Great-Grandma Anna’s Household Hints

Welcome to Great-Grandma Anna’s Household Hints.

These old-fashioned household tips come from one very special page of my great-grandma Anna Hanavan’s family cookbook. There are thirteen of them, each one about a hundred years old, and I am sharing them with you one Tuesday at a time.

Anna was a Czech immigrant and a farmer’s wife out in Colorado from the early 1910s into the 1970s. When our family put together the Charles and Anna Hanavan Family Cookbook, somebody typed up her household hints from the three small pieces of paper she had written them on, and that page has been sitting in my kitchen ever since. Some of her hints are pure genius, some are sweet old folklore, and one comes with a modern safety note I will not skip. All thirteen are right here.

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Old-Fashioned Household Tips — All 13 of Anna’s Hints

Here is every hint on the page, in Anna’s own words first and my notes after. The ones I have already shared in a Tuesday Tip link to the full post, and the rest are coming, one Tuesday at a time.

In the Kitchen

• “Remove 2 Tbsp. of flour from 1 C. regular flour, add 2 Tbsp. cornstarch.” That is homemade cake flour, and it works beautifully. See the post →
• “Cabbage — add ginger when cooking.” A pinch of ginger softens that strong sulfur smell without tasting like ginger at all. See the post →
• “Onions — pour boiling water over them, let stand till cold, then use in any ways you like.” A quick hot-water soak takes the sharp bite out of raw onion, which is handy for salads and sandwiches. Coming soon.
• “Use hot water for clear ice cubes. Use cold boiled water for ice cubes.” Boiling drives out some of the air that turns ice cloudy, though how the tray freezes matters too. Coming soon.
• “Sprinkle flour in fryer with sausage grease so eggs won’t stick.” A farm-kitchen trick for frying eggs in the same pan as breakfast sausage. Coming soon.
• “Put lid over eggs fried in sausage grease so they won’t stick.” The lid traps steam, so the tops cook through without flipping. Coming soon.
• “Spearmint gum for bugs in flour.” This one is old-time wisdom rather than proven science. What really works today is keeping flour in a tightly sealed container, and UConn Extension notes that a few days in the freezer kills pantry pests in lightly infested packages. Coming soon.

Around the House

• “White vinegar for cleaning fireplace brick.” Plain distilled white vinegar  and a stiff brush, on a cold fireplace. See the post →
• “Use vinegar for smoke.” The same vinegar works on the sooty mark a candle leaves behind. Test a hidden spot first. See the post →
• “Rubbing alcohol for ball point pen marks.” Dab and blot with rubbing alcohol , then wash as usual. See the post →
• “Buttermilk for mildew.” An old laundry remedy for mildew spots on fabric. Like any stain trick, it is worth testing on a hidden spot first. Coming soon.
• “Vaseline for spots on tablecloth.” Somebody in our family penciled a question next to this one: “Ask — lace or vinyl?” We are still trying to find out. Coming soon.

First Aid — Then and Now

• “Vinegar for burns.” This is the one hint I share as history, not as advice. Today’s guidance is different: Mayo Clinic says to cool a minor burn under cool, not cold, running water for about 10 minutes, and serious burns need emergency care. I love Anna, but I will be reaching for the faucet.

Two More Things the Family Remembers About Anna

The same page holds two little family memories that I love just as much as the hints. Anna kept clippings in her cookbook on how to care for the evergreens in her yard, and she liked Buffalo grass because it did not need nearly as much water as Bluegrass. And one of the family remembered that Anna always served food in a pretty dish. She never once put a cooking pot on the table as a serving dish.

That last one gets me, because I cook for a crowd, and some nights the pot goes straight to the table. Anna would not approve. I am working on it.

Old-Fashioned Household Tips FAQ

Who was Anna Hanavan?

Anna Hanavan was my great-grandma. She was a Czech immigrant and a farmer’s wife in Colorado from the early 1910s into the 1970s, and her hints were typed into our family cookbook from the small pieces of paper she wrote them on.

Do these old-fashioned household tips really work?

Many of them do. The cake flour, ginger cabbage, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol hints all have real reasons behind them, and I explain each one in its own Tuesday Tip. A couple, like the spearmint gum, are better enjoyed as family folklore.

Should I put vinegar on a burn?

No. That hint is a piece of history. For a minor burn, today’s advice is cool running water for about 10 minutes, and any serious burn needs medical care right away.

How do I find out when you share the next hint?

Each new hint shows up as a Tuesday Tip, and I add it to this page the same week. The easiest way to catch them is my Saturday newsletter, just below.

More Tuesday Tips You’ll Love

• Tuesday Tip: Parmesan Rinds — Don’t Throw Them Away, Save Them for Soup — the kind of waste-not trick Anna would have loved.
• Tuesday Tip: Leftover Buns — Turn Them Into Garlic Bread — another way to keep good food out of the trash.
• Tuesday Tip: Cutting Boards — How to Oil Bamboo Boards So They Last — a little care that makes kitchen tools last for years.

Old-Fashioned Household Tips — About Stephanie Longstreth

Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.