Bread Mangler on Aisle 4...

Today's edition of WFMW is supposed to be about kitchen tips...well,I gave my best kitchen tip last week..this one is about the food we EAT in the kitchen...does that count?

We eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our home, which means we eat a lot of bread too. I used to spend MORE than a few minutes on the bread aisle gently squeezing and trying to check the bread for freshness, all the while attracting the attention of curious shoppers who probably thought I had some sort of bread fetish. But there is nothing I dislike more than bread that is already crusty and hard when you take it out of the wrapper...it's supposed to be that way after your kids have left their half-eaten sandwiches lying on the coffee table!

Recently, a friend shared something with me that has revolutionized the bread-buying process for me and freed me from my habit of bread-squishing...did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie. They are:

Monday - Blue
Tuesday - Green
Thursday - Red
Friday - White
Saturday - Yellow

So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie - not white which is Friday's (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue - Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday thru Saturday. Very easy to remember. Now, me being the cynical person I am had to check this out...so I went to the Wal-Mart Supercenter and lo-and-behold....there they were...a rainbow of twistie ties. I could easily tell which ones were the freshest and just grab it without attracting all those stares....and now maybe that creepy guy in the produce dept will leave me alone.

And I did just think of a cook kitchen tip my mom taught me. If you are anything like me and have an intense dislike for cleaning out your microwave oven? (they put a door on those things for a reason!) Next time it's dirty, just put about 1 cup (glass only) of vinegar in it and microwave for 4-5 minutes...the goo will literally fall off the sides onto your paper towel.

Head on over to Shannon's for more great Kitchen advice!