Sometimes kitchen utensils and appliances have more than one use as these nifty hacks prove.

What goes with bread? Jam. What else can be made in a bread machine? Jam! Mash three cups of strawberries and put in a bread pan (make sure it’s leak-proof first) with a cup of sugar, a splash of lemon juice and two tablespoons of pectin and press the jam or jelly setting. Afterwards, leave to cool with the lid open before removing.

Can openers aren’t just for opening cans or tins. They can be used for getting into notoriously tricky plastic packaging.

Would you like to serve your pasta in tidy nests like your local trattoria does? Easy – twist a carving fork in the spaghetti, and carefully lift out of the pan and onto a plate.

It’s possible to bake a cake in a cast iron skillet either in the oven using the skillet as you would a cake tin, or on the stove on a low flame for 35-40 minutes. Cobblers are particularly good made this way.

If you enjoy baking, a quick way to rub butter in with flour is to keep the butter in the freezer then when it’s required, remove it and grate it into a bowl and mix.

There’s more to chopsticks than just picking up food. Cooking legend Julia Child swore by them for beating eggs; one can be used to separate food into sections before freezing (just press the long side down to create squares); inserted into cooking oil, the tip of a wooden chopstick will ‘fizz’ when the oil’s hot enough; and they can be used to move items around during frying.

Dishwashers are ideal fish poachers. For example, wrap a whole salmon or fillets in tinfoil with a little oil and seasoning, seal tightly and place on the top rack of an empty dishwasher. Run on a full cycle (without detergent!) for perfectly poached fish.

An egg slicer can cut through mushrooms and strawberries as quickly and easily as hard-boiled eggs.

If you don’t have any cookie cutters to hand, the rim of a glass will work just as well.

Scoops are great for portioning out ice cream but are just as helpful for portioning out cookie and cake mix for even-sized cookies and cupcakes.

An ice cream scoop is also an easy way to scoop out the seeds of a squash, marrow or gourd.

Don’t limit ice cube trays and bags. Pour stock, oil and herbs, or milk into the compartments and freeze so you’ll have the ingredients to hand when cooking or making drinks.

Fancy a hard-boiled egg but don’t have access to a stove? Use an electric kettle instead. Carefully place the egg at the bottom of the kettle, add just enough water to cover it then boil the kettle for four minutes. Leave the egg in the hot water for another six minutes then pour out the water and remove the egg (with tongs if you have some).

Thick spaghetti or Chinese noodles can be made in a meat grinder. Just be sure to chill the dough for at least half an hour first, to remove the blade beforehand, and to dust the noodles with flour as they come out so they don’t stick.

You may use your microplane to grate cheese but it’s also a brilliant device to zest citrus peel, grate hard spices such as nutmeg, or get fresh ginger, chili or garlic nice and fine.

A microwave is already a versatile appliance but here’s yet another use for one. To juice a lemon, heat it in a microwave for 10 seconds, remove, cut in half and squeeze to get the most from the fruit. Easy squeezy.

There’s more to the humble muffin tin than meets the eye. Use one to freeze individual items; for example, don’t waste eggs – crack one into each section (they last for up to six months in the freezer) and defrost when needed. Or make large ice cubes with whole slices of fruit.

Press cookie dough into the sides of muffin tin cups and bake for cookie cups.

A muffin tin’s individual compartments can be used at a BBQ or party for holding dips, crudities, sauces and snacks.

Turn a muffin tin upside down and push tortillas gently between the cups then bake for molded tortilla bowls.

Use a rolling pin not just to roll out pastry but to break up cookies or crackers into crumbs, or to bash nuts or ice (put ice in a plastic bag first).

Don’t have a pizza cutter? You don’t need one – use kitchen scissors to cut slices instead.

Kitchen scissors are also a helpful way to cut up canned tomatoes without having to remove them from the container.

For a makeshift egg separator place a slotted spoon across a bowl and crack an egg onto it. The spoon will catch the yolk while the egg white will slip through the slots.

Make Champagne with a SodaStream. Well, sort of. Decant some good white wine into a SodaStream bottle, apply some fizz very gently until – hey Presto! – you have a sparkling wine tipple ready to be enjoyed.

A spoon can be used to open a jar – slide the spoon end under the ridge and pull the handle down to loosen the lid.

Don’t underestimate the usefulness of straws – use them to hull strawberries by removing the stalk and leaves then pushing the straw end from the bottom to the top of the fruit.

For an impressive breakfast, fill a turkey baster with pancake batter and use it to fashion cool pancake shapes.

For some professional-looking chocolate curls, run a vegetable peeler along a cold bar of chocolate. A veg peeler works for cheese shavings too.

Waffle irons and toastie makers do more than make waffles and toasties – they cook hash browns and reheat cold pizza.

Not only can wooden spoons take heat better than plastic or metal utensils (so you’re less likely to burn your fingers), lay one across a hot pan and it will prevent any liquid from boiling over (the wood pops the bubbles).

Who would have thought that a sink could have other uses besides washing up, but if yours is made from stainless steel it can remove garlic and onion odors from your hands. Simply place your hands under cold running water while rubbing them against the metal – the sulfur molecules will transfer from you to the sink.