Clever Uses for a Kitchen Staple
These aluminum foil hacks can rock your world. Well, maybe not really rock it, but they’ll make life easier. I learned quite a few hacks from my southern mama, but I’ve also picked up a few on my own. One of the things she taught me was to make sure I have plenty of aluminum foil because it is such a workhorse. I agree! Read on for some great tips on how you can use foil.
Make Life Easier with Aluminum Foil
If you’re like most people, you have a roll of aluminum foil in your kitchen drawer. But did you know that aluminum foil has many other uses? In this blog post, I will discuss some clever ways to use aluminum foil that you may not have thought of before!
There are so many things you can do with this kitchen staple. When foil goes on sale, stock up on it. Once you discover all the ways it can make your life easier, you’ll want to put a roll in every room of the house.
Most people use foil for a few standard things in the kitchen. For example, my mother used to wrap potatoes in foil to bake them. Although she was actually steaming them, it seemed like the thing to do.
Another thing many people do is to cover baking sheets with foil to prevent food from getting baked on. I’ve used it for that many times because it speeds cleanup. If you’re concerned about potential health hazards of foil touching your food, place a sheet of parchment paper over the foil before adding the food.
Aluminum Foil Hacks for Food
Cover the stem side of bananas to prevent them from ripening too quickly. Some folks cover both ends of bananas to cover their bases.
Wrap celery in foil to keep it fresh longer. This is perfect for keeping the celery crisp for your next use.
Are you worried about your ice cream cone dripping? Then make a sleeve for it out of foil. Not only does it catch the runaway drips, but it also gives you something to hold onto.
When baking a pie, put a strip of foil around the edge of the crust to keep it from burning. Remove it halfway through baking, and it’ll be just right.
Make a foil packet for individual servings of food. This is a great way to cook chicken, fish, or veggies on a grill or in the oven. Salmon does especially well when cooked in a foil pouch. It comes out moist and delicious every time!
If you need an extra serving platter, you don’t have to go out and buy one. Instead, just cover a piece of cardboard with foil, and you have a shiny, disposable serving piece.
Make Cleaning Easier
Foil is great to help removed baked-on messes. If you have stuck-on food after baking, crumple some foil and use it to scrape the pan.
If you need to clean a dirty stovetop, simply crumple up a sheet of aluminum foil into a ball and use it as a scrubber. The aluminum foil will loosen stubborn grease and grime with ease.
It’s also the perfect tool for cleaning cast iron. Form it into a ball and scrub away. You’ll be amazed by how well this works.
Rub some crumpled foil over the face of your iron to clean off the built-up gunk. It will soon shine like brand new.
Does your hot glue gun have dried glue stuck on the top? Then rub it with some foil and watch it come right off.
Don’t accept rusty chrome. Wet a ball of foil and rub it over the chrome until it shines.
Aluminum Foil Hacks for Around the House
Crumple a sheet of foil into a ball and use it in place of a dryer sheet. I don’t know why or how this works, but it does.
Are your scissors getting dull? Then fold some foil until it’s four sheets thick. Make about a dozen cuts in the foil with your scissors, and now see how sharp they are.
If you don’t have a funnel, improvise and make one from foil. This is easy to do. Simply wrap it into a cone shape, making sure the holes are the sizes you need.
Place a sheet of foil beneath something with wrinkles. Then as you run your iron across the top, the heat reflects from the foil. For that reason, it prevents the need to iron both sides of the garment.
If a linoleum floor starts to curl, place a sheet of foil on it and place a hot iron on it. Leave it on long enough to melt the glue. Place a brick or stack of books on top of the floor and leave it until it sets.
An easy way to polish silver is to place a sheet of foil in the bottom of a baking dish. Put the silverware on top of it and sprinkle with salt and baking soda. Add enough water to cover the silver. Soak for 10-15 minutes. Rinse the silver and dry it with a soft cloth.
Other Handy Uses
If you need to move furniture, place a sheet of foil beneath each leg of your chairs or sofa. Now it should easily glide to wherever you want it to go.
When it’s time to paint your doors, cover the doorknobs in foil to keep them from getting paint splatters.
Another of my favorite aluminum foil hacks is to line the bottom of a roller pan with foil. After you finish for the day, roll up the foil and throw it away. Now you don’t need to clean the pan because it never got paint on it.
After you finish painting, wrap your paintbrush in foil. Then place a rubber band over the handle, and the paint won’t dry on the brush.
Create a drip pan for your grill by placing a few sheets underneath the charcoal. Afterward, wrap the charcoal in the foil and dispose of it.
If you don’t have a mattress protector for a small child’s bed, cover the mattress in foil. Then put a couple of large towels over the foil before putting on the sheets.
After you plant a tree, wrap the base of it in foil to prevent critters from chewing on the tender bark.
When camping or hiking, keep your matches covered in foil so they won’t get wet.
Personal Uses for Foil
When dyeing your hair, you can still wear your glasses without getting dye on them. All you have to do is cover the temples of your glasses with aluminum foil. After you finish coloring your hair, remove the foil and toss it.
Create static guards. Rub a sheet of aluminum foil over your hair brush to help reduce static electricity in your hair. You can also place a sheet of aluminum foil under your bed sheets to prevent static cling.
More Hacks and Tips
If you enjoy finding ways to get things done, check out more of my helpful hacks and tips. Here are some to start with:
Laundry Hacks and Tips – Do you ever wonder how people get their clothes so clean? Instead of wondering, check these out.
Clothespin Hacks – First of all, very few people use clothespins for what they were originally intended for. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep them around.
Dryer Sheet Hacks – Before you run out and buy a special dust rag for your baseboards, read this. You can do some amazing things with dryer sheets.
Pool Noodle Hacks – Yes, pool noodles are great to use as floatation devices. But they’re good for so many other things. I always pick up a bunch of them at the Dollar Tree and keep them on hand. You never know when you’ll need one.
Coconut Oil Hacks – After you discover what all you can do with coconut oil, you’ll start buying a bigger jar. In fact, you might want to keep several jars throughout the house.