Unexpected life hacks you stumbled across

[Janboree]

I’ve just discovered that my body mist cleans my spectacles brilliantly. As good as my opticians cleaning spray and a lot cheaper. Added bonus it makes my glasses smell nice too and I didn’t like the smell of the glasses spray. I only used it as it was to hand and my other spray had run out.
Have other mumsnetters stumbled across any life hacks unexpectedly?

I think the slugs would be fine tbh they don’t mind a bit of grease and grime.

Wouldn't the shelves be vulnerable to spider willies, though?

Ridiculously satisfying and easy peasy lemon squeezy

I tried it and got sticky hands because of juice everywhere!

I am so easily led.........

In other news, just bought a swede.

😂😂😂😂

But how did you get covered in juice? If you cut across the equator and invert it they just pop out.

I did exactly that! And I just got juice everywhere!

That said, they were fresh from the supermarket so perhaps they need to ripen a little before this works in a none messy way? I will give it another go tomorrow as I bought them on Monday.

Sheets add labour. The whole point of the covered duvet is that it eliminates throwing over a top sheet... oh wait you DO have the (harder) labour of putting on the duvet cover, but you don't have to do that so often.

Swedes make reasonably decent chips/wedges. While they’d never replace potatoes as the king of delightfulness, they make an acceptable healthy living alternative. Just slice, pat dry, put in a bowl with a little olive oil and whatever seasoning your like (I like smoked paprika and some chilli flakes), give them a good mix then pop into the air fryer for 10 mins on a high heat.

@MayaPinion I love swede (we call them turnip up here) chips! 😋

And they'd get darked upon.

Parsnips even better.

So what do you call turnips?

Swede.

@PigletJohn white turnip. 😂

Fleece used as sofa throw doesn't move around like other fabrics - stays in place.

@Deetre
Thanks for the tip about slicing an orange in half to extract the segments. Tried it on a small 'easy peeler' type fruit, not sure of the proper name, and it worked very nicely. Plus the segments were already sliced in half for me with no mess. Never thought of doing it this way.

@gallivantsaregood

I can't find the original post or poster about microwaving a whole swede. Hoping it is you! Just tried it and it worked! I honestly thought I'd have to spend the rest of my life scraping bits of swede out of the microwave. Also, couldn't get my head round microwaving anything for 25 minutes. I'll definitely be cooking more swede now. Thank you. I used to get put off by the effort needed to peel and chop it before cooking.

I'm now microwaving my garlic cloves for a few seconds, and the skin slips off magically. Thank you poster who suggested this!

I see you already have a few answers to this , I agree with pp saying use oven shelf cleaner .
Lakelands kit is very good and the bags can be used over and over again so next time you just need to buy a bottle of oven cleaner rather than the kit.
It has very little smell too.

However obviously the chemicals are harsh and not great for the environment, so instead ( and I know this sounds a bit gross but it's not really ) .
In the warmer , especially damp weather put your racks outside overnight. The local slugs and snail population will feast on all the burnt on food . Then you just give them a good wash ( the shelves not the snails ! )

For oven racks pour some cloudy ammonia into a bin bag and put the shelves in the bag. Knot the neck of the bag and put it away over night, or longer for really mucky shelves. Leave them in a garage for instance as you wouldn't want children messing with it.

It's the fumes of the ammonia that do the trick, not soaking the shelves.

I get cloudy ammonia from Bunnings in Melbourne, so I'm guessing B&Q sell it in the UK, or any hardware shop. It's cheap.

Mine go in the dishwasher. You may have to take the top rack out. Sometimes I finish off with a green pan scourer remaining burnt bits.

Tell him to be very careful. I know someone wearing slippers using that stuff (with gauntlet style gloves on to be safe!) and didn't notice some dripped onto their foot when doing it until much later. They thought they just had an itchy foot until they took off their socks. Very very long story short they ended up with toes being amputated.

If that stuff drips on hands, arms, jeans, soaks through footwear etc it can cause very nasty chemical burns if not immediately washed off. I wouldn't have it in my house.

I tried it with a butternut squash and it didn't work. The squash was absolutely scalding when I tried to peel it/scoop out the seeds and flesh, and had gone hard and woody around some of the edges - unevenly cooked through.

Did you find it easy to scoop out? Also - did it reduce the smell of swede cooking? Love the taste but the smell is a bit depressing.

If you are using tubs of things like glue, art varnishes, gesso, mod podge etc., make sure you wipe the thread after use, and wipe a bit of Vaseline round the thread so the lid doesn't stick. Got several tubs solidly sealed before I discovered this!

@Jugendstiel
I've only tried it with swede. I left it for a few minutes after taking it out of the microwave then cut it in half. One half was a bit undercooked in the middle so I put it back for a few minutes. The scooping out of the halves was fine. I used oven gloves to hold the half. A couple of small areas of rather hard overcooked bits. But no more waste than there normally is peeling and chopping.

I'm not sure about the smell. I didn't notice it. For me not having all the peeling and chopping and washing up of cooking pots made it all worthwhile. Also, didn't need to mash it. If you like your swede in pieces, not mashed, it probably isn't a suitable method.

@Jugendstieli’ve not kept up with the thread but Jamie Oliver does a butternut squash by cutting it in half top to bottom, roasting it in the oven (scoop the seeds out but don’t peel) then just scoop out the cooked flesh. You can make soup without even removing the peel. Personally I just peel BNS with a ribbon peeler, chop and boil. Or buy frozen!