends properly to get it smooth. Then add salt until it tastes really good

#13 Creating Frozen Slices Of Peanut Butter To Make PB&J Sandwiches easier

Image source: gazhole, Craig Murphy

It’s not really “cooking” but I saw one that made peanut butter sandwiches ‘easier’. It involved creating frozen slices of peanut butter between two small sheets of selophane, which could then be taken out of the freezer and put between bread, and would then melt creating a peanut butter sandwich.

I have no idea how that was less time and effort than just making them the normal way, and it doesn’t really extend the shelf life of peanut butter in any meaningful way, and with the added drawback that you can’t eat them right away since the peanut butter needs to melt.

Blew my mind for all the wrong reasons.

#14 Cutting Cake With Wine Glasses

Image source: BridgetteBane, theroseperiod

Those tiktok people who think cutting cake with a wineglass is somehow easier or convenient.

#15 Any Hack That Appears On Tiktok

Image source: Lt_Forks, nordskovmedia.dk

Any hack that appears on TikTok gets an instant NO from me. I swear that place makes everything more complicated than it should be, or validates some people’s horrific food ideas.

Chopping board, chef’s knife, peeler, mixing bowl, frying pan, saucepan/stockpot- 90%+ of kitchen jobs can be solved with these. Good quality ones – you use them every day, so invest in them.

Source: ex-chef from a 2 Michelin star kitchen.

#16 Dumping Dry Pasta, Slices Of Cheese And Milk In A Casserole Dish

Image source: FearlessFreak69, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Those dumb videos where people dumb dry pasta and slices of cheese and milk in a casserole dish and cook it all at once.

#17 One-Sheet-Pan Dinner Recipes

Image source: mah_ree, Isha Zubeidi

My pet peeve is the ‘one sheet pan dinner’ recipe videos where they spread everything out on the pan, THEN add oil and seasonings AS UNEVENLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE and just shuffle around poorly with their hands.

just toss it all in a big bowl beforehand, goddamn

#18 Peeling Garlic By Shaking It In A Container

Image source: Competitive_Dress671, Rebecca Siegel

Peeling garlic by shaking it in a container, doesn’t work for me. Slicing cherry tomatoes in half by placing a plate on top.

#19 Putting Olive Oil In Pasta While It’s Boiling

Image source: the_nomads, Prem Sichanugrist

Putting olive oil in when the pasta is boiling so it doesn’t stick. Give that pasta a stir when you put it in the pot and once every few minutes and save your olive oil for salad dressing. If you don’t stir the pasta when you drop it in, no amount of olive oil will keep it from sticking anyway.