Caravan Advice and Tips

Apples, bananas & tomatoes will keep out of the fridge for up to 16 days if individually wrapped in newspaper.
Freeze left-over coffee in cubes. When you want a cup of coffee, heat a few cubes in a cup in the microwave. Especially like to do this with flavored coffees
Test baking soda for freshness by pouring 1/2 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice over the baking soda. If doesn't actively bubble, it's too old to be effective.
Store lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit rinds in the freezer. Grate fresh citrus zest whenever you need it.
Store cottage cheese upside-down. It will keep fresh for many months.
To make fruit salad in a bag: Add a can of fruit cocktail, a can of pineapple chunks (both can of fruits not drained), a cup of coconut, a box of instant vanilla pudding, and a banana to a plastic bag and seal. Squeeze the bag and serve the salad right from the bag. This is even better if chilled.
Don't wash potatoes until just before you use them as this will shorten storage life.
An apple placed in a bag of potatoes will keep them from budding longer.
Put meats and/or frozen foods in the bottom of a tall water cooler and fill with ice. Stays colder longer because the meat is at the bottom and the ice melts slower because of the smaller circumference and deeper depth.
Keep fish hooks from rusting between fishing trips by sticking them in a cork and submerging them in baking soda.
Here's this tip for making ribs: For tender ribs on the barbeque grill I first make sure they have been cut apart (if they are beef ribs); for pork ribs I roll them up. Stand ribs up in a crock-pot adding a little water so they don't stick to the bottom. Heat on high for several hours before throwing on the grill to finish cooking and soak up BBQ sauce. They come out super tender.
To clean foods that have burnt on a barbecue grill, enclose them in a large plastic garbage bag. Mix 1 cup baking soda with 1/2 cup ammonia, pour over the grills, close the bag and let sit overnight. The burnt on pieces will have loosened making the grills easy to clean.
Remove stubborn cooked on food from dishes by sprinkling pan with a half cup or so of baking soda and an equal amount of white vinegar -- let soak for a few hours before cleaning.
To clean messy bbq grills, use 1/2 onion to scrape off grease and burnt on food pieces. You use the 1/2 onion like you would a scouring pad. I didn't believe it would work myself until I tried it.
Put a few grains of rice in your salt shaker. It keeps the salt from clumping together.