Health Tips

1. Don't keep fish in your refrigerator for more than 24 hours, and don't keep raw poutry or beef for more than one or two days at the most. Red meat can keep for three to four days, but if you want to store meat for longer, it is best you freeze it.

2. After removing food from the freezer, don't let it thaw at room temperature. There is a greater chance of it picking up bacteria. Place it in the fridge or in the microwave.

3. Always wash your hands with soap before and after handling meat.

4. Pick up foods from the frozen food counter at the very end of your shopping. If you pick it up in the beginning, it will thaw at room temperature, and the chances of it picking up bacteria are high.

5. Make sure you cook your meats thoroughly to kill bacteria, but at the same time, don't overcook them. Cooking meat is tricky because if you don't cook it enough, you don't kill the bacteria, and if you overcook it, you may cause it to form carcinogenic compounds! That's right, too much heat is believed to cause meat, poultry and fish to form carcinogenic compounds, so it's imperative to be careful.

6. Avoid the use of too much oil while cooking. We are used to using oil so liberally when cooking Indian food that it takes a while to think of any vegetable we make without the use of oil! Cut down the amount of oil you use by cooking in non-stick Teflon pans. Most of us use so much oil to prevent the food from sticking to the pan - the use of non-stick pans cuts out this need. A good idea would be to pour the oil in a spray bottle, and then spray a little oil at the bottom of the pan before you start cooking. Always spray the oil after the pan is hot, the oil spreads better. You will also use a lot less oil if you start spraying it on the food, than if you pour it.

7. Instead of deep-frying samosas, try baking them. They come out just as scrumptious, and, needless to say, are a whole lot lighter calorie-wise!

Cleaning

If it seems next to impossible to scrub burnt vessels clean, here's what you can do. Fill it up with boiling water, and drop a few pieces of chopped onions in it. Let it sit for around five minutes and then wash it. You will be surprised at the ease with which your vessel shines!

Fed up with constantly having to defrost your refrigerator every now and then to get rid of the ice that has formed in your freezer? True, with the more modern frides you don't have this problem, but if you are using an old fridge, all you need to do is to rub a little table salt to the inside of your freezer. This prevents ice from forming and sticking to the walls.