Clever kitchen hacks to try at home

Leftover rice usually means we’re making fried rice the next day. But for those that want to enjoy plain rice again, you can revive your leftover rice by placing an ice cube on top, with some parchment paper over it, and popping it in the microwave for one minute. You’ll be left with an almost melted ice cube, which you can discard and then enjoy perfectly reheated rice.

It's not always easy to separate the peel from a clove of garlic and it usually leaves a rather pungent smell on your fingers for hours, if not days. The easiest way to tackle this is to microwave the garlic for 30 seconds. As the garlic warms and the peel shrinks, it separates from the clove easily so you can peel much quicker.

So we've all seen the water bottle trick that sucks the egg yolk into the bottle and separates it from the egg white, but have you tried the one with garlic fingers? After peeling fresh garlic, you can rub your thumb and index finger on it. Then, using the same fingers, pinch lightly and pick up the yolk to separate it from the egg white.

Sure, we can all get fresh lemon juice by slicing the fruit in half and squeezing it, but then all the seeds and pulp pops out too. For a less messy way to get freshly-squeezed lemon juice, simply roll it on the countertop (to soften it a little) and use a skewer or chopstick to poke a hole vertically through the fruit (from one end to the other but stopping before you pierce through). Pull the skewer out of it and point the lemon (with the hole side down) towards a bowl or glass. Now you'll get fresh juice without any of the mess.