Everyday Cooking Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

Discover the cooking mistakes you might be making and learn how to meal plan, prepare food, and portion size effectively for a more sustainable and cost-effective approach.

With so many people suffering from starvation, it’s essential to remember that the food on your plate is food that someone else would love to eat.

That doesn’t mean if you don’t like something, you have to eat it, but be cautious about how you meal plan, prepare food, and portion size.

Fixing A Cooking Mistake

Just recently, we were at my sister-in-law’s house for dinner, which was terrific as always, and before we left, she offered us leftovers.

She tends to make far more food than needed, but I think that’s so that she can send it home with us.

We’re okay with that, though; however, she mentioned that she has a large grocery bill, which led us to discuss a few things about her food planning, which I will discuss below.

Another thing she did before we left was offer us a massive bag of mini meatballs that she made for the boys, but they didn’t like them.

That meant we took them, or they ended up in the garbage, so we took them.

The boys thought the meatballs were too chewy and didn’t like the texture.

Was there something she could have done to save the mini-meatballs?

Sure there was!

I fried up a few meatballs and had to agree with the boys that the texture was off.

I discovered that when she tried to make the meatballs into mini-meatballs, she over-rolled them, which caused the meat to toughen.

We had to make sure the mini-meatballs were cooked long and slow in a pot, or you could use a slow cooker to bring them back to the intended texture.

This may not always happen, but it certainly worked in this case, and we made a magnificent pasta sauce with meatballs and a meatball soup.

The same will happen if you don’t allow meat to rest after cooking, grilling, or cutting it against the grain.

This allows the juices to run out, resulting in dry meat.

Failing to use a meat thermometer may result in your food being cooked too much or undercooked.

Cooking Mistakes and Kitchen Tools

Some kitchen tools are essential for every kitchen to own to avoid cooking mistakes.

I know this because I have done the same and learned from trial and error and lots of food prep education.

You don’t have to go to culinary school to learn about food prep, especially when we have Google at our fingertips.

The only way to bring those perfectly round mini-meatballs back to life was to add them to a slow cooker or pot and let them simmer for a few hours.

This is when Mrs. CBB and I questioned how we could limit or eliminate food waste when prepping food in advance for the freezer, especially for our picky little eater at home.

The average Canadian consumer throws out an estimated 170 kilograms of food a year

Canada wastes so much food that a researcher likens it to tossing a quarter of your groceries away when you leave the supermarket.

Source

Adding Too Much Of One Ingredient

What happens if you add too many ingredients, such as spices?

It won’t taste right,, deviating from the recipe,, which may lead to food waste.

Well, making an error such as too much spice or the wrong spice most certainly may call for food waste, but there are some tricks that you can use.

If you add too much salt, for example, add a potato to the pot or frying pan because it will soak salt like a sponge.

On the other hand, if you add sugar instead of salt, you might have to get creative with the dish or risk wasting it.

If you make oatmeal cookies and accidentally add paprika instead of cinnamon, don’t panic; throw the batter away.

Add the cinnamon that was supposed to be there and bake them up first.

You never know if they will taste delicious.

This is how recipe creation happens sometimes, by making mistakes.

Add too much sugar to a recipe.

You can balance the sweetness and restore flavor balance in a dish by diluting the sweetness and increasing the ratio of other ingredients, according to Spiceography.

Another way is to increase acidity, especially if you’ve added too much hot spice or sugar, which I admit I’ve done a few times.

You can also do the following if you’ve added too much sugar to a recipe.

• Increase salt
• Add dairy

Prep The Recipe

Some people get over-excited about cooking and jump in, but you must prep the ingredients first.

When you watch cooking shows on television or YouTube videos, the chefs will always have the prep work done first.

This is imperative for two reasons: you have all the right ingredients and measurements ready to go.

The last thing you want is to use one ingredient at a time only to see you are missing something, or you rush and add too little, too much, or the wrong ingredient.

If you read a recipe and aren’t sure about the cooking terms or specific ingredients, Google it.

I’m sure you will find the answers you need. If not, there’s no harm in asking a friend or family member for advice.

Prep first, cook second.

Label Everything

If you can’t tell what an ingredient is from looking at it, then it needs a label. Imagine going into the bulk food store and having to guess what everything is.

That’s how some people navigate their kitchen, and we’ve been there and know that it adds extra stress to meal prep time.

I made more than enough cooking mistakes a few years ago, so I knew I needed to label our spices.

Not only did I go out and buy medium-sized mason jars, but I also purchased labels to attach to the jars.

Some of the best labels on the market are waterproof, so I’ve ordered new spice labels from Mabels Labels.

I noticed the labels would get messy or peel off during washing or meal prep, so spending more time on a label was vital to us.

Think of the potential food waste you save by properly labeling spices and items in your pantry—no more mistaking ingredients.

Look what happened to some of my readers…

• Charlene Hogg: My sister-in-law used icing sugar instead of corn starch for her Christmas gravy.
• Heather Salter: I used Taco seasoning instead of cinnamon in a pumpkin cheesecake.
• Elizabeth Hersey: I used cocoa instead of cinnamon in my cinnamon buns.
• Maggie Bite: My husband didn’t have his reading glasses on and almost put vanilla instead of balsamic vinegar. It would have been interesting, lol.
• Desire Burton: I used salt in place of sugar for cookies.
• Tina Voce, I’ve mixed up nutmeg and cinnamon.
• Cynthia Sunshine Biggs: Kind of like that. Once, I used diatomaceous earth instead of AP flour. I was making some muffins for my son. It had been so long since I had used flour with gluten, and I was in a hurry. They came out terrible.

Taste As You Go

Whatever you do, taste the food you cook as you go along.

Please don’t wait until the end or, even worse, forget to taste it.

Serving under-cooked, too harsh, over or under-seasoned food is a big no-no.

When cooking, I ensure that I have a cup of spoons by the stove and taste them as I season to ensure that flavors are where they are supposed to be.

Never use the same utensil twice because that’s like double-dipping, and no one likes that.

This is when you will figure out whether you need to add seasoning, or you may find out you’ve added sugar instead of salt.

An important lesson is to be learned here: always taste your food as you go.

Recipe Substitutions

Mrs. CBB will tell you that I’m the worst for adding ingredients that don’t belong or testing out something different instead of an ingredient we don’t have.

Although I’ve rarely had significant disasters, I do it to test new recipes to share on CBB, but I don’t recommend it if you prepare food for your family.

Follow Recipe Instructions

I know many of you (myself included) sometimes like to eyeball measurements, but if you want an actual recipe to turn out as written, you must follow it to a T.

If it says one tablespoon of pure vanilla extract, add one or risk the taste being off or too powerful.

I’ve added the end of a bag of flour to a recipe, thinking that a little extra wouldn’t make a big difference, but was I wrong?

It may not always mess up a recipe, but in my case, with a cake, it did and came out too dry.

Always be aware of the time needed to prep, bake, or cook a recipe, and don’t deviate unless your cooker or elevation level differs from that of the recipe creator.

This can be tough, especially if you don’t know, so it’s important always to test what you are baking or cooking before you shut everything down.

For example, if I’m baking a cake, I will stick a toothpick in the middle to see if it’s done.

When a toothpick comes out clean, I know I’m good.

If I notice the top getting too dark, I place aluminum foil over the top to stop the darkening process until the rest of the cake is baked.

When I bake bread, I use the finger cushion test, where I test the middle of the bread to see if it springs back at me.

It always seems to work perfectly.

We have an old-style oven, so we are extra careful about watching what we cook and bake because new and old technology isn’t always the same.

You Play With The Food

When I first moved to Canada, I had never used a gas BBQ grill before, and I was envious of those grill marks that my father-in-law would always make on his burgers and steaks.

One time, we had the family over for dinner, and I was going to show off my grilling skills when he told me, “Stop flipping the meat so much,” and leave it be, and he showed me how to get those grill marks.

Too often, we play with our food, handle it too much (as in the case of the mini-meatballs), or whip, stir, beat, roll, or knead ingredients that don’t need that much playtime. 

When frying in fat, I often notice that I won’t get that lovely crust outside if I turn a grilled cheese, breaded fish, or other meats too early.

Instead, I get a soggy mess, and it’s not pleasurable to eat.

Kitchen Distractions

Mix your cream too long and you won’t get whipped cream, you’ll make butter.

I’ve done that before. A few distractions have led me to make cooking mistakes in our kitchen.

Last week, the doorbell rang as I was toasting almonds for our salad that night.

Well, they survived, but they were dark, and if I hadn’t caught them on time, I would have had to devise a way to use them in a recipe or toss them in the bin, and I don’t like food waste.

1. Our son
2. Television
3. Telephone
4. Door-bell
5. Internet
6. Bathroom break

I’ve learned a few things before cooking, and I ignore all technology unless needed for the recipe.

Don’t answer the door unless you’re quick; let the person know you are cooking.

If I’m alone with our son, I ensure he is in the kitchen with me and doing crafts or something that keeps him busy and not constantly asking me questions.

I let the answering machine get the telephone and try to do the bathroom before I start in the kitchen.

Starting Over

Sometimes, those cooking mistakes force you to start over, but at the end of the day, you’ve learned a lesson that you hopefully won’t make again.

Besides, mistakes often lead to creation.

Don’t be afraid to get in the kitchen and cook. Just be aware of basic cooking skills, and you’re good to go.

Discussion: What other cooking mistakes could you add to this list? Share in the comments below.

August 2018 Grocery Game Challenge

Join the 2018 Grocery Game Challenge (GGC), but before you do, you must read The Grocery Game Challenge Rules and Print the 2018 Schedule, which includes new prizes!

• 6 Inexpensive Meals When Unexpected Guests Drop By- July Shop #4
• Back To School Lunch Ideas For Parents– August Shop #1

2018 Grocery Shop Results

Yearly grocery budget for two + 1 Toddler 2018: $3600 or $300/month (The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $300/year or $25/month.

Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings or that you would like to track on your own)

• Total Grocery Budget for this Month: $300
• Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $300-$13.63=$286.37
• Total Gift Cards used to date: $0
• Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0
• Total Rewards Points used to date: $0
• PC Optimum Points to Spend: 3,200,000
• Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0

Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)

• Zweet -$0
• Checkout51- $1.50
  

Our Grocery Shop This Week

Note: All totals below have already been tax factored into them.

• Total to spend this month: $300.00
• Stockpile budget 2018: $25.00/month
• Stockpile budget used this month: $25.00
• Christmas Reserve Fund: $35/month $245 Saved
• Total coupons used this week: $0
• Total coupons used to date: $1
• Total in-store discounts this week: $59.75
• Total in-store discounts to date: $174.94
• Total spent this week: $0
• Total spent so far this month: $191.52
• Total over/Under spend this shop: $0
• Total left to spend for the month: $0
• Total Spent To Date 2018: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $323.04+Feb $169.42+March $228.70 + April $337.84+ May $275.79 + June $271.88 +July $257.76 +August $+September $+ October $+ November $ + December $

Weekly Overview

Hey everyone,

This will be a no-shop week as our friend gave us some garden delights.

We have cucumber, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and zucchini for the week now.

Have a great week.

MR.CBB

If you’ve just joined The Grocery Game Challenge 2018, get ready to look at your grocery budget by learning;

• Where you are spending money
• How much money you are spending
• How much money you are saving every month

If you want to learn everything I know about grocery shopping in Canada, check out my Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide!

You’ve made a wise decision to take control of your grocery budget.

Now show me your shops, and let’s get started!

Welcome to The Grocery Game Challenge 2018!

-Mr.CBB

• Easy Meal Prep Ideas We Use To Inspire Healthy Living
• Seven Budgeting Mistakes To Watch For
• About food waste in Canada
• Common Money Mistakes You Can Fix
• Why you should always get a product price check