Hints for Blind Housewife

Hints for Blind HousewifeDes Moines Register, Wed., April 5, 1967
By Heloise Cruse

Dear Heloise: I am enclosing hints for the blind housewife since many of us "read" your column. If you keep both salmon and tuna fish on your pantry shelf, shake the cans. The one you hear contains liquid and will be the salmon.
When you make a layer cake, spoon the batter alternately into the pans. In this way you will get your two layer cakes even in height. The same procedure will apply when making two pies at only one time, but instead of a spoon use a cup.
Cook all your meat in the oven including bacon, hamburgers, chops and steaks. If the meat gets too brown, and still needs more cooking, add a little water to the pan and cover. This saves a lot of work cleaning up grease splatters on top of the stove. The meat doesn't need to be turned over and a blind person can't see to turn the meat properly.
To match up your china cups and saucers, have someone cut out two small identical shapes such as circles, squares, triangles or what have you, from adhesive tape. Then stick one on the bottom of the cup and one on the matching saucer.
To tell the difference between a package of dessert gelatin and lemon pie filling, feel the package and if you feel the cornstarch in it you can be sure it is the pie filling. 
Spices of all kinds come in the same little cans. By smelling them all I could get the right spice at the right time, bu tit was time consuming. So I saved small jars of different sizes and shapes for the spices I use most often. Now I just have to feel the jar and I know what spice I have.
If you measure out a liquid, fill the cup while holding it over the sink. If you happen to overflow the cup, it will run in the sink and make no mess.
When making a cup of coffee for myself, I always fill the cup with hot water and then add my instant coffee. By doing it this way, there's no coffee running down the drain. --Margaret Schildroth