Some take-out containers are much more user-friendly than others. In fact, lousy take-out options make all the difference when you’re facing a take-out night (you know, those nights when you get home so exhausted that you know you will be ordering in). Well, while they have been serving us chopsticks for centuries, Chinese restaurant take-out containers are far more practical than we have been giving them credit for.
Next time you order in your favorite fried rice dish, instead of dirtying an extra plate, try this out: once you eat the first few bites and the rest gets a little difficult to get at, simply unfold all sides of your take-out container and watch how it easily unfolds, creating a flat plate for you to eat off of. Pretty crafty!
Coffee Bags
If you're a coffee addict like us, you may be under the impression that those little holes in packaged ground coffee bags are for people like us who appreciate a good strong whiff of that coffee aroma before we make the decision to purchase the bag (along with 10 others). However, in truth, the hole is there in order to prevent the bag from exploding. Fun fact, when coffee is roasted, it tends to let off carbon dioxide.
Once packaged, the carbon dioxide can cause the bag to inflate and explode. Nevertheless, oxygen can cause coffee to turn stale. That's why some clever genius had to come up with the idea of a tiny hole that will let the CO2 out but won’t let oxygen in. Thanks to whomever it was, now we can all smell our favorite blends at the store.
Voicemails
So many hilarious sitcom moments have been built on the notion that once you record a voicemail, there is no going back. Of course, you can always record another, a slightly less awkward voicemail in an attempt to explain the first, but truthfully, that has never come across as "smooth" and usually ends up making the problem worse.
We can't help but wonder how many scenes would have been ruined and how many relationships could have been salvaged had they only known this small detail: in most phones across the globe, pressing the star (*) button will let you re-record your voice message! There are no more excuses for a horrible voice message.
Colored Toothpaste
Next time you visit your local grocery store, have a look and see how many varieties, flavors, and colors toothpaste has. While most of us end up buying the classic three-stripe kind of toothpaste, we aren’t actually aware of the benefits and purpose behind each color. For some reason, the toothpaste companies don't bother explaining it to us either, but the truth is, each color in your toothpaste tube has different ingredients that do different things.
For example, the white paste contains substances that remove plaque and, as a result, whiten your teeth. The red stripe usually contains vital elements for proper gum care, and the blue paste holds antimicrobial and breath-freshening components.
Hole in the Handle
This one is for the home chefs among us. You might have observed a hole at the end of your pots and pans, which is why many of us decide to call a carpenter to install a rustic pot and pan holder on our wall to hang our cooking tools from. Plus, it creates a homey cooking environment and saves shelf space.
While this is a wonderful idea, and we fully recommend it, that is not what the small holes were actually made for. In reality, the holes at the end of your pots and pans were placed there strategically in order to provide a holder for your spatula or mixing spoon. It sure beats placing a dirty spoon on the counter and making a mess.