The most common use for tin foil is for cooking and storing food. There are many other uses for tin foil, though, that can help make your life easier in and around your home. Check out these practical uses for tin foil.
If you’re trying to take some nice photos, you can make your own light reflector by rubber cementing some aluminum foil to a piece of cardboard. Instead of shelling out cash for fancy equipment, this method works just as well.
Take a piece of tin foil and form it around the edge of a pie crust. This keeps the edges of the crust from cooking faster than the rest of the crust and burning.
Place a layer of aluminum foil on your grill while the coals are still burning. This will burn off any chunks of food. Leave it there until your grill cools down. Once it’s cool you can crumple up the foil and use it to scrub the grill.
Tin foil works great when removing baked-on food from glassware. Simply crumple a piece of tin foil and use it to scrub the area with dish soap.
You can shine up any piece of chrome with some foil by crumpling it up and using the shiny side to buff it up.
6) Bake Special-Shaped Cakes
Do not fret if you need a certain shape when baking a cake. You can form a double thickness of heavy-duty tin foil into the shape you need.
7) Use as a Party Garland
If you need some easy decorations for your party, cut some tin foil into strips and form it into a linked garland.
If you’re going camping you can wrap your matches in some foil to prevent them from getting wet.
9) Protect Fixtures From Paint
To keep your fixtures from accidents when painting, cover them with some tin foil.
10) Keep a Paintbrush From Drying Out
Squeeze out excess paint and wrap it tightly in foil. Place a rubber band around the foil to secure it at the base of the handle. When you resume painting, your brush will still be wet and you won’t have to clean it in between uses. This works great if you’re taking a lunch break while painting.
Wrap hardened brown sugar in a piece of tin foil and place it in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes to soften it.
Wrap some tin foil around your TV antenna to improve reception for local stations.
Need a funnel but don’t have one? Fashion one from some heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Wrap your bread and rolls in a napkin and place on top of a piece of tin foil to keep it warm throughout dinner.
15) Use to Move Furniture
Fold up a few piece of tin foil and place them under the legs of a heavy piece of furniture when moving it. The tin foil should allow the furniture to more easily slide across the floor.
Fold smoothed foil pieces into layers and cut through them with scissors. They should be sharpened after seven or eight pass throughs.
Wrap tin foil around the bottom of an ice cream cone to keep ice cream drips from getting on the hands of youngsters.
For loose batteries, crumple up a small piece of tin foil and place it between the battery and the terminal. This should complete the connection.
19) Keep Your Sleeping Bag Dry
Place aluminum foil under your sleeping bag to keep your sleeping bag dry.
20) Keep Silver Untarnished
To remove tarnish from silver, line a pan with tin foil and fill it with cold water. Add two teaspoons of salt and dip the tarnished silverware into the water to clean it.
Remove the top and one side of a box and line the inside with tin foil, shiny side out. This makes a perfect location for plants that need a lot of light.
If you have a vinyl floor tile that becomes loose, just put it back in place and lay a piece of foil over it. Then, run a hot iron over it a few times until you feel the glue melt underneath it. Place something heavy on top of it for a while until it sets.
23) Preserve Steel-Wool Pads
Keep your steel-wool pad free of rust by placing it on a piece of tin foil when done using it.
24) Clean Out Your Fireplace
Before lighting a fire in your fireplace, line the bottom with tin foil. When finished, simply pull the tin foil out, along with the ash, for easy cleanup.
25) Prevent Paint From Drying
A layer of dry paint can form on top of your half-use paint can and look like the skin that sometimes forms on soup. To prevent these chunks from ruining your smooth paint job, place a disc shape of foil inside of the paint can and on top of the paint after you’re done using it. Then blow into the can and put the top on. The carbon dioxide in your breath will replace some oxygen in the can that would dry out your paint.
A crumpled-up piece of tin foil works great when cleaning pots. Just make sure to avoid using them on pots with non-stick surfaces to avoid leaving scratches.
27) Use When Patching Small Holes in Clothing
Place a piece of tin foil underneath a small hole in clothing when applying a patch. This keeps the patch from sticking to the material underneath.
Wrap some aluminum foil around a fishing hook to attract fish.
If you have an oven with only a top heating element, line the bottom of your oven with tin foil for easier cleaning.
If you have a dirty iron, use a piece of crumpled-up tin foil to scrub it clean.
If you don’t have one of those pastry decorating bags, you can fashion one out of aluminum foil. Just mold it in the shape of a tube and fill it with frosting. Or you can make just the tip out of foil and use plastic wrap for the bag. Just toss it out when you’re done.
32) Improve Your Radiator’s Efficiency
Place a large piece of cardboard covered in tin foil behind a radiator to help radiate heat, making it more efficient.
Mix small strips of tin foil with your mulch to help deter pests.
34) Increase Outdoor Lighting
Place a layer of tin foil behind any backyard or campsite lights to increase the amount of light. You can tape the foil to the fixture, but make sure you don’t tape it directly to the bulb.
35) Hide Flaws in a Mirror
If you have small worn spot on your mirror, place a piece of tin foil on the back side to disguise it. Secure the foil in place by taping it to the backside or frame of the mirror.
To protect your tress in the winter months from mice and other critters that like to feed on bark, wrap a double layer of tin foil around the trunk in late fall. When spring comes around, remove it.
If you want to clean out your barbecue grill less frequently, you can prevent meat juice from dripping into it by shaping a pan out of a few sheets of foil and placing it on top of your coals and under your meat.
Line a small bowl with tin foil and fill it with hot water and one tablespoon of bleach-free laundry detergent. Allow the jewelry to soak in the solution for one minute before removing, rinsing, and allowing to air dry.
Line a paint roller pan with tin foil to extend its usefulness. When finished painting, remove the tin foil for a clean pan to use for next time.
You can make your clothes wrinkle-free faster by placing a piece of foil underneath your ironing board cover. This prevents the board from sucking up all the heat and reflects the heat back through the clothing.
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As you can see, tin foil has a wide variety of uses outside of cooking and storage. Try out these uses for tin foil in your home.
The most common use for tin foil is for cooking and storing food. There are many other uses for tin foil, though, that can help make your life easier in and around your home. Check out these practical uses for tin foil.
