You may be shocked to learn that your kitchen wraps may be used in a variety of ways. Plastic wrap and aluminum foil can be used for a lot more than just keeping leftovers fresh. Here are 35 ideas for using these everyday things both in and out of the kitchen.
Make Perfect Bacon
To produce the ultimate roasting pan for crispy bacon, use a piece of tin foil. To construct a fan shape, fold it in strips numerous times and set it on a normal baking sheet.
Most of the grease will collect in the grooves, resulting in deliciously crisp bacon. Not only that, but you’ll make significantly less of a mess: after you’re done, dump the greasy foil in the garbage.
Baking Tray Dividers
When you need to bake numerous things at once, this is the recipe to use. Line a baking sheet with tin foil, bunching pieces together to create dividers to separate the different items that need to be cooked.
This prevents fluids or sauces from leaking over to the other side, which is important if you’re cooking two meals that don’t go well together. Separate the flavors so you can chose whether to mix them on your dish or not.
Perfectly Poached Eggs
Poached eggs are a headache to make. You can create them quickly with a little plastic wrap and a little time. Wrap a glass or bowl with plastic wrap, sprinkle it with oil, then crack an egg into it.
Before placing the plastic wrap in boiling water, it should be twisted and wrapped into little pouches. Finally, once your perfectly poached eggs are cooked to your perfection, liberate them using a pair of scissors.
DIY Steamer
The use of pricey cookware is not required while steaming food. If you roll a few hunks of tin foil into balls, you can place them in a cooking pot with boiling water.
Put the steamed veggies or meat on a heat-resistant plate and use the foil balls to prop it up. Cover the pot and enjoy steamed food without having to clean your wire colander or fancy steamer pot insert.
Clean Your Silver
You can use aluminum foil to line a dish and restore the luster of your silverware or silver jewelry if it has gotten dull and tarnished. Aluminum sets off a chemical reaction that automatically cleans your home.
In a foil-lined baking dish, combine one tablespoon baking soda and a teaspoon of salt, then pour in half a cup of vinegar (slowly!). Pour in a cup of hot water after that. After 30 seconds, add your silver pieces to the mixture, and there you have it!
Makeshift Piping Bag
A true piping bag comes with a variety of nozzles for making elaborate frosting patterns. Aluminum foil will suffice if you aren’t bothered with perfection and don’t want to clean it.
Heavy-duty foil is preferred for this hack, but normal foil would suffice if you wrap enough layers. Then roll it into a cone, fill it with (ideally) soft icing, seal it, and crown the cupcakes like dessert kings and queens!
No More Paint Skin
If you’ve ever opted to use up some extra house paint in your garage, you’ll understand what I mean when I say “paint skin.” To keep the top layer of paint from drying out and causing a mess (leaving clumps in the paint! ), cut a circle of aluminum and set it on top of it before sealing the can.
By taking a big inhale, exhaling into the can, and swiftly shutting it, you can replace some of the oxygen with carbon dioxide. The drying process will be slowed as a result of this.
Protect Your Paint Brushes
Painting a room or a house might take days. So, while you’re waiting for those paint coats to dry, here’s a quick technique to cut down on clean-up and extend the life of your painting tools.
Wrap your paint roller and brushes in plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out and becoming crusty and ineffective. Aluminum foil will assist you keep the moisture in for longer than 24 hours.
Keep Your Matches Dry
You’re probably already aware of this suggestion if you prefer being outside. Nothing is more aggravating than going camping and having your pack fall into a lake.
If it rains, it’s either that or your goods will get soaked. Wrap your most vital goods with tin foil, especially your matches, to preserve them from moisture in the air.
Sleep on a Dry Surface
Rolls of aluminum can be quite hefty. If you’re going on a less active camping vacation that won’t entail any trekking, you can utilize this approach to help you sleep at night.
Place a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum underneath your sleeping bag to prevent moisture from soaking through the bottom comforter. It’ll probably keep you dry, but if you enjoy being outside, a little moisture is preferable to wasting a lot of foil.
Custom Shaped Cake Trays
If you’ve ever wanted to bake a cake that wasn’t a boring circle or rectangle, you can create a cake pan out of tin foil in any shape you choose.
Nonetheless, you should start with something simple like a heart. Then Lindsay Ann Bakes tells you how to make them as solid as possible for a successful shaped cake on YouTube!
Sharpen Your Scissors
If your scissors have gone dull, there is no need to have them sharpened. Rather then, a hunk of aluminum foil folded three times should probably do the trick.
So, now that you have a thick, folded strip of aluminum foil, the additional layers will help in sharpening the scissor’s blades over and over again with each cut.
Sun for Seedlings
Seeds that need to germinate will benefit from a lot of light if you’re starting an indoor garden. On the inside, cut out one side of a shoebox and cover it with tin foil.
This creates a “lightbox” that reflects the sun’s rays onto your plants, ensuring that they receive enough light to begin their lives healthy. Place the sun box near a sunny window to allow light to reflect on it. Faster growth will be aided by the sun.
Protect Your Doorknobs
Don’t waste time removing all of the hardware when repainting your doors. Instead, use painter’s tape to tape the edge of the knob that touches the door, then wrap aluminum foil around the rest of the doorknob or handle.
This will be protected from your sloppy painting job and will be simple to remove and discard once the paint is dry. Paint will not leak through the cracks as a result of this.
Roll Dough with No Mess
Pull out a roll of plastic wrap the next time you get out your rolling pin. Next, place a sheet of parchment paper on top of your cutting board or whatever surface you’re going to use to flatten the dough.
The dough is then placed on top, followed by another layer of plastic wrap. This prevents greasy, doughy messes on the surface and your rolling pin! However, it’s not recommended to use it frequently because it causes some pastries to bake unevenly.
Make Your Own Funnel
Do you need to pour something into a bottle with a narrow neck? Don’t have a funnel in the kitchen? There’s no need to be concerned because you don’t require one.
Roll a piece of aluminum foil into a cone shape and use it to pour liquids, grains, or other difficult-to-pour substances into whatever fancy bottles you want. We’d recommend rolling it several layers thick to prevent it from being knocked out of place by a stream of liquid, but as long as you pour slowly, it should be fine.
Perfect Pie Crust
It’s a common blunder in the kitchen of any inexperienced baker. Your pie is perfectly cooked in the center, but the crust is almost black and burned. Wrap strands of tin foil around the edges of your pie!
This keeps the crusts from being burned by too much heat while the rest of the pie browns nicely. It can be added at the start of baking and removed halfway through, or it can be added if the crust begins to brown too quickly while baking.
Speed Up Ironing
When you iron your clothes, the ironing board absorbs a large portion of the heat from your iron. Underneath your ironing board cover, place a few sheets of aluminum foil.
This should reflect the heat to your clothes, cutting down on the number of times you have to pass over the wrinkly bits and speeding up the whole tedious process.
Safely Dispose of Hot Grease
Because it’s difficult to clean the grease left in the frying pan safely, I don’t believe anyone has ever stopped cooking delicious fatty meats like bacon and sausage. But there is a way to dispose of it that does not entail flushing it down the toilet!
Line the glass with tin foil, make a depression in the center and pour the grease into it while still hot. Then fold the foil corners in, seal it shut, and toss it in the trash!
Keep Mice Outside
Have you ever had mice in your house gnawing on your cereal boxes and bread bags? Perhaps you know how they’re getting in, or you know of a way they COULD get into your home and want to keep them out.
They’ll leave you alone forever if you roll a ball of tin foil and stuff it in the hole where they’re getting into the house. Mice can chew through a lot of things, but aluminum is not one of them. So make sure you stop it in its tracks while it’s still outside!
Prevent Pests in the Garden
Aluminum foil can be used to protect your garden in a few different ways. First, it helps to repel insects from eating your lush greenery if you add small strips of it to your mulch.
During the winter, you can also wrap foil around the base of small trees and plants to keep them as warm as possible. It will also deter critters such as squirrels and mice from digging up your garden.
Scrub Cast Iron Pans and Grills
Trying to get rid of caked-on grease is always a pain. However, if you scrunch up a ball of tin foil and scrub, the process should become much easier to manage.
Needless to say, do not attempt this with nonstick frying pans! It can also be used as a BBQ brush to scrape all of the burnt remnants from your grill.
Clean Your Clothes Iron
When it comes to scrubbing irons, the same method can be used to clean the burnt gunk from the bottom of your clothes iron! However, it can be difficult to remove the soap residue that has built up over time.
And, to be honest, I had no idea you could get rid of it! So your clean but wrinkled clothes will no longer be dirty but instead will be replaced by freshly pressed ones!
Prevent Flour Explosions
If you have one of those fancy electric mixers, you’ve almost certainly turned it on only to have flour fly all over your kitchen. There is, however, a simple solution.
Wrap a piece of plastic wrap around the front of the bowl and mixer to keep your face from getting floured. If you don’t have any, aluminum foil is a great substitute!
Soften Brown Sugar
You don’t have to throw away a bit of hardened brown sugar that has solidified into a solid brick. All you have to do is wrap it in aluminum foil, as you might have guessed.
Then bake it for five minutes at 300°F. It should return to its original mushy softness and be ready to sprinkle on your oatmeal or mix into your next baking recipe.
Boost your WiFi
You might be skeptical about the next tin foil hack. However, if your WiFi signal is weak, you might as well give it a shot! First, fold the edges of aluminum foil a few times on each side to make a sturdy sheet.
It could improve your signal by one or two bars if you put it behind your router. Many people online have confirmed that this worked for them! Try it now to improve your connection!
No Need for Dryer Sheets
This is one way to save money if you use dryer sheets to get rid of static when drying laundry. Instead, toss in a few aluminum foil balls, which will absorb all of the electric charges.
Static cling on your clothes will no longer be an issue. However, seeing as foil does not come in a variety of fresh scents, keep scented laundry detergent on hand as well.
Keep Bananas Longer
This is a common problem: How many bananas should you buy to ensure that you have enough time to eat them before the last ones turn too brown? It’d be disgusting to eat!
If you wrap a piece of plastic wrap around the stems of your banana bunch, it will slow down the ripening process. So, if you like the greener bananas, you should give this hack a try!
Help Heal Minor Burns
We’ve all burned ourselves on the stovetop or in the oven. Even minor burns can be excruciatingly painful for days! However, the pain should go away almost immediately if you wrap aluminum around the burn and leave it for 15 or 20 minutes.
To begin, make sure that the burn is clean and gauzed. Then, wrap the foil inwards, shiny side facing you. It will also keep your skin from becoming overly irritated!
Remove Rust
Is your faucet covered in those unsightly little rust spots? That faucet will be gleaming and new in no time if you use aluminum. Rub the rusty surface with a crumpled-up piece of foil dipped in vinegar.
It will almost certainly leave some scratches, but the rust will easily peel away. Scratches, on the other hand, appear to be less filthy than rust. After completing this hack, you’ll feel as if you’ve purchased a new one!
Prolong Battery Life
Have the batteries in your remote control run out? And, like most people, you have a large collection of AAAs but none of the AAs. It’s annoying, but what can you do?
Well, you could crumple a piece of foil to fill the space between the coil and the bottom of a AAA battery. And after that, you will be able to use your AA-only device once more!
Move Heavy Furniture
Here’s a hack you’ve probably never heard of if you still have carpet from the 1990s and need to move a large piece of furniture. Place a small piece of foil, shiny side up, under the leg.
You should be able to get that bulky wardrobe in and out with a lot less effort now! The foil is slick enough that you can push the heavy object without having to lift it.
Reseal Plastic Bags
Using a lot of foil and plastic wrap for so many different household tasks could result in a lot of waste. This one, at the very least, will assist you in reusing your plastic bags.
Wrapping the open part of the bag in foil allows you to melt the plastic underneath with a clothes iron or flat iron. This results in a strong seal without melted plastic all over the place.
Clean Your Hot Glue Gun
Hot glue guns can be quite messy at times. While the glue is still warm and gooey, cleaning them is as difficult as cleaning them once they have cooled and hardened.
Plugin your glue gun to warm it up if it becomes overly clumpy. Then, using a large piece of crumpled aluminum foil, twist it around the nozzle. Make sure you don’t get burned!
Prevent Freezer Burn on Ice Cream
Air exposure, according to Ben and Jerry’s, is ice cream’s worst enemy. This is why those pesky ice crystals form on top, reducing the creamy goodness that all ice cream should have.
You should be able to avoid this problem entirely by simply placing a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of your half-eaten ice cream before replacing the lid.