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My mother in law told me I was cleaning all wrong and she was right | Everyday Epiphanies - Chatter Central

My mother in law told me I was cleaning all wrong and she was right

Last year at Thanksgiving, my mother in law watched me scrub a pot with a steel wool pad and handed me a plastic scraper instead. She said I was scratching the finish for no reason and that soap and a soak would do more work than elbow grease. I pushed back at first because I thought scrubbing hard meant I was doing a good job. After trying her way on the burnt on stuff, the pot came clean in 10 minutes with almost no effort. It made me wonder how many other things I do the hard way just because nobody showed me different. Has anyone else had a moment where someone older or more experienced completely changed how you do a simple task?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesley3854mo ago

My MIL taught me the same trick with a plastic scraper and I still think about it every time I do dishes. I used to buy those expensive non-stick pans and replaced them every year because the coating would get all scratched up. Turns out a $2 plastic scraper from the kitchen store and some warm water would have saved me hundreds of dollars. Another thing she got me on is letting eggs sit out for 30 minutes before cooking them so they cook more evenly. It changed my breakfast game completely. Have you found any other shortcuts from her since that first lesson?

brooke7674mo ago

Doesn't it make you wonder how many basic life skills we're just missing because nobody ever slowed down to show us? I read somewhere that older generations learned a lot of these kitchen tricks from just watching their parents cook every day, but we rely on YouTube tutorials and packaging instructions instead. Kinda makes me wish I'd paid more attention to how my grandma did stuff instead of assuming my way was the only way.

mary_foster924mo ago

Honestly though @wesley385, that egg tip isn't exactly a shortcut - room temp eggs are actually more likely to have bacteria grow if you leave them out longer than two hours, so it's more of a food safety thing than a magic trick. I fell for it too until I looked it up, and now I just run them under warm water for a minute instead. Still, the scraper trick is solid, so you're on the right track.

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