It's almost impossible not to find aluminum foil in a household. Most of us use it to wrap food items but not many know there are other uses for it. Not many know how versatile it is even beyond the kitchen. Its ability to conduct heat, fold, flex, and fold has made it a staple in everyone. Prepare to take your "hacks" game to another level with these aluminum foil hacks we've compiled for you. Now, let's take a look at these 45 simple but genius hacks we've come across.
Revive Your Blunt Scissors
What can you do with those pieces of foil lying around and ready to be disposed of? Sharpen your scissors with them. Aluminum foil is a good sharpening material and with this simple method, your scissors can be as good as new. You can use heavy-duty foil or the common thin ones.
All you need do is smoothen out the foil if necessary, fold it and use the scissors to cut it into several pieces. Also, cut them into smaller pieces and after a few passes, the blades of your scissors will be sharp again. Pretty cool, huh?
Funnel Hack
Another foil hack you can consider is using it as an emergency funnel. This can come in handy when you don't have a funnel at hand or the one you have isn't the right size. It even has an advantage over the regular funnel as it can be bent and adjusted to fit and reach irregular holes like the one on the engine of a lawn tractor.
To form the funnel, you need a heavy-duty aluminum foil as the thin regular ones can tear. Double the length of the foil and roll into a cone shape. Your funnel is ready!
Protect the Knob
When painting a home, there are areas you want to leave out like the doorknobs. There are many ways you can prevent your doorknob from getting stained with paints but using aluminum foil is easy and cheap. Not only will it protect the knob from paint, but it also prevents it from getting scratched when moving furniture.
Get a wide aluminum foil, wrap around the doorknob neatly and it's done. This can also be done to prevent dirt when home improvement projects are ongoing. One of the best foil hacks!
Cover the Stove With Foil
Cooking on the stove can sometimes get a bit messy. Pieces of food can get inside the burner and can even damage the stove. Oil and soup splatters can make cleaning tedious but these hacks can help solve that. Aluminum foil is a great tool for oven-related as well as cooking stuff.
If you want to keep your stovetop clean at all times, do this. Cut out a piece of foil paper, line the burner with it, and you'll be preventing food from getting on the inside of the stove. You can also cover the stove completely in foil to prevent weekly clean-up. Just replace the foil and you're good.
Cast Iron Cleaner
Most of our skillets are made of cast iron and one thing we know about cast iron, it's that you're not to clean it with soap and scrub unless you want to render it useless. Cast iron pots and pans require a lot of dedicated upkeep to get rid of rust and build-up. So the question is, what then do we use to clean it?
All you need do is to make a ball of your aluminum foil and use it to scrub the said cast iron pan. This hack is not just simple and stress-free, it also costs less.
Less Messier Way to Roast Fish
Roasting fish can be a bit tedious, especially if it's for a number of guests. You'll want it to come out well-known, unburned, and not break into pieces when it's handled. There's also the issue of a messy pan and grill if the fish sticks and breaks.
A foolproof method you can make use of is to place the fish in an aluminum foil with all the other ingredients and roast. You can also wrap the foil around the fish and there you have it! A tender, flaky and well-cooked fish.
Seal Your Stuff
An alternative way of keeping your food items sealed is to use aluminum foil. It is easier to use than plastic wrap or brown paper and it's easily available in your kitchen. The foil material preserves the quality and taste of the food within.
Also, if you're refrigerating an item that has a peculiar smell, the foil keeps the odors in if you seal it as tightly as possible. For this method, you need an iron to get effective results. Wrap the food item with foil anyhow you want it, seal it tight using the heat from the iron and you're good to go.
Keep Your Soap From Disintegrating
If you’ve ever used a bar of soap in the bathroom or kitchen, you'd know that they don’t always last. We've seen it happen again and again. Initially, the soap is solid and looking okay but as we continue to use it, it breaks into tiny pieces and dissolves way quickly.
Though it’s normal for this to happen, however, you can use it for much longer if you place a sheet of aluminum foil under the soap. You can also wrap your bar soap with foil in order to keep water away from it.
Removing Hot Pot and Serve as a Sling
We all know that the simplest way to remove a pot is by using oven mitts or hot pads. But there are some pots that are difficult to grip because of the design of the handle or if it's in the pressure cooker.
If pads aren't available in your kitchen, you can make use of aluminum foil by folding it repeatedly till it's thick enough to resist high heat. You can also use the foil as a sling to lift your dishes from the pressure cooker by folding a long piece into three, rolling the foil, and centering the container on the sling.
Wrap Frozen Edibles
When we wrap our foods before freezing, the main reason is to keep the air out and protect our food items from freezer burn. We make use of food-grade materials, like heavy plastic wrap, aluminum foil, freezer paper or plastic bags, and parchment to achieve these.
Apart from the item getting cold faster, using aluminum foil also preserves the flavor and texture of the item. For example, wrap your leftover pizza in foil before placing it in the fridge. When you're ready to eat, remove from the freezer, place it in the oven like that and reheat, you'll have pizza crispy and as good as fresh.
Repel Birds
Do you have a garden with trees or birds invading your fruits and plants? Here's a hack for you. Aluminum foil can help keep the birds away from your fruits so that they won't render your produce inedible by pecking at it.
Although you can easily get a flashing tape from a garden center, you can make your own with this simple DIY trick. Cut a large size foil into long strands, string the foil around the fruit base if it's in a high tree. If it's a plant on the floor, place the strip close to the plant.
Sliding Furniture
Another use of aluminum foil is as a furniture slider. Though you can always grab one when you move pieces of furniture, you can also make use of foil as it serves the same purpose and it's readily available.
Just fold a few sheets of the foil in half with the shiny side up and the full side down because the dull side is more slippery. This will allow it to slide across the hard floor easier without much trouble and damage. This method is ideal for moving heavy tables and chairs as well as other heavy stuff.
Improvised Stylus
Did you lose your stylus or you just don't have access to it? Aluminum foil to the rescue! Many may not know that they can easily make a stylus for their tablet or iPad. Some even love one for their touch screen phone. If only you knew of the properties of aluminum foil!
With this hack, you can draw, append your signatures and write on your screen with a stylus pen. You only need a small size foil for this. Get a pencil or pen, stick some foil on the tip, and you can use anyhow you like.
Inexpensive Photography Reflector
One of the most useful tools that a photographer can own is a reflector, especially for portraiture and still life. They are used to lift dark shadows, bounce light back, or accentuate shape and tone. Reflectors can be used when shooting in bright sunlight and used in the studio.
Aluminum foil has great reflectivity which is just like the expensive reflectors used by professionals. When you're involved in homemade photography on a budget, this hack can give your work a touch of professionalism and class. Get a large sheet of cardboard and pin or tape it entirely with aluminum foil.
Keep Vegetables Fresh
Vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, and celery, can be kept fresh and prevented from getting limp with this hack. It is also a great hack for fruit lovers as it helps to keep fruit and veggies fresh, crispy, and tasty.
Get an aluminum foil that is big enough to contain your food items and wrap it around the edibles before placing them in the freezer. Ensure that no part of the vegetable is exposed to direct ice and the foil covers well. This hack will help keep vegetables fresh and crispy for about four weeks.
Reliefs Pain
You can also use aluminum foil as first aid, to alleviate pain, help heal minor burns, and to reduce skin inflammation. This is an unpopular but effective hack as aluminum foil has a composition that relieves muscle pain.
It can be used as an emergency and homemade method of easing joint and muscle pain because it enables the free flow of energy. Sterilize the affected part, place a neat foil on the part of the body where the pain is being felt, and gently fasten it. This method can also be used to relieve pain from minor burns.
Homemade Candle
When the light goes out and there are no backups available, you can make use of this homemade emergency candle hack using aluminum foil. The foil protects the thread used as it burns slowly and absorbs fuel.
All you need for this hack is a tall container, a long thread, and some oil. Place a container that a long thread can lean against to stay straight on a stand. Add the oil to the container and cut the foil into the shape of the container. Place the foil on the container and cover it. Your homemade candle is ready!
Cheese Grilling
If you're a fan of grilled cheese, then this hack is for you. You can now get to make your yummy treat when there are cooking options are limited, especially in the absence of a skillet or any cooking pan. How? Aluminum foil! Not only can you use it to grill your cheese, but the foil also keeps it warm till you're ready to consume it.
To do this, wrap the foil around the cheese and place it on a fire source. After the heat has penetrated the foil and the cheese is cooked, you can remove it from the fire. Your tasty grilled cheese is ready!
Clean Your Baking Pan
Like many cooking processes, baking can also be messy. If you're looking for ways to scrub off the burnt part of a baking pan, here's one for you. Aluminum foil is a great, tested, and trusted way of getting rid of black-colored dirt in your baking pan, giving it a shiny new look.
Sprinkle baking soda on your sheet pan and add enough water to make a paste. Roll the aluminum foil into a thick shape that can be gripped and used like a scrubber sponge using the method used to sandpaper woods. Simple!
Ice Cream Cone Without Mess
Eating ice cream can be messy and we can make it even messier when we wrap the cone with paper towels. This doesn't solve the problem because the paper will stick to the cone and the situation will be worse.
Not only does the melted drips of ice cream cause sticky hands, but it can also ruin your clothes. One thing that solved all this is the aluminum foil. Just the cone with the foil. This will not stick to the cone-like paper towels and it will also make the cone look neat. And most of all, there'll be no drips.
Ironing Hack
Have you ever wondered if there's anything you can do to make your chores faster? Especially ironing? Ironing can be a bit stressful and time-consuming, especially if you have to be somewhere else. Most of the iron's heat is sucked up by the ironing board which requires you to go over and over the cloth to get the job done.
A simple hack will help speed things up. Placing a sheet of aluminum foil under the clothes you are ironing will get it done faster because the aluminum foil will reflect the heat back which in turn smoothen out the wrinkles on the clothes.
A Special Mix-In for a Garden
If the look of patches of foil in your garden doesn't appeal to you, then you can try mixing shredded aluminum foil with the mulch and also place some at the base of your plants. One of the benefits of this is that the foil refracts light up into the plant and helps cool the soil around it, thereby retaining more moisture.
It also lights up the parts of the plant beneath where pests such as snails, slugs, and aphids like to hide. Another benefit is that it aids photosynthesis, hence, plant vigor.
Keeps Your Food Fresh and Warm
When we have a big dinner, it sometimes requires going to the oven often and when batches are involved, the earlier ones can get cold before the cooking is done. Aluminum foil can help make this easier because of its heat-conserving property.
It is important to note that the foil doesn't make the food warm, instead it can help keep the food warm for a longer time by conserving heat or trapping the hot air inside. It serves as an insulator and prevents the exchange of the hot air inside with the cool one outside. To achieve this, wrap each batch with the foil while it's still hot.
Keeping the Fireplace Neat and Warm
Because of its ability to sustain a high amount of heat, aluminum foil is ideal for high-temperature areas like the fireplace. In colder conditions, fireplaces help with keeping the temperature high or moderate but cleaning it can be a real task, especially when the ashes settle down.
However, it can be easier if you line the bottom of the fireplace with aluminum foil. Place the foil below the grate before the woods are put in place and you can remove the ashes when it's cool. Then you can simply fold up the foil and lay a fresh one.
Clean Your Grill Grate
After you've grilled your meat, it leaves bits and pieces on the grates and those leftover mess doesn't add any flavor to your meat, so you have to get rid of that gunk. We understand that scrubbing the meat off can be a tad difficult but with this aluminum foil hack, you'll have a gunk-free grate in no time.
The first thing to do is to heat the grate for a few minutes. Then place a foil sheet on the grate and cover it to loosen the residue. After a while, remove the foil carefully scrub the grate with a ball of foil. And there you have it.
Protects the Mattress
Parents trying to potty-train their little one understand how much trouble this can be. Apart from daytime accidents, there are ones that happen while the toddler is sleeping at night. It's not possible to monitor a child every second of the day, especially when it's nighttime but you can make use of this hack to protect their mattress if there's no plastic protector.
You can make a makeshift plastic protector with aluminum foil. Lay a sheet of aluminum foil on the mattress and then cover it with a beach towel that's big enough. You can finally attach the pad and bottom sheet.
Delay Banana’s Ripening
Bananas are sweet, yellow fruits that have a short lifespan. Once you buy a bunch, you have to consume it as soon as possible, else you'll have unappetizing browning and mushiness on your hands. This is because of the ethylene produced. Although there are several hacks that can help you keep your banana yellow and fresh, there's one trusted and tested hack that is very easy to do.
Wrap the stem with aluminum foil and you have your solution. The ethylene gas that controls the ripening and browning of the fruit is not released as fast as it normally should, thereby slowing down the ripening process.
Removes Rust
Metal rust is common in homes, especially in kitchen appliances. When they come in contact with water and are exposed to air, they get rusted. While you may think getting rid of them is the next thing, you can try this hack to get rid of the rust instead.
Tear off a piece of aluminum foil and dip it in a bucket of water. Gently scrub the rusted metal with the wet foil, cleaning at intervals with a dry microfiber cloth till the rust is removed totally. If the rust is much, you might need several pieces to get rid of the rust completely.
Soften up Brown Sugar
Brown sugar is used on various occasions in the home. While it tastes so good, brown sugar can get lumpy and clumpy after some time and this makes it a bit hard to work with. However, with some aluminum foil, you can easily soften those hard chunks of brown sugar.
All you have to do is place your brick of sugar in an aluminum foil and wrap it firmly. Set your oven to 300 degrees and pop in your wrapped brown sugar for five minutes. The foil helps in spreading the heat throughout the sugar and softens it.
For a Shinnier Silverware and Jewelry
As we've learned in the course of this write-up, aluminum foil is almost an indispensable need in the home and one of its specialties is making things new as we've seen in grill gates, pans, and plates. Another area where the foil is useful is in cleaning jewelry and silverware.
This is done by pouring hot water into a bowl that already contains aluminum foil. Add to this a tablespoon of baking soda and salt. Then place the discolored silverware or jewelry in it for 10 minutes, rinse, and you'll have sparkling jewelry and silverware.
Maintain the Pie Crust
One of the American pastimes is baking a pie as there are there few things that can be as enjoyable as a freshly-baked pie waiting to be eaten. In baking pies, one of the things that require mastery is the pie crust because there's always the issue of burning the edges of the crust on one side.
This can be prevented with the help of aluminum foil. To create your own pie crust shield, tear off a piece of aluminum foil to cover your pie entirely and wrap it. The foil prevents the crust from burning by spreading the heat evenly throughout the pie.
Prevents Painting Mess
Many painters have discarded their paint try simply because they couldn't go through the stress of washing it after painting. It becomes even more stressful and difficult if the paint dries on the tray. There is also the issue of scrub marks and stains even after washing. With aluminum foil, your work can be easier and more fun.
Before you add the paint to the tray, cover the paint tray with a sheet of foil. After you're done painting remove the foils and discard them. Your paint tray will be as good as new.
Light Up the Surrounding
We've talked about household uses of aluminum foil. Here's one that you can use when you go camping. Since we now know about aluminum foil's reflective property, do we also know that it can illuminate an area?
Imagine that you go camping and the lantern doesn't provide enough light, what do you do? Sure, you can get a bigger light but we bet it'll be easier and cheaper to attach an aluminum foil to the back of the light. This will allow for the light to reflect in your chosen direction.
Plants' Perfect Cover
One of the fun and thrilling things to do is growing and caring for plants. If you own a garden, you get to plant the seeds or and see them come to life and mature. If you're conversant with plants, you'd know that plants grow in the direction of light. One easy way to make sure that the light is distributed evenly is by using aluminum foil.
Place plants in a cardboard box and line the box up with the foil. Make sure the shiny side is up for full effect. The foil will help reflect light evenly across the box. This hack also helps plant cuttings grow uncluttered and strong.
Extends battery life
With time, the springs holding the batteries in your devices can get loose which can render the device useless. A small piece of foil will do the trick. Just fold the aluminum foil into a small pad and wedge it between the spring and batteries and it's done.
Another one for batteries is how to add life to your battery. If your batteries run down and you don't have news one just yet, you can also use some aluminum foil. All you need to do is to place the foil on the positive tips of the batteries and your batteries will last for a little while longer.
Keeping a Steel Wool Pads Intact
Steel wool pads are excellent for cleaning utensils and dishes, unfortunately, they are very prone to rust, and quickly too, which makes them as good as useless after a while. With aluminum foil, however, you prevent the steel wool pads from rusting and get rid of rust as well.
To achieve this, drain off water from the pad and wrap the pad inside aluminum foil after each use. And to rid it of rust, simply place it inside the freezer after you've wrapped it with aluminum foil. It is that easy!
Strong Internet Signal
Who would have thought that of all things that aluminum foil can be used for, this will be one of them. This is one of the most surprising of all the hacks and you'll probably not believe it till you try it to boost your internet signal with the help of aluminum foil.
On days when the network is slower than usual or you encounter an error, you can simply cut out a piece of the foil, fold it into a satellite dish shape, and place it behind your Wifi antenna, pointing it in any direction you like.
Keeps Powdered Soap Dry
Though powdered soaps are very useful in the home, one of the properties of powdered soap is that it absorbs all the moisture present in its surrounding which then turns into a problem. Because the powdered soap gets mushy after soaking up all that moisture and also results in a loss of smell and flavor in the powdered soap.
You can prevent this by keeping the powdered soap in a container that is well-covered with aluminum foil material. The foil will prevent moisture from getting in contact with the soap, thereby keeping its flavor and quality intact.
Improvised Cake Pan
Do you have an urgent need to bake a cake and you have no prior plans? Or you need to form a particularly unusual shape that you can't get anywhere? This hack is for you. With some creativity and aluminum foil, you can make yourself a custom cake pan.
Not only can you make any pan sizes that you want, but you also get to make your desired shape too. Take some of the foil and place it in another pan or a container that's the size of your choice to create the outline of the cake you are trying to make.
Cookie Cutters
At this point, we can all agree that aluminum foil is the holy grail of DIYs because of the versatility of its material. The fact that it can be molded into any shape makes it possible to be used in many ways.
Another thing a foil can be used for is as a cookie-cutter. Not only is this easy to make, but it is also cheaper than an actual cookie cutter and you can be as creative with shapes as you want, from stars to unicorns. Simply tear some foil and move it around to create your desired shape.
Enhance the Ability of a Radiator
In the kitchen, we often use aluminum foil for its ability to reflect heat. Here, we'll show you another use of foil outside the kitchen. It may not be useful to everyone, but for those of us who own a radiator, this works great.
To make the heat coming out of the radiator stay longer, tape a long sheet of aluminum foil to its back. This will not only conserve the heat, but it will also make the heat reflect in other parts of the room instead of it getting absorbed into the walls behind the radiator.
Remove Static From the Dryer
When we wash, the clothes rub against one another as they tumble around in the dryer. Aluminum foil can stand as an alternative for dryer sheets. Just make three balls of foil and toss them in the dryer with the wet clothes.
The aluminum foil help to reduce electricity and also help keep the clothes separated, hence speeding up the drying time. Your clothes end up crisp and without grime. The balls can be reused for about two months. This hack is sure to take a few dollars off your laundry expenses.
Prevents Painting Mess
Art can be fun, especially when it's done by oneself. Painting is one of those artistic skills and it can be pretty messy if care is not taken. One of the tricky parts of painting is how to avoid painting parts that you do not need to be painted. An example of this is a door.
This issue can be solved with various methods but most of these methods can be pretty stressful. With aluminum foil, however, you can do it with ease. All you need to do is wrap the objects before painting and unwrap them after.
Pizza Hack
We don't know which is worse, cold or soggy pizza. If you're a lover of pizza like us, you probably already know this hack. But in case you don't, here is a simple way to keep your pizza crispy even after it's gone cold.
Yes, we can always microwave but we know what happens then. If you want the ideal flavor and a crispy treat, set the pizza on a foil, fold over the crust and bake at 350 degrees for about five minutes. In the end, you'll have a fresh pizza.
Keeps the Oven Clean When Baking
The final hack on this list is one that'll help keep your oven clean when baking. To avoid the build-up of spills in your oven, place a few sheets of aluminum foil beneath anything that might spill or bubble over the floor of the oven.
It is not advisable to place the foil on the floor of the oven itself as this may lead to a build-up of heat and damage your appliance. When you're done, you can just thrash the soiled foil. This will save you from having to scrub the oven every time.