Stuck inside with the winter blues? Keep busy in the kitchen to brighten up your days! From checking eggs to peeling garlic and freezing herb cubes, check out these 12 fantastic ‘hacks’ designed to save you time and money in the kitchen over the winter months.

1. Scoop out pumpkin seeds with less mess
Remove seeds from vegetables such as pumpkin with an ice cream scoop. Because the edge of the scoop is sharp, it cuts through the gooey insides much easier than your hand or a regular spoon can.

2. Don’t let your herbs go to waste!
Freeze fresh herbs in an ice cube tray with olive oil, perfect for to have on stand by for cooking or to melt on hot bread roll – yum!

3. Evenly Reheat pasta
Reheating a giant bowl of saucy spaghetti never seems to go quite right — bubbling around the outside but ice cold in the middle after 5 minutes in the microwave (yuck!). For even warming, shape leftover pasta into a donut shape (circular – with a hole in the middle) on a plate before heating it up.

4. Clean cast-iron the right way
Scrubbing your beautiful cast-iron cookware with soapy water is a major kitchen no-no (it’ll strip away the seasoning on the pan built up from all those delightful dishes you've made in the past). Clean cast-iron with a homemade salt scrub to remove food residue.

5. Ripen Fruit
Transform your fruits from green to yellow, crunchy to juicy with a simple paper bag. When fruit is closed off in the bag, concentrated ethylene gas helps it ripen faster.

6. Check if eggs are still fresh
Gently place eggs in a bowl or glass of cold water to see if they've gone bad before cooking. If the egg sinks to the bottom, it’s still fresh and ok to use. If it floats, it has seen better days and is best crushed up and put out on the garden! Over time a gas bubble develops inside eggs as liquids leech out the porous shell – hence, the floatier it is, the older it is.

7. Easy Peeling!
For garlic, Remove all cloves from the bulb, then whack each clove with the side of a large knife. The skin will fall right off!

Ditch the peeler in and grab a spoon to peel fiddly ginger root.

Avoiding those tasty oranges just because they're such a pain to peel? Roll citrus fruits and/or microwave them for a minute for easy peeling (just be careful to not burn yourself).

8. Cheese with ease!
Slice soft cheeses such as brie and goat c.eese with unscented dental floss for tidy slices. This trick also works for cake and cookie dough!

Before grating semi-soft cheeses like mozzarella, freeze it for about half an hour to make the grating process much easier and tidier.

9. Keep pots from boiling over
Prevent pots from over-boiling by placing a wooden spoon across the top. Because wood does not conduct heat well, the hot water moves away from the spoon handle.

10. Soften butter in a jiffy
Keeping butter out on the counter for an hour isn't ideal if you’re baking in a rush, and microwaving can leave you with a runny mess. Instead, grate butter with a cheese grater for spreadable, mixable butter in a jiffy!

11. Reheat pizza without making it stale
When reheating pizza or baking, place a cup of water in the microwave with it. This will stop your tasty treats from drying out as it brings moisture to the air.

12. Keep celery & broccoli fresher longer!
Wrap celery and broccoli in foil before you pop it in the fridge – it’ll keep for up to a month this way!

Do you have any great kitchen hacks? Share them below so we can try them out!