Sodium or salt turns up everywhere, so read labels

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Dear Heloise: My diabetic husband was put on a salt-restricted diet — this meant sticking to the recommended guidelines for salt. We thought that we had been careful with salt. I never added salt to my cooking, and there was no saltshaker on the table except for when eating tomatoes.

Whew — did we have a violent awakening! Salt or sodium is everywhere! Not just in canned soup and vegetables, but frozen vegetables can have added sodium, too. So, you must read labels!

A good restaurant may custom-fix food if you explain the dietary restrictions.

There are commercial salt-free seasonings, and you have a great Heloise recipe for salt-free seasoning to make at home.

I mix up quintuple batches and use it just about everywhere.

When seasoning without salt, we use three to four times as much.

Unsalted food has a tendency to taste like cardboard. Give the unsalted diet time (three to four months), and your taste buds will wake up and you will taste the flavor of food.

Meanwhile, use some lemon juice or lime juice in place of salt. I keep a bowl of freshly cut lemons on the table, and with a quick squeeze I zip up eggs, potatoes and fresh veggies. Sharon M., Norphlet, Ark.

Sharon, how right you are! Lemon and lime are wonderful for enhancing most foods. I use a crystallized lemon “powder” that is fantastic on veggies, especially fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots!

Need a recipe to make your own no-salt seasoning? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Just send $3 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (61 cents) envelope to: Heloise/SSS, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. You will receive a copy of my pamphlet Heloise’s Seasonings, Sauces and Substitutes, which includes several no-salt substitutes for you to try. Mixed together, these make a good gift, too! Heloise

Dear Heloise: I have found an easy way to separate coffee filters. I hold the nested filters with both hands on the rim and bend them around the upper edge to loosen them slightly. Then I blow on the uppermost edge of the filters, and the top one is immediately freed from the next filter. Works for me! Delores in New Mexico

And here’s another hint from Jack Dube of Boynton Beach, Fla. He says: “For those people like me who have trouble extracting a single filter for the coffee pack, try this: Tack a small piece of double-faced sticky tape to the inside of a cabinet door. Lightly touch the edge of the outer rim of the bottom filter to the tape, and a single filter flakes off.” Heloise

Dear Heloise: I use the flat part of a spoon handle to open a cereal box. Using the spoon, I swipe it in both directions. This eliminates paper cuts. It also works well for opening the bottom when it’s empty to prepare for flattening the box for recycling. Dale, via e-mail

SBlt Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate