From BBQs to the camping life: corks can be a real lifesaver

As soon as the weather improves, there's nothing more pleasant than spending your days outdoors: whether it's a barbecue with friends in the garden or in a park, or a camping weekend in nature, eating food outdoors has a completely different flavor. So, prepping for outdoor meals becomes one of the things we need to do. Not only thinking about what you will eat and getting all the necessary utensils together, but also using those "hacks" that will make things easier.

For example: why waste time struggling to start a fire to cook delicacies you can't wait to taste? Well, there's a hack for this too involving the use corks. Read on to find out more:

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It is a hack that costs almost nothing: all you need are some wine corks, a glass jar with a lid that closes tightly, and denatured alcohol. But note: the corks must be proper cork ones, not the plastic types. As for alcohol, this can be found readily in supermarkets.

With these simple materials you can prepare an effective fire-starter kit, and your coals will be ready to cook on in no time!

The process is really easy:

• Place the corks into the jar. You can don't need to fill the jar with corks. But we advise you to use as many corks as possible if you want to have a supply that will last a long time.
• Pour the alcohol into the jar, submerging the corks. The corks are pourous, so they end up soaking up the liquid. Do this at least a day in advance of the time you want to use them. Then close the lid and wait 12/24 hours.

Your cork fire-starters are now ready! You can take them with you in the jar with the alcohol, or transfer the ones you will use to another jar. During the process, you may need to top up the alcohol in the jar. 

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At the time of use, be very careful when lighting these corks: they will catch fire immediately, so use long matches (or similar). Also avoid using too many of these corks to start a fire - one or two will do in most cases.