How to Strain Without a Strainer: In the market, we have different types of strainers for fruits, stock, and for many things. But there are times that the strainers have been broken when you are in the middle of cooking or sometimes we forget that our strainer has been spoiled when we go out and suddenly you will not have it when you need it.
Any of this happens, in every household, at that time we think “How to strain without a strainer”. Dont worry as you are here today, we have many ways to strain your food without a strainer. Look into the below blog post and you will be amazed by seeing the ways that you can strain without a strainer.
All these ways are very simple and all of them are available in our house but we don’t see them in that way. So, without any delay, let’s get started!!
- How To Strain Without a Strainer – 12 Life Hacks To Strain Food Without a Strainer
- Can you use a plastic strainer for pasta?
- How to make a homemade strainer?
- Can we use a fork in place of the slotted spoon?
- Can I use a kitchen roll as a strainer?
- What is the best cloth to strain water?
How To Strain Without a Strainer – 12 Life Hacks To Strain Food Without a Strainer
As we all know, the strainer is one of the most common and handiest kitchen tools that you have in your kitchen. But there are times when we don’t have it. At that time all the above 11 methods will help you to strain the food without a strainer. Check out them and you may have at least some of them in your home if you don’t have all of them.
Use the method that you like, or depending on the food you have to strain and depending on the one you have with you.
- Slotted Spoon
- Lid
- Cheesecloth or Mesh Bag
- Bandana
- Nut Milk Bag
- Tongs
- Gaiwan
- Coffee Filters
- Paper Towel
- Plastic Bag
- Pantyhose
Slotted Spoon
A slotted spoon will work best as a strainer for some foods like pasta, rice, veggies, and noodles but it takes a little extra effort and a little extra time. Even though it takes time and effort it is an effective way to strain your food. Use the slotted spoon that you have and see if it works as a strainer for the particular food you have to strain.
You can use this slotted spoon to strain little stock or a meal just pass it through the slotted spoon or you can take out all the food that you have using the slotted spoon and finally you can throw out water.
Otherwise, if you don’t want to do any of them, just pour out water by tilting the pot, and keep the spoon against the edge of the post to stop the food.
Lid
Next, the one you can use for the food to strain is by the lid. It works pretty well to strain most types of food. If you have a lid on the vessel that you are cooking then you can use this trick to strain. But when you are using it this way, you need to make sure that you can hold it tightly for at least 20 seconds or not, otherwise, ask someone to help.
Once you have completed boiling the food like pasta, and veggies, just keep it under the sink and fill it with cool water. Then cover the lid and hold the panhandles and tilt it. Create a small gap only for water can go out so that you can strain water from the pasta or veggies within seconds. And even your time will not be wasted.
Cheesecloth Or Mesh Bag
If you are thinking about how to strain the stock, or something like that as your strainer has gone bad then take the cheesecloth or mesh bag that you have to strain. And it works pretty well and is effective especially when you are trying to strain small particles. Cheesecloth is nothing but a thin, soft textured gauze fabric.
Now to use this cheesecloth or mesh bag, take a pot and cover this cloth on the top of the pot without any gap. Ask for help to squeeze or to hold it tightly as it takes some time to strain. It can be used for any type of food, veggies, rice, juice, coffee, and anything from small to big.
Bandana
When you see this option in the list, you may think that how it can help to strain the food. But they actually work well. Mostly bandanas are thin and made with cotton fabric and also they are very cheap. Simply, take a container and cover the bandana over the container and pour the food that you need to strain. But you need to catch it tightly for that take help from your family if you want.
And then pour it carefully even if it is weightless like tea leaves. But you use the bandana which you will not wear again.
Nut Milk Bag
Nut milk bag is nothing but a mesh bag but it will be in large size. You can use these bags as a strainer by placing food inside the bag. You can squeeze any type of liquid like juices, coffee, tea, and the same types. You can use them not only to strain the milk from nuts but even you can use it for others and they are simply called jelly bags.
To use this bag, just pour the liquid with soft food into the nut milk bag and tie it at the end and tilt it side by side. So that you can squeeze all the liquid.
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Tongs
Tongs are also one of the utensils that can be used for some types of food like noodles or potatoes. To do it, just grab the food with tongs and hold it for a few seconds, and place them in the serving dish. If the noodles are too long you can grab them with a tong and twist them so that all the noodles will spin around the tongs.
You can continue the same process until all of the noodles or spaghetti was completed. And also we have another way, just keep the tong as a support to the noodles and then tilt the pot and strain them.
Gaiwan
You can use this Gaiwan as a strainer if you have this with you. Gaiwan is nothing but a traditional Chinese tea brewing utensil with a bowl, lid, and saucer. You can use this as a strainer for the tea. It is very simple to use, all you have to do to use this is, just pour the tea into the Gaiwan and place the lid, then drain off the brewed tea from the Gaiwan to another tea cup.
Coffee Filters
In most houses, coffee filters are a common household appliance. But as coffee filters are small they will not work for large amounts of food. For that, you can go with another type as we discussed above. And to get rid of the papery taste, you just clean the filter sheets with hot water.
As coffee filters are made to strain it is nothing strange to strain but setting them up to strain will be the hardest part. These will look like nut milk bags.
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Paper Towel
Even paper towels or napkins will help you strain coffee or tea or to filter excess oil. These are also used for small amounts of food as there is a chance of breaking. But using top-notch quality will not break that easily. One thing to keep in mind is as paper towels have microscopic fibers that may ruin your tea taste.
So first clean them in hot water, then use them by folding them into half of the rectangle shape and again fold it into half. Next, open the corner of the square and place it in a mug. Then finally, pour the tea leaves and pour some hot water. And leave it to brew your tea.
Plastic Bag
Even you use plastic bags as a strainer for liquid types like juice, tea, or coffee. But don’t use it unless you don’t have an option as it is not a healthy way. To use it just place a tiny under the bag by using a thin needle. The holes should be very tiny so that the pulp will not go there.
Now place the bag in a glass where you want to drink and then pour the juice into it. And let it drain through the holes.
Pantyhose
One more life hack that you need to know is to use pantyhose instead of the strainer. This will work well for draining liquids. But make sure to use a new pantyhose. Some of the advantages of using pantyhose as a strainer are, as they are stretchable you can just form them around any shape of containers.
As they are having different sizes, you can use small sizes as they are cost-effective. And also you can use to squeeze the fruit or peanuts as they are strong. It is best to use silk instead of nylon for heat tolerance.
FAQs on How To Strain without a Fine Mesh Strainer
1. Can you use a plastic strainer for pasta?
Yes, you can use a plastic strainer for pasta. But when you are draining pasta it includes hot water which can leash the chemicals in plastic. So it is better to use stainless steel strainers.
2. How to make a homemade strainer?
To make a homemade strainer, you can use pantyhose or tights then stretch them and place them over a large mixing bowl. You can wash them once after completion of straining and wash then reuse them.
3. Can we use a fork in place of the slotted spoon?
Yes, you can use a fork instead of a slotted spoon and you can strain tea leaves. But you cannot use it for large amounts of food.
4. Can I use kitchen roll as a strainer?
Yes, you can use a kitchen roll as a strainer, the same as a paper towel by making the kitchen roll into the shape of a cone and filtering the coffee and tea or any other type of liquid.
5. What is the best cloth to strain water?
Any cotton cloth which is tightly oven is best to strain the water. Especially try to take the white cloth and just fold it into a few layers then tie it to a clean container.
Key Outcomes
We hope that the information we have provided above is very useful for you. You can use any of the options to strain your food, according to your preferences and needs. If you like the life hacks, you can share it with your friends and family. Still, if you have any doubts you can comment to us in the comment section.
You can even experiment with all the above hacks if you have time so that when you don’t have a strainer you can immediately use your hack without any doubt. For other interesting articles, stay in touch with our website.