Don't miss out on these efficient tricks to eating smarter!
Turn Your Ketchup Packets Into Dipping Stations
When you try and squeeze ketchup from the packet, you’re never going to be able to get every last bit out, and some will invariably be lost in the transaction. Instead, carefully cut or tear off the top of the packet and, lo and behold, you’ve got yourself a little dipping container for your fries.
Watermelon
If you want nicely cubed watermelon pieces, there’s a simple way to make them. Cut the melon in half, then make three horizontal cuts on either side, making sure to only cut through the rind. Then you need to cut around the perimeter of each half. Finally, make hatch cuts in each half of the melon. After that, just turn each piece over a bowl, push lightly on the outside, and cubes of melon should plop out.
Candy Apples
The only trick here is rotating the whole operation by 90 degrees. If you eat the apple like corn on the cob instead of like an ice cream cone, you’re gonna have a much better (and cleaner) go of it.
Peas
These little suckers can be hard to contain in an eating utensil, and general etiquette dictates that we can’t use our fingers to eat these after we turn 2. What you should do instead is take a fork and mash the peas so they’re a little flatter. This way they won’t roll all over and will end up primarily in your mouth, not in your lap.
Pomegranate
If you try and get the seeds out with your fingers, you might be mistaken for a murderer caught red-handed (literally). To keep things clean, cut the pomegranate in half and tap the outside of the fruit with a wooden spoon to knock all of the seeds out.
Tacos
One of the worst things about eating tacos is the tendency for the shells to break and loose their inner goodness on your hands, the table, and the floor. To help prevent such breakage and spillage, wrap a piece of lettuce around the outside of the taco. Not only will you have a cleaner meal, you’ll also be able to convince yourself that your taco was healthy!
Pistachios
If you made a power ranking for different kinds of nuts, pistachios would certainly be near the top. As good as they are, though, they can also be a pain in the butt to open. For those especially tricky ones, take the shell of another pistachio and use it as a lever to pry it open. You’ll be proud of yourself for wasting nary a nut, and your high school physics teacher will be proud of you for your usage of a lever.
Chicken Wings
A sign of a true champion is the ability to completely finish every wing he or she starts, but sometimes it’s tricky getting all of the meat from between the bones in the flat wings (as opposed to the drumsticks). What you should do to impress everyone at the party is twist one bone and pull it out, then repeat with the second bone. Then you’ll have a tasty, boneless morsel you can just pop in your mouth and enjoy.
Oranges
To get neat orange slices, just cut off a little of each end make a vertical slice up and down one side of the orange. When you unroll the peel, you’ll have orange slices ready for eating.
Mango
Mangos can get messy when you’re preparing them. To get immaculate mango halves, cut the fruit down the middle and use the rim of a glass as a scooping device, just as shown in the picture. What you do with you mango halves is up to you.
Crabs
If you want to avoid hammering all day like Peter, Paul & Mary, there’s an easier way to go about getting all of that delectable crab meat. All you have to do is break off the crab’s claw and use it to dig out all of the inner goodness.
Sushi
To do sushi right, the order has to be right. In this case, make sure you get the soy sauce onto your sushi piece before you put any ginger or wasabi on top. That way your soy sauce supply stays free of outside contaminants.
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Peeling the shell off a hard-boiled egg is tedious. To facilitate a speedier process, boil the egg in baking soda. When it’s done, crack a quarter-sized hole at each end of the egg and blow. The shell should come right off, and then you’ve got yourself a shell-less egg.
Pizza
Ever get tired of your pizza slice flopping over and spilling your toppings? To fix that problem, fold your pizza at the middle of the slice’s crust. That way, if your toppings fall, they’re go right down to the middle of your slice and stay there. Pro-tip: when you have one row of bites left, fold the remnants of the slice onto the crust so that you don’t have to eat the crust all by itself. Unless you have dipping sauce, in which case ignore that.
Bananas
Most people peel their bananas from the stem, but if you ever watch a monkey attack a banana, you’ll see it go about things in the opposite way. Start at the “bottom” of the banana, gently, squeeze it, and the banana will pop open for a much easier snack.
Cupcakes
The top of the cupcake is undisputedly the very best part. However, since it’s the most easily accessible, it’s hard to get to save it for last. Plus, icing gets all over your face. To remedy the situation, gently twist off the bottom part of the cupcake and flip it over on top of the icing. This technique will give you a delicious cupcake sandwich.
Chinese Take-out
No need to make some dirty dishes with your take-out. Simply unfold the box to make a serviceable, disposable plate. Disclaimer: if there’s a lot of sauce in the food, you may want to avoid doing this.
Strawberries
These berry’s leaves have a bitter taste, but avoiding them usually means sacrificing a little bit of strawberry. To get the leaves off altogether, stick a straw up through the bottom of the berry and watch the leaves pop right off.
Apples
When you were little, you never ate the core of your apple because you were scared that the seeds would grow into an apple tree inside your stomach. There are two things wrong with that: first, the acid in your stomach will digest the seeds thoroughly, and second, you can eat all of the apple. Just make sure to clean it carefully.
Kiwis
Getting the skin off of a kiwi fruit is a real pain, so instead just slice it up and get the outside off piece by piece.
Cutting Soft Foods
What do cheese, birthday cakes, and many other foods have in common? They can all be cut by dental floss. Just make sure the stuff you’re using is unwaxed and unflavored; nothing is worse than cinnamon-flavored gouda cheese.